Okay, Blurbarians, you asked and we listened.
Our engineers have been hard at work over the past few months, harnessing their big brains and coding like the book-obsessed maniacs they are to bring you a brand new version of Blurb BookSmart®, our free bookmaking software for Mac and PC. And now we’re happy to announce that BookSmart 3.0 has arrived and is available today: download it here.
Why are we so excited? Because BookSmart now includes the two most-requested features from our user forums, feedback surveys, and customer support inquiries: a two-page photo spread and a way to change the size of an existing book.
Two-Page Photo Spreads: What better way to let a photograph speak for itself than to let it fill up an entire “spread” of two facing pages? BookSmart 3.0 takes the guesswork out of this popular technique by offering a ready-to-use layout that supports two-page spreads with full bleed.
To use it, just go to “Choose Page Layout” on the left side of the BookSmart screen and select “Photo Spread layouts.” Now when you drag a photo onto the page spread, it will automatically fill up both pages, right to the edges – no manual adjustment necessary. See our FAQ for details.
Change Book Size: Say you’ve just created a fabulous wedding book in our 12” x 12” (30 cm x 30 cm) Large Square size, but you’d also like a 7” x 7” (18 cm x 18 cm) Square version you can send to all your family and friends. In the past, you would have had to create that smaller book from scratch. But now BookSmart can do it for you with just a few clicks.
Right at the top of the screen in BookSmart 3.0, you’ll find a new button labeled “Change Size.” Click it, and in minutes you can copy the full contents of your existing book into a new book with a smaller (or larger) size. Don’t worry, your original version of your book is saved so you can always order more of that one, too. And for those of you with Black and White Text books in our Pocket size (5 x 8 in. / 13 x 20 cm.), yes you can convert your books to the larger Trade size (6 x 9 in. / 15 x 23 cm.)
Ready to try it yourself? Don’t forget to back up your book projects. And if you are just about done with your book project, you should probably wait to upgrade.
Download BookSmart today, give it a whirl and tell us what you think.
43 Comments
Thank you Blurb engineers and designers! At long last I will be able to convert my 8×11 behemoth to an even bigger 11×13 behemoth. Hooray!
Still no Linux version?
I downloaded booksmart 3.0 last night, did a conversion to a larger size and it worked really well. A few nitpicks with some of the text boxes, overall, saved me hour upon hour of work recreating the book from scratch. Totally awesome! The handsome, large scale limited edition will be available very soon. I’m thrilled.
Thanks for all the great additions – I love BookSmart!
When will non-US book sizes (like A4) be supported by Blurb? I’ve made some books in the past but the lack of an A4 or A3-sized book have made me go elsewhere.
I never asked for these new features, but they were in my top list of requests to be… THANKS for hearing my inner voice !!!!!
Just had to come and say fantastic
AMAZING!! Very rarely do people ask and are actually heard!! These features are fantastic and make life so much easier. Well done for listening to us Blurb!! My photos look so good over two pages :)
Emma,
We are so happy you’re pleased. It is fun to use the new two-page spread features and makes for some very beautiful books. I’m loving it, too.
best,
Eileen
Is there a panoramic size?
Something like 30×15 in?
Hi Isabel,
Our largest book sizes are 13×11″ (Large Landscape) and 12×12″ (Large Square). That said, any two-page photo spreads look pretty fantastic in both those sizes. Give it a try and you’ll see.
Eileen
How does the two-page thing work….do I need to crop pictures or does the new Booksmart stretch & squeeze ‘em to fit the extremely horizontal format
Also, I’ve had a book done & waiting to submit for awhile now…can I swap in a two-page spread from the new Booksmart?
Thanks for making such a good product even better! My next request is the ability to put a border around the edges of a photo that are not bled off the page. It frustrates me to have the same border around every photo in a book while leaving those with one edge off the page naked.
Hi Frank,
Check out this FAQ on creating two-page spreads with BookSmart 3.0.
BookSmart will automatically adjust your image. No need to crop. And you can edit your book in BookSmart and then upload again in BookSmart 3.0. If you need any more assistance, don’t hesitate to contact our Customer Support team.
best,
Eileen
Sheri,
Thanks for your feedback. I’ll pass it along. Have fun with 3.0!
Best,
Eileen
Hi I currently have the old version of booksmart with a book saved in that. If I download the new version will my existing photobook still be there to edit and publish? Thanks.
This is very exciting, thanks for the updates.
Quick question, if I upload 3.0 is it different from booksmart I have now? Will the books I am working on now, automatically transfer over? I have 2 in que and one I am working on now. I don’t want to loose the work I have already done, but I would love to update them with the full layout pages!
Thanks in advance :)
Hi Andrew,
Yes, your existing book project will still be there to edit and publish once you download BookSmart 3.0. I was able to add new two-page spreads to my book and bump it up to a larger size (Small Square to Large Square). Now I’m all set with a gift. Good stuff!
best,
Eileen
I have basically the same question as April: will my current books I am working on be saved when I download version 3 ?
OK, scratch my last question – your answer wasn’t showing yet when I wrote it.
I think it is a great idea – can’t wait to play with this!
Hi April,
BookSmart 3.0 is different. It has the two new features mentioned above and we’ve fine tuned it to make it an even better bookmaking experience. You can go ahead and finish your book in BookSmart and then upload it again once you download BookSmart 3.0 and go ahead and put those two-page spreads in. Please feel free to contact our Customer Support if you have any questions. Just want to reassure you that BookSmart saves all your book projects, so none will be lost.
Best,
Eileen
Please, is there any way that I can remove a number of pages from a book-project in progress without upsetting the layout of pictures in many other pages?
Thank you,
Athos Samuelli
YES! YES! YES!
That is for the numerous times I’ve manually gone from one book size to another!
YES! YES! YES!
You guys get an A+ for this–downloaded it this afternoon and am already on page 145 of a 180 page book–piece of cake! I’d put off doing this manually since January! One of the few times procrastination paid off.
Honestly, though, this is a GREAT addition to the software. WELL DONE!
OMG THANK YOU!!! Those were like the two things I’ve been wanting forever in BookSmart. I have one question though, will the two page spread automatically overlap the part of the image in the gutter a little? It would be really nice if it did as two page spreads almost always look better with a little overlap in the middle. A modest set amount of overlap, like 1/4″ or 1/2″ would be nice, or make it adjustable by user. I know it would be more difficult to implement, but it would be REALLY cool if it automatically adjusted the amount of overlap depending on number of pages in the book and possibly how close the spread was to the center of the book.
Hi Athos,
Great question. And the answer is yes, but you must remove any pages in two-page increments rather than just a single page from your book in order to leave the rest of your layout intact. And if you have any two-page spreads that you’ve created, just make sure you’ve locked those together beforehand. If you remove a complete two-page spread, the other pages in your book will stay together as spreads. If you need more information, please check out our FAQs. And feel free to chat with or email Customer Support if you still have questions.
Cheers,
Lauren
In good time. Excellent. Please do not forget to do the same for the covers. One single photo for front and back cover, sounds great. Do not you think?
Thanks, Flores. Good idea! Keep them coming.
best,
Eileen
Has Blurb considered offering a flush mount book option?
Hi Sarah,
We’re always working on ways to make Blurb books even better. At the same time, we’re mindful of affordability. Flush mount books are definitely on the wish list. Stay tuned – we’re on a roll!
best,
Eileen
I made a book and wanted to convert the size from a large square to large landscape, however, that was not an option. When will it be an option? I am just curious because I wanted to start another book and want to do the same size as this last one (if possible the large landscape). But if I will never be able to convert it then I will go with the large square.
But with that said, BLURB is by far the best books around. Thanks for the discount too. Much appreciated.
Hi Rachel,
Currently, BookSmart 3.0 doesn’t have the functionality to go from a Large Square book to a Large Landscape book. We’re always working to improve our bookmaking tools so this isn’t ruled out. However, I just can’t give you a specific date. Thanks for the kind words about Blurb!
best,
Eileen
How interesting! Exactly these two things is what I thought that Blurb could do to make our life more easy and suddenly here it is! Unfortunately I had already done the hard work but for sure this will help me with my future books!
Oh, now I hope in the future Blurb have more book sizes available too!
Thank you.
Hi Leonardo,
So glad we could serve up what you’d wanted and look forward to seeing your future books! Please keep the suggestions coming in. We note all of them.
best,
Eileen
I have downloaded Booksmart 3.0.2 in my fairly new iMac and it is not working properly. It is very slow. I mean, very slow. I had never used it in iMac before, only on my old PC and it worked great, although it was a very old version…I love the new features, but do not want to compromise the speed. Now it takes up to 20 seconds or so since I drag a pic until it is in the box, and it is like that for every move I make. Is there a way to install an old version of Booksmart or it has nothing to do with the version, only it does not work well with Mac?. Please Help!
Great changes to the site. However, when I downloaded it and tried to change the size of existing books, I could not because the change size icon is gray and does not work. I can only change the size of books I will work on in the future?
Hi Beatriz,
Thanks for your comment. These kind of queries are best handled by our Customer Support team. If you email them or contact them via live chat, they can help you out quickly. They’d love to get you up and running, so get in touch with them here.
Best,
Eileen
Hi Kay,
Currently, BookSmart 3.0 can only go from Small Square to Large Square and Standard Landscape to Large Landscape. My guess is that you are trying to change your book to a size that is not supported yet. For more info, please don’t hesitate to contact our Customer Support team. They’re the real pros when it comes to answering BookSmart questions, or any technical questions for that matter!
best,
Eileen
I like the changes. When do you think you will have a pocket size book in color?
YES! I just got my re-sized book in this week and am absolutely thrilled!! From a glorious 180-page, 383 photo, 12″ x 12″ coffee table edition all the way down to the more affordable 7″ x 7″–PIECE of CAKE, folks. Piece of Cake, I tell you!
A very small amount of editing was needed for text, and I chose to move a few photos around, but basically, I had a new book at the click of an icon!
WAY TO GO, BLURB! Kudos to all involved–all the way from those whose job it was to listen to complaints to those who actually did the nerdy stuff to make this possible.
THANK YOU.
I would like to know if Blurb plans to offer a book with Image Wrap with a Dust Cover just like a real Coffee Table book?
Hi Chito,
We’re working on lots of exciting new bookmaking options that we can’t wait to share with you. Soon! ImageWrap books with dustcovers aren’t in the plans for now, but stay tuned.
Thanks,
Lauren
How can I view or work on my book on two PCs? Which folders do I need to copy, move etc?
Hey Serhiy,
If you’re using BookSmart you’ll find this link helpful: http://bit.ly/a0SWuu. If you’re not using BookSmart, or if you have other questions, feel free to contact our Customer Support team: http://bit.ly/jr06Fj.
best,
Kent