VitalSource Studio: Preview and Publish

This walkthrough will show you how to preview and publish content created in VitalSource Studio. The four steps of this process are: Create, Build, Preview, and Publish.

Step 1: Create

Create your content in Studio by building a table of contents, then adding blocks to each screen.

Step 2: Build

Navigate to the Export tab in Studio. The tab is visible from the table of contents of your product.

The Export Page consists of three trays. Each tray "holds" the most recent build, preview, or published version of your product. Your content will move downward from the top tray as each step is completed.

The first time you access the export page for a product, all three trays are empty.

Start by building an EPUB 3 file of your content by clicking Create New Build. At this time, builds require 2-30 minutes depending on the complexity of content and number of concurrent builds by other Studio users.

While your EPUB is building, you will see a progress bar indicating progress. You can leave this page during the build process, and your EPUB will continue building in the background.

Once your build is complete, you may see some information warnings about your content.

Warning messages may inform you of the following issues:

○ Your product does not have final publication-ready metadata. (You can still build and preview without final metadata. Studio will use default metadata until the publication-ready metadata is entered.)

○ A link to the media was found to contain unsupported characters, so Studio has replaced those characters in order to proceed with the EPUB build.

○ A link to the media file is broken on the specified screen. Please check the link.

○ A link on Screen A to Screen B of your product is not finding the target screen. Please check the link.

○ The x-numbered block on the specified screen contains invalid xml. Please check the block.

A successful build is the first step required for previewing or publishing in Bookshelf.

If an issue is encountered that causes your build to fail, we are immediately notified. Once the issue is resolved, we will contact you.

Step 3: Preview

Previewing allows you to review your content in Bookshelf online prior to making it available to your customers.

Click Create Preview to launch the Bookshelf ingestion process. This may take as little as 2 minutes or longer, depending on the number of files in the queue.

While Bookshelf is ingesting your file, you will see an "in progress" animation. At this time, both preview and publish usually take 4-10 minutes each. You can leave this page during the preview process, and your file will continue ingesting in the background.

After Bookshelf ingestion is completed, use the launch button to open Bookshelf and see your content.

The first time you cross over to Bookshelf you will be required to log in. If you already have a Bookshelf account use the same email address to log in. If you do not have a Bookshelf account, click here.

Once you've crossed over to Bookshelf, you will see your content displayed in the e-reader.

When viewed in your Bookshelf library, the cover image will be labeled with "Preview" in the upper left corner.

Make Revisions

If your content needs revisions, return to your product in Studio and make the necessary changes. When you return to the Export page, a yellow warning indicator lets you know that your content has changed since your most recent EPUB file was built.

Click Create New Build to make a new build that incorporates your most recent changes. Once your build is complete, click Create Preview to see your changes.

Step 4: Publish

Once you're satisfied with content and ready to make it available, communicate with your primary contact at VitalSource to set up metadata for the product.

If the metadata is not complete, you will not be able to publish.

Return to the Export page and click Publish.

While the content is being ingested into Bookshelf, you see an "in progress" animation. At this time, both preview and publish usually take 4-10 minutes each. You can leave this page during the ingestion process, and the product will continue publishing in the background.