I would like to have a trigger launch an external file -- PDF, Word, PPT, Excel -- that the user may download and/or print. I do not want to have it hidden in Resources or Attachments tabs -- I need an active link on the main screen.
I have tried "Jump to URL/File" trigger but cannot get it to launch the file. Is it even possible?
Hi Mark - this is possible. Add a button, text box or shape to your main screen. And the add a trigger to the button, text box or shape that says:
Action: Jump to URL/File
File: click the ... and select the PDF you want to use.
When: user clicks
Object: select the name of the button or text box you have added to the main screen.
When you publish your project, Storyline adds the PDF to the external_files folder in the published story_content folder.
Note that the link will not work if you are previewing the project and sometimes the link is blocked ( because of browser security) when you are running the project from your desktop.
The best way to test whether or not the link is working is to upload to a webserver or to your LMS.
Mark, there is one other thing that I should mention. I find that sometimes when using text boxes the links don't always work. I typically place a transparent shape over the text and add the trigger to the shape instead of directly to the text.
Some times, if you upload to Sharepoint the name of the folder is forcefully changed from external_files to external_files_
Which Storyline dosen't detect...
I hope there is a way to change the name of the output folder or links to that folder
or to change Sharepoint rules... :(
Hi kenneth,
I recently experienced this problem when i tried uploading my published SL course to sharepoint 2013. Have you found and answer or workaround to this issue. Basically, the hyperlinks to external files dont work since these are found inside the external_files folder.
This is a show stopper for my project. Any help or suggestion will be greatly appreciated.
I want to do the same thing Mark described at the top of this thread. I have a very large image that I want to display but it is too large to be included in the Storyline file. So, I placed a smaller version in a slide and linked it to the larger image.
I did all the steps Nancy listed. But it does not work. The strange thing is I have done this before but cannot get it to work now. I wonder what I'm doing wrong. No matter what I try, the External Files folder where the image should be, is not created.
Hi Guillermo, I just tried this and it worked fine. I tried it with a .png image and a jpeg. In both cases it created the external_files folder in the story_content folder as expected.
What format is the image you are using? Maybe it has something to do with that.
Just to test the process, my system, etc., I added a link to an external URL using the same steps: new trigger, URL, when user clicks, picture. And it work just fine. I must be doing something that prevents Storyline from using the .png image
Those steps should work. Where is the external .png located? If you are linking to the image on a server - maybe try pulling it over to your desktop and relinking.
Thank you for responding again. The image is on the desktop computer; in fact, in an "images" folder, next to the folder where the Storyline project is. This is very strange because as I said, it did work for me at one time.
It seems like it's not a programming issue but a technical issue with Storyline. Why wouldn't it create the Extenal Files folder? Or, it does create the folder but it is empty, which is even stranger, why would it create it and not put anything in there?
Are you seeing the folder created and it's empty or it's not being created at all? You mentioned working locally, are you publishing locally as well as described here? If you're able to share the .story file here with the image you're trying to link, perhaps we could see if something is not linked correctly?
Well, this is getting too complicated for me. First, let me say that I cheated and solved the problem, manually creating the External Files folder inside the story_content folder, and placed the image there, and it works. It works only when viewing it online, it does not work off my hard drive.
Second, the project belongs to an online course delivered in Desire2Learn. So, after publishing the project locally, I upload it, along with the html page where the it goes, to the server. By the way, when I say publish, I mean locally, I select the web option and save it to a folder in my hard drive, then zip it and upload it. Is that not the way to do it? I've been using that way for months and it works. I use an <iframe> tag within my html page.
Third, I noticed a warning in the tutorial you indicated, where it recommends to publish to a local hard drive, not a network drive. I wasn't doing that, I was publishing to a network drive, not my desktop computer's hard drive (that's what we are told to do). But I just tried publishing to the local hard drive and it does not work either.
Finally, I don't know what the .story file is, I don't see it. I see a story.html file and a story.swf file.
I forgot to answer the first question. The folder is not being created. But I have been successful before; that why I know about it and how I could cheat
Of course, sorry, I was focusing only in the output. I have no idea why it is so mportant to publish to a local drive, but in my case, it did solve the problem.
Working off a network, shared drive or USB is known to cause erratic behavior due to latency. You can see this documented here, and it's good practice to work on files and publish locally., You can always back up to a network or shared drive if needed.
Storyline was not placing my linked PDF into the External Files folder when I published. I relocated the PDF into the "SAME" folder as my Storyline file -- republished -- then it worked.
Thanks @Nancy Woinoski for your suggestion resolution, which worked. However, I'm having an issue of when the linked pdf is closed my entire course is closed. How can I have the linked document display within the current browser window and allow users to close the document without closing the course?
I see that you've reached out to our Support Engineers for help and are working with my teammate, Chester! You're in great hands. We'll continue the conversation in your support case.
23 Replies
Hi Mark - this is possible. Add a button, text box or shape to your main screen. And the add a trigger to the button, text box or shape that says:
Action: Jump to URL/File
File: click the ... and select the PDF you want to use.
When: user clicks
Object: select the name of the button or text box you have added to the main screen.
When you publish your project, Storyline adds the PDF to the external_files folder in the published story_content folder.
Note that the link will not work if you are previewing the project and sometimes the link is blocked ( because of browser security) when you are running the project from your desktop.
The best way to test whether or not the link is working is to upload to a webserver or to your LMS.
Thanks, Nancy. It must be the webserver/LMS element. I've done everything else. I'll try that.
Mark, there is one other thing that I should mention. I find that sometimes when using text boxes the links don't always work. I typically place a transparent shape over the text and add the trigger to the shape instead of directly to the text.
Some times, if you upload to Sharepoint the name of the folder is forcefully changed from external_files to external_files_
Which Storyline dosen't detect...
I hope there is a way to change the name of the output folder or links to that folder
or to change Sharepoint rules... :(
Hi kenneth,
I recently experienced this problem when i tried uploading my published SL course to sharepoint 2013. Have you found and answer or workaround to this issue. Basically, the hyperlinks to external files dont work since these are found inside the external_files folder.
This is a show stopper for my project. Any help or suggestion will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance.
Caesar
Kenneth Hansen said:
"Some times, if you upload to Sharepoint the name of the folder is forcefully changed from external_files to external_files_
Which Storyline dosen't detect...
I hope there is a way to change the name of the output folder or links to that folder
or tochange Sharepoint rules... :("
I have also run into this issue. Has anyone found a resolution?
Thanks!
I want to do the same thing Mark described at the top of this thread. I have a very large image that I want to display but it is too large to be included in the Storyline file. So, I placed a smaller version in a slide and linked it to the larger image.
I did all the steps Nancy listed. But it does not work. The strange thing is I have done this before but cannot get it to work now. I wonder what I'm doing wrong. No matter what I try, the External Files folder where the image should be, is not created.
Hi Guillermo, I just tried this and it worked fine. I tried it with a .png image and a jpeg. In both cases it created the external_files folder in the story_content folder as expected.
What format is the image you are using? Maybe it has something to do with that.
png
Just to test the process, my system, etc., I added a link to an external URL using the same steps: new trigger, URL, when user clicks, picture. And it work just fine. I must be doing something that prevents Storyline from using the .png image
Those steps should work. Where is the external .png located? If you are linking to the image on a server - maybe try pulling it over to your desktop and relinking.
Thank you for responding again. The image is on the desktop computer; in fact, in an "images" folder, next to the folder where the Storyline project is. This is very strange because as I said, it did work for me at one time.
It seems like it's not a programming issue but a technical issue with Storyline. Why wouldn't it create the Extenal Files folder? Or, it does create the folder but it is empty, which is even stranger, why would it create it and not put anything in there?
Hi Guillermo,
Are you seeing the folder created and it's empty or it's not being created at all? You mentioned working locally, are you publishing locally as well as described here? If you're able to share the .story file here with the image you're trying to link, perhaps we could see if something is not linked correctly?
Well, this is getting too complicated for me. First, let me say that I cheated and solved the problem, manually creating the External Files folder inside the story_content folder, and placed the image there, and it works. It works only when viewing it online, it does not work off my hard drive.
Second, the project belongs to an online course delivered in Desire2Learn. So, after publishing the project locally, I upload it, along with the html page where the it goes, to the server. By the way, when I say publish, I mean locally, I select the web option and save it to a folder in my hard drive, then zip it and upload it. Is that not the way to do it? I've been using that way for months and it works. I use an <iframe> tag within my html page.
Third, I noticed a warning in the tutorial you indicated, where it recommends to publish to a local hard drive, not a network drive. I wasn't doing that, I was publishing to a network drive, not my desktop computer's hard drive (that's what we are told to do). But I just tried publishing to the local hard drive and it does not work either.
Finally, I don't know what the .story file is, I don't see it. I see a story.html file and a story.swf file.
I forgot to answer the first question. The folder is not being created. But I have been successful before; that why I know about it and how I could cheat
Hello again. I did publish to my local hard drive again and made sure the project was locating the image, and it did work.
Thank you!!
The .story file is the storyline project file - the one you are working in to build your course. It is not part of the published output.
Of course, sorry, I was focusing only in the output. I have no idea why it is so mportant to publish to a local drive, but in my case, it did solve the problem.
Hi Guillermo,
Working off a network, shared drive or USB is known to cause erratic behavior due to latency. You can see this documented here, and it's good practice to work on files and publish locally., You can always back up to a network or shared drive if needed.
Storyline was not placing my linked PDF into the External Files folder when I published. I relocated the PDF into the "SAME" folder as my Storyline file -- republished -- then it worked.
Thanks @Nancy Woinoski for your suggestion resolution, which worked. However, I'm having an issue of when the linked pdf is closed my entire course is closed. How can I have the linked document display within the current browser window and allow users to close the document without closing the course?
Hello Vivian!
I see that you've reached out to our Support Engineers for help and are working with my teammate, Chester! You're in great hands. We'll continue the conversation in your support case.