Multi-PDF Source

Got several PDFs that should feel like one book? Combine them into a single FlipBook with chapter names. This is great for annual reports made of quarterly issues, anthologies, magazine archives, course modules, or any collection where the pieces belong together as one bound book.

When to use Multi-PDF

Pick Multi-PDF when:

  • You have 2–20 PDFs that should read as one book.
  • You want chapter labels in the table of contents (TOC).
  • You want each section to remain its own PDF (easier to update independently later).

If everything is already one PDF, use Single PDF instead. If your content is images, see Image Gallery Source.

Step-by-step

1. Open the FlipBook editor

Go to FlipBooks → Add New and type a title.

2. Pick Multiple PDFs

On the Content tab, click the Multiple PDFs card. Single PDF and Image Gallery options gray out — only one source is active per FlipBook.

3. Add your first PDF (chapter)

The card shows an empty list with an Add PDF button. Click it to open a row.

Each row is a "chapter" with:

Field

What it does

Chapter Name

Label shown in the table of contents and the chapter strip. Leave empty to fall back to the PDF filename.

PDF File

The actual PDF for this chapter — drag to drop or pick from media library.

Pages (optional)

If you only want some pages of the PDF (e.g. "5-10"), specify a page range. Leave empty to use all pages.

4. Add more chapters

Click Add PDF again to add the next chapter. Repeat until all your chapters are listed in order.

5. Reorder by dragging

To change the order, drag the grip handle (left side of each row) up or down. The chapter list reflects the new order immediately. The FlipBook reads in the new order on publish.

6. Publish

Click Publish in the top-right corner. The FlipBook is live.

What readers see

When a reader opens the FlipBook:

  • All chapters are stitched into one continuous book — pages flow seamlessly from chapter 1 to chapter 2.
  • A chapter strip appears in the toolbar (or in the More menu, depending on toolbar layout). Clicking a chapter name jumps to the first page of that chapter.
  • The Table of Contents (in the sidebar) lists each chapter with the page number it starts on.
  • The search function looks across all chapters at once.

Chapter name conventions

Good chapter names:

  • "Spring Issue", "Summer Issue", "Fall Issue", "Winter Issue"
  • "Chapter 1: Introduction", "Chapter 2: Setup", "Chapter 3: Advanced"
  • "Q1 2024", "Q2 2024", "Q3 2024", "Q4 2024"
  • "Section A — Overview", "Section B — Details"

Keep names short (under 30 characters) so they fit in the chapter strip without truncating.

How page numbering works

Pages are numbered sequentially across all chapters. If chapter 1 has 24 pages and chapter 2 has 16 pages, then chapter 2 starts at page 25.

This affects:

  • Deep links — if you link to "page 30", it's the 30th page in the whole book, which may be inside chapter 2.
  • Page indicators in the toolbar — show "30 / 50" for the 30th page out of 50 total.
  • Hotspots — when placing hotspots on a multi-PDF FlipBook, the page number refers to the position in the combined book, not in the original PDF.
  • Bookmarks — saved with the combined page number.

Replacing or removing a chapter

To replace a chapter's PDF:

  1. Click the PDF File field on the chapter row.
  2. Pick a different PDF from the media library.
  3. Save.

To remove a chapter entirely:

  1. Click the trash icon at the right of the chapter row.
  2. Confirm.
  3. Save.

The other chapters stay; page numbering re-flows automatically.

Custom Table of Contents

Sometimes the auto-generated TOC (one entry per chapter, starting on each chapter's first page) isn't enough. You might want sub-sections within a chapter, or to give a chapter a different display name in the TOC than in the chapter strip.

For that, use the Custom Table of Contents field on the Advanced tab:

  1. Open the FlipBook's Advanced tab.
  2. Find the Custom Table of Contents repeater.
  3. Add rows: each row has a Title and a Page number.
  4. Save.

When you set custom TOC entries, they replace the auto-generated chapter list. Add as many rows as you need — multiple entries per chapter are fine.

Tips for the best multi-PDF book

  • Consistent page size. All PDFs should have the same dimensions (e.g. all A4 portrait, or all US Letter landscape). Mixed sizes still work but transitions can look awkward.
  • Standard sizes. Stick to A4 or US Letter. Custom sizes work but readers' devices render them better when they match common aspect ratios.
  • Match orientation. A book with mostly portrait chapters and one landscape chapter looks odd.
  • Compress each PDF before uploading. The combined book loads in chunks (chapter by chapter), but smaller PDFs still feel snappier.
  • Test the page-mode setting under General → Page Mode. "Cover First" makes page 1 a solo cover; "Spreads First" pairs every two pages. Multi-PDF books often look better with Cover First so chapter 1's cover stands alone.

Troubleshooting

Pages from one chapter render at a different size than another. The two PDFs have different page sizes. Either resize one to match (export at the same dimensions from your source app) or accept the size variation — the FlipBook scales each chapter to the widest page.

Chapter labels don't appear in the toolbar. Confirm Chapters is enabled in the toolbar settings. The chapter strip is only shown when there's more than one chapter (which is always true for Multi-PDF, so it should appear by default).

The book takes a long time to load.

  • Compress each chapter's PDF.
  • Lower Render Scale in Display → Rendering.
  • Reduce the number of chapters — books with 20+ chapters are heavier than books with 4–5.

Page numbering looks wrong when comparing to the source PDFs. The combined book renumbers continuously. If you want page numbers to reset per chapter (like a magazine), this isn't currently supported — but you can use a Custom Table of Contents with section labels to help readers find what they need.

Search returns results from the wrong chapter. Search runs across the whole book by default. To search a specific chapter, use the toolbar search field — search results show with the chapter name attached.

Next steps

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