FAQ

What are bookmarks?

The API uses deprecated terminology in the request and response parameters. What we previously referred to as "bookmarks in a folder" is actually just "documents in a stack". So to list all the documents in a specific stack you would use the Bookmark List API with a specific folder id.

What is a folder?

A folder is just deprecated terminology for a stack (see above).

What is a folder id?

The folderId request parameter is simply the stack id formatted with hyphens to form a valid UUID.

For example the stack id 123e4567e89b12d3a456426655440000 corresponds to folder id 123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426655440000

You find the stack id in the URL when you click a stack from your profile page

https://issuu.com/<username>/stacks/<stackId>

How do I obtain a link to the document?

The document location on issuu.com is defined by two parameters: The username of your account and the name of the document

https://issuu.com/<username>/docs/<name>

If you want the document to open on a specific page you can append the page number

https://issuu.com/<username>/docs/<name>/<page>

The API will not return the document URL directly so instead you need to pick out the username and document name from the response and manually construct the URL.

Note: The URLs above are for showing the document on the issuu.com web page which will include ads and related content. If you are on a paid plan ("Starter" or above) you can show your document without any distractions by appending mode=embed to the URL

https://issuu.com/<username>/docs/<name>?mode=embed

For more styling options you should use embeds or our Shareable Fullscreen Reader

How do I obtain an image URL of my document cover?

The current version of the API will not return image links to the document cover but given the documentId identifier a URL can be constructed

https://image.issuu.com/<documentId>/jpg/page_1_thumb_large.jpg

Similar to username and document name identifiers the documentId can be picked out from the API response. See Document List API

Note: If you re-upload or delete the document the image URL will cease to work.

Can I re-upload a document via the API?

Unfortunately this is not currently possible via the API. Instead you will need to use the Publisher Suite on issuu.com to achieve this.

However, if you do regular uploads (of say weekly or monthly editions) you can use a single embed code on your web page and use the Embed Update API with the documentId parameter to dynamically change the document that is being displayed.

How do I style embeds via the API?

This functionality is currently being ported to the API. Please check this spot for updates.

Can I download the original PDF file via API?

No, unfortunately not. Downloading will always need to be done via the document page or embed.