How to Customize Photo Books: The 4 Tools You Need to Know

Welcome to your first stop on this road trip through the Mixbook Editor! The Customizability Tabs are composed of four different tabs that will contain most of your project’s content. In order from left to right, the tabs read “Photos,” “Layouts,” “Backgrounds,” and “Stickers.” We’ll take a closer look at each tab and provide a brief description of its functionality so that you'll have all the tools you need to customize photo books. Photos Tab

This tab allows you to upload your photos into the project via the + ADD PHOTOS button. Once your photos are uploaded, they will appear in the photo tray, which is located directly below the button. A green check mark will appear once you have placed the photo into your project, marking it as “used” (as seen in this screen shot above). To the right of the + ADD PHOTOS button you will see an Auto Fill button. Clicking on this button will automatically place all your uploaded photos into your project. To the left of the + ADD PHOTOS button is a magnifying glass icon. Clicking on this icon will bring up the Filter search field:

Photo Filter

This field allows you to search through the photos in your photo tray by typing in certain key words or file names. Click on the blue encircled question mark for more information. The last feature we will look at in this tab is located at the bottom of the photo tray.

Photo Sort

This menu allows you to sort the photos in your tray. Your photos can be sorted by “Date Taken” (according to the photo file’s info), “Date Added” (according to the date it was uploaded into your project), or “Usage”. You can also check the “Hide Used” box to temporarily remove all the used photos from the tray.

Layouts Tab

This tab gives you access to different layouts you can use throughout your project. The first section will display the layouts that correspond with the photo book theme you have selected. Under this section come the Text Only layouts followed by our Photo Layouts, starting with single photo layouts and ending with 21-photo layouts.

Backgrounds Tab

The Backgrounds tab gives you access to all the wonderful backgrounds you will need to perfect your project. The + ADD BACKGROUNDS button allows you to upload your own backgrounds as well as access other backgrounds from other themes or past projects.  Under this button, you will find what we here at Mixbook refer to as the “color swatch.” Clicking on the swatch will allow you to apply a solid background color to your active page. You can choose from the colors provided, color wheel, or eye dropper tool. Clicking on the More button will show you more advanced ways to customize photo books, including the option to blend colors, control opacity, and flip the background. Below this section is your background tray. The background tray will contain three different sections. The first section will show the backgrounds used in your project. The next section will display the backgrounds your theme contains. The last section will show a variety of recommended backgrounds.

Stickers Tab

This last tab’s format is similar to the backgrounds tab. The + ADD STICKERS button will allow you to pull stickers from other themes or past projects. It also gives you the ability to browse through our sticker collection or even upload your own! Directly under this button, you will find the sticker shapes we offer. These are the only stickers that can be fully manipulated, including the ability to change the color. The remaining sections in your sticker tray are just like the background sections: Project Stickers, Theme Stickers, and lastly, Recommended Stickers. We hope this has helped you become more familiar with our tabs! You can customize photo books now, or return to the Road Map to see which areas in the editor we'll be exploring on the second stop of our virtual road trip through the Mixbook editor!