Flipboard Storyboards: How to Set Up and Use Them

This article covers how to create a Flipboard Storyboard on the desktop version of Flipboard which is accessed through a web browser on Windows or macOS computers.

What Is a Flipboard Storyboard?

A Flipboard Storyboard is a curated mini-magazine on Flipboard that lets users create a smaller, more targeted content collection than a regular Flipboard magazine.

How to Tell if You Have Access to Storyboards

To get started setting up Storyboards, you'll need to start in your account, just as you would to create a magazine. Storyboards uses a Flipboard tool called Curator Pro. However, it's important to note that not everyone has access to Curator Pro. It is available to publishers, bloggers, and select users that the company has individually vetted in Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US.

To determine if you can create Storyboards:

1. Open Flipboard and click your Profile picture in the top right corner of the screen.

2. In the menu that appears, select Profile.

3. On your Profile page, scroll down to see if you have a section titled Storyboards. If you do, then Storyboards are enabled for you. If not, then you'll have to wait until Flipboard opens the capability to all users. There is no way to request the ability to create Storyboards.

If you do have the option to create Storyboards, then getting started is as easy as creating a magazine. Before you get started, though, there are a few things to know:

• Storyboards can have a limited number of curated articles added to them. Flipboard suggests that Storyboards follow the principle that 'smaller is better.' For this reason, the company suggests only 5-12 articles should be curated for a Flipboard.
• Despite the suggestion, Storyboards can be divided into sections. Each section can have no more than 10 articles included.
• The Lifespan of a Storyboard is about three days. They'll stay online until you remove them, however, after 3 days the level of traffic visiting a storyboard seems to drop pretty dramatically.
• Flipboard picks great storyboards to include their own weekly Top Picks Storyboard, so even if traffic has dropped, leaving your Storyboard online can still have benefits.

How to Create a Flipboard Storyboard

With those things in mind, and if you have access to them, here's how to create a Storyboard.

1. From your Flipboard profile, click Make a New Storyboard in the Storyboards section.

2. A dialog box opens for you to enter the Title and Description of your storyboard. Enter these details and then click Create.

   If you're not sure of the title and description that you want to enter at this time, just enter some text, and choose something that's at least a couple of words long for each field, as there are character minimums to meet. You must complete these fields before you can create the magazine, but you can always change them later.

3. Next you're taken to Curator Pro, where you can populate your magazine. The magazine is divided by the header information, which includes the title and description you've created, an image, and category tags. It's best to save the image to last to add, since it comes from the articles you include in the Storyboard. So, click Add Topic Tags to add the tags you want to assign to your magazine.

   If you choose to, you can complete all of the header information after you've added articles to your Storyboard. In some cases, the Storyboard takes shape as you add articles, which means less changing the header information after the fact if you change directions during creation.

4. In the Add Topic Tags dialog box that appears, start typing a keyword for your first tag. A list of associated keywords will appear, select the one that best fits your Storyboard. Repeat this process until you have the tags you want to use, up to a total of five. When you've finished, click Save.

5. To add the body of the storyboard, scroll down to the Welcome to your storyboard. section. There, you'll find a text box where you can enter a URL for the Storyboard or you can add a section title. Regardless of which option you choose, just press Enter on your keyboard to add the selection.

   One thing to keep in mind as you're creating a Storyboard is the order with which you enter items into the magazine. For example, if you want to have one article, two titled sections (with articles), and then a final article, you must first enter the URL for the first article and press Enter. Then enter the name of each of the two sections, pressing Enter after each one (you'll see how to add articles to these sections below). And finally, you'll enter the last article you want to include and press Enter. You can rearrange items in the Storyboard by drag and drop, but it can be temperamental so a little preplanning can be helpful.

6. If you choose to create a section title, when you start typing in the text field, some options will appear below the text field. Here you can choose the size of the thumbnail images for each item in that section of the Storyboard and whether or not you want to have each of the items in the section numbered. Make your selections and press Enter on your keyboard. Then, repeat this process for any section you want to add.

7. To add stories to a section in Storyboard, tap Edit on the far right side of the section title.

8. This opens the section for editing. It looks just like the options that appeared when you were creating it and it's where you can change the size of the thumbnails that will appear in the final Storyboard if desired. Or, you can use the text field within the section to enter the URLs you want to include. After you paste the URL into the text field, press Enter on your keyboard.

9. The new URL will appear in the section. If you want to edit the title or description for the URL, press Edit to the far right of the URL. When you're finished, click Save.

10. Repeat this process for adding articles and sections until you have collected all the content you want to include in the Storyboard. When you're finished, you can go back and complete any fields in the header that you skipped before. Specifically if you want to add (or change) the main image for the storyboard, scroll to the top and select the image or the image placeholder.

11. In the dialog box that appears, select the image you want to use for your Storyboard and click Save.

12. When you're finished adding content to your Storyboard, click Preview at the bottom of the page to preview what your finalized storyboard will look like. If you're happy with the way the Storyboard looks, click Publish.

    After you add the title and description for the Storyboard, it will be automatically saved each time you change something. So, you can start on a storyboard, or even create one, and wait until later to finish or publish it without losing the work you've already put in.

13. You'll receive a confirmation message where you can review the title you created and the tags you chose. You can also choose to publish the storyboard now, or at some point in the future. When you've made all your selection, click Confirm publish. If you change your mind, click Cancel.

14. The Storyboard will be published, you're returned to your profile page, and a sharing window opens where you can share your Storyboard on Flipboard, Twitter, and other social media outlets, or you can copy the URL for the Storyboard to share with others using your email or other communication tools.

Check Analytics in 24 Hours

Once your Storyboard is published, it will take about 24 hours before you can see any analytics about how it's performing, but once those come available, you can find them by clicking the graph icon on the Storyboard thumbnail in your Profile. You can also edit the storyboard at any time by clicking the pencil icon.