First, find the format that works for you, then click "Personalize" on the product page and our photo book editor will open up. It is important to know that once you start a photo book you will not be able to alter the format without starting over.
With your first book you'll be given a brief tour of the main features of the tools. The easiest way to get started is to upload your desired photos to your album and then choose AutoFill. This will fill the book with photos in chronological order and then you can review and fine tune your edit from there as needed.
Some tips we like to share:
- When adding pages to the end of your book add the pages before the end pages to avoid the Paper Culture logo being copied to multiple pages. If this error was made you would need to delete those spreads and add additional pages before the end pages and then rearrange.
- Avoid placing the subject of your photo of a two-page spread in any non-layflat books to avoid information being lost in the gutter.
- Any photo currently used in a book (current or previously ordered) cannot be deleted from your library. This is to make it available for any potential reorder.
The editor is designed to allow you to get started quickly and simply, but for a full explanation of features, keep reading below.
Contents and Questions:
- Pan/Zoom | Moving Photo or Text in a Frame
- Transform | Moving or Changing things on the page
- Rotate | Rotating Photos or Text
- Front and Back | Layering elements
- Backgrounds | Making a photo a Background
- Empty | Delete
- Edit Design | Making Additional Edits
- Save for Later | Moving the Photo Book out of Your Cart
- Deleting Your Photo book
- Quantity | Ordering More Photo Books
- Additional Pages
Product Page:
To get started on the personalizing the photo book. Click into the photo book with the dimensions you like. Once you've settled on a book and a size, go ahead and click "Personalize"
Clicking on the ‘Personalize’ button on the Photo Book page will open up the Upload photos page where you can upload the photos you want to include in your photo book project. You can also choose to use photos that you have used in previous projects.
Editor Overview
Actions Toolbar:
There are five actions you can do while editing your photo book. You can do this to text and photos.
Clicking on the 'Back Arrow' will undo anything you've changed.
Clicking on the 'Forward Arrow' will redo anything you have undone.
Clicking on the 'Cut Scissors' will take out what you have selected. It will stay in your copy clipboard until you have cut or copied something else.
Clicking on 'Copy' will make a copy of what you have selected. It will stay in your copy clipboard until you have cut or copied something else.
Clicking on 'Paste' will input what you have last cut or copied. You can paste it to as many spots in your photo book as you would like.
Left Toolbar:
The majority of the editing tools are located on the left toolbar. This toolbar lets you add, delete and rearrange photos, text and layouts into the book. You can also add filters and backgrounds to the photo book pages.
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To upload your photos, click the 'photo' button on the top grey bar. You can then click the 'upload' button on the top right of that new tab. A new pop-up will prompt you to drag in images or you can click again to upload images from your documents.
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To view all your photos you can go to 'my uploads' folder. Here you will also be able to access photos from previous photo book projects.
- You can access your photos at anytime by clicking this photo tab on the top left.
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To add a filter to your photo, click on the photo on the page that you would like to apply the effect. Then click on the 'filter' on the left toolbar to apply the effect.
- If you want to undo the effect, click on the photo again, and in the filter tab, a highlighted 'none' button will appear to allow you to undo the effects.
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To personalize the text on your card, click on any existing text boxes that are on the spread. Then you can click on the 'text' tab on the left toolbar which will allow you to play with the fonts, size of the text, colors, and other visual styles.
- If you would like to add a new text box to the page you are working on, simply scroll to the bottom of the text tab and click on "add empty text box."
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'Change Page layout' is easy with the layout toolbar. Click to the page or spread that you want to change and you can click into the 'layouts' tab for additional pre-made layouts.
- If you'd like to randomize the spread that appears, you can click the rearrange layout button on the bottom of the layouts tab.
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To 'Change Page Background', you can do via the 'background' tab on the left toolbar. Click on the page of the book that you would like to update the background or page color of, and click the new background color from that page.
- For those who are looking for a more specific color, you can scroll to the bottom of the background page to access the fill bucket which will allow you to be more specific.
Top Toolbar:
The top toolbar allows for helpful tools to help save or preview your photo book as a whole.
Once you have uploaded your photos, and you have selected the photos you want to use, you can choose to let our software autofill your book by clicking on ‘Autofill’ in the upper right hand corner. The photos will be arranged in chronological order.
‘Save for Later’ will save your progress and place the photo book in its current state in your cart under the ‘Saved for Later’ section.
The ‘Help’ button will start a tour with Editor quick tips and tricks.
The ‘Preview’ button will allow you to see a digital rendering of the current state of your photo book.
The ‘Add to Cart’ button will add your photo book to your cart. You will see a warning if there are any empty photo or text boxes or pages in your book.
Bottom Toolbar:
Along the bottom of your screen you will see all the pages of your photo book. You can add, delete and reorganize pages via this bar.
To 'Add, Delete, Rearrange Spreads', choose the spread after which you would like to add a new one. Then you can click to add or delete a spread of your photo book.
To 'Reorganizing Spreads' or reorganize the order the pages appear in your book, just click on the ‘Reorganize’ button on the bottom right of the screen. To make the adjustments, Drag and drop the spreads to position them in your book.
Center Editor:
The Central Editor allows you to add those final touches to your book like the crop of the photos and just where exactly you'd like to add your photos.
The 'Pan/Zoom' tool allows you to move Photos and text within a photo slot. This tool also allows you to zoom in and out of a photo within a photo slot. Just click on the photo or text you'd like to adjust and use the Pan/Zoom tool to play with it.
If you're looking to move elements around the pages of your book, the 'Transform' is here to help. The transform tool allows you to move the photo and text on the book pages themselves
For any photos that were uploaded in the incorrect orientation, the 'Rotate' button is an easy solution. Just click on the photo in question on the card and click rotate to change it to the correct orientation.
The 'Front and Back' button is there to those taking a more layered or scrapbook approach to their photo books. Just click on the element that you'd like to move forward or backwards on the page and the layers of images or text will be changed with a click.
Unlike the background tool on the left toolbar, the 'Background' button on the central editor's main function is that it allows whichever photo you click to become the background of the page or spread you're on.
The 'Cut / Delete' button allows you to remove photos or elements on the photo book. To get rid of a photo, simply click the photo on the page and click the 'edit' button. To remove the photo slot completely, just click the photo slot and click delete. You can remove text in the same way.
Cart Options:
Once you click on Add to Cart from within the Editor, you will be redirected to your cart with your book added to it. You can still make update your book and order by selecting the following options from the drop-down.
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To return to Editing your design, click the options dropdown menu from your cart and click 'Edit Design' to be brought back to the editor. You can edit and touch up your photo book again and again as long as you have not checked out with your book.
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If you're not yet ready to place an order on your book, you can always move your book to the 'Saved for Later' section. You will need to move it back to the cart to complete the purchase.
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To permanently delete your project, click the 'Delete' option from the cart. If you're still unsure or would like to reference the book for later, we recommend putting your project in the 'Saved for Later' section.
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You can change the quantity of books you want to order by choosing it in the 'Quantity' drop down in the cart.
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If you have added more than the 20 included pages, you will see an 'Additional Pages' line as a separate cart line item below the book along with its price.