How do I check my ebook? How to preview an EPUB file?

Check your book on your PC or Mac

Reflowable ebooks basically look the same in all stores, although some devices might overwrite your formatting settings with their defaults. We recommend that you definitely check your book before uploading to the platform using the latest version of ADE (Adobe Digital Editions).

ADE is used by most retailers for displaying EPUBs on a desktop computer or laptop (including Libby & Google Play Books). It is free & works on all devices. You can download it from here.

Check your book in reading apps

Additionally, you can check what your book will look like in different store-specific reading apps before uploading it.

iBooks: If you have an iPhone or iPad, you can open your book on your device with the Apple Books app.

Google Play Books: You can upload your book to Google Play Books from your computer, then check it on your phone using the Google Play Books app.

Kobo and Barnes & Noble don't have an app that could be used to open books (unless the books were bought in the Kobo or BN store).

Amazon: You can preview your file using the Kindle Previewer.

Download your file from the platform

To download your book after uploading it, click on the little arrow.

What to look for

  • Hyperlinks – are they all present and do they all work?
  • Special characters and non-Latin fonts – are these all displaying correctly? (Check this article, if not.)
  • Typos – look for errors and/or inconsistent capitalization in places like author and title, table of contents, chapter names, etc.
  • Layout and formatting – does your book have forced line breaks? Do all tables display correctly?
  • Integrated artwork/images – do images display well, and are they in the correct position?
  • Table of contents - does your book contain a clickable table of contents? Are all the chapters listed correctly?

If you are struggling with the correct formatting of your book, please check out this article, or drop us an email.