Annual reports as interactive flipbooks
Give stakeholders a polished, page-turning report they'll actually read — instead of a PDF they download and forget.
An annual report has two audiences with opposite needs. Some readers want the summary and the headline figures; others want page 84, note 12, the exact wording. A PDF download serves the second group and loses the first. A flipbook can serve both, if you set it up for them.
Make the document navigable
Everything starts with bookmarks. A PDF outline becomes a table of contents in the viewer, and in a hundred-page report that is the difference between a document people use and one they abandon on page three.
- One bookmark per section, and one per note in the financial statements.
- Keep the wording identical to the printed contents page, so a reader who has the paper version is not lost.
- Make sure the text is real text. Then readers can search for "provision", "board", or a figure, rather than scrolling.
Link to a page, not just to the report
A flipbook link can point at a specific page. That turns the report into something you can reference: an email that sends the works council straight to the section about them, a press release that links to the paragraph it quotes, a board paper that points at the note it relies on. Nobody has to write "see page 84" and hope.
Publishing before the accountant is finished
Annual reports go through versions, often up to the last day. Because the flipbook points at your file rather than holding a copy, you can publish the link before the final PDF exists and replace the file when it does. Everyone who already has the link sees the final version, and no intermediate version is circulating with your logo on it.
The same mechanism makes a correction painless. If a figure has to be amended after publication, replace the file; the link and every embed stay as they are.
Access and timing
- Embargo. Keep the flipbook private until publication and the link is dormant; make it public at the moment you announce.
- PIN. For a report that goes to a supervisory board or a members' meeting before it goes public, a PIN is checked on the server, so the pages cannot be fetched around it.
- Expiry. For interim reports with a limited shelf life, a date after which the link stops working prevents an old set of figures from living on.
Size, and why it is worse here than elsewhere
Annual reports combine long documents with designed infographics, which is the combination that produces 60 MB files. Your readers include journalists on a train and board members on a hotel connection. Export for screen rather than print, keep it under 15 MB if you can, and check the result at full screen — the tables are what suffer first when compression is set too aggressively.
Accessibility, honestly
A flipbook renders your pages and puts a text layer over them, which means readers can select and copy text and the content can be indexed. It is not a substitute for a properly tagged accessible PDF or an HTML version of the report, and if you have legal accessibility obligations you should treat it as an addition rather than a replacement. Offering the download alongside the flipbook is the honest answer: readers who need a screen reader take the file, everyone else reads on the page.
Where it sits on your site
Give the report its own page under investor relations or "about us", with the flipbook embedded and a download link beside it. Keep previous years on the same page as separate flipbooks. There is no limit on how many you publish, and an archive that goes back ten years is a quiet signal of continuity that costs nothing to maintain.
Try a live example
An annual report with the figures, the five-year table and a page headed “What went wrong”. Every number in it is selectable text, so it can be quoted.
Frequently asked questions
Can I link to a specific page?
Yes. A flipbook link can open at a page number, which is what makes a long report referenceable in emails and press releases.
Can I publish before the final version is ready?
Yes. Share the link, then replace the file when the final PDF exists. Everyone who has the link sees the final version.
How do I keep it under embargo?
Keep the flipbook private until publication, or put a PIN on it for a supervisory board. The PIN is verified on the server before any page is loaded.
Is a flipbook accessible?
It renders your pages with a selectable text layer, which helps, but it does not replace a properly tagged PDF or an HTML version. Offer the download alongside it.
How large should the file be?
Under 15 MB if you can. Reports combine length with designed graphics, which is exactly the mix that produces 60 MB print exports.
Can readers still download the PDF?
Yes, unless you switch the download button off. For an annual report, leaving it on is usually the right choice.