E-Learning Heroes - Advice and ideas from the Articulate Community

I'm having trouble getting links to attached PDFs and other documents to work from within Storyline. I'm using the "hyperlink" trigger function by selecting text. I've checked each link using the green checkmark which indicates the links are working. When I leave the screen and return and check the green checkmark again, the links are no longer working. I've checked the published output folder and all docs are appearing in the "External files" folder. I've also uploaded to a live site and tested: what happens is a browser window opens with an error message.  

I've also got these same documents linked from the Resources tab and they work fine from Resources. Would this be causing the problem?

Welcome to Heroes, Felicity!

If you'd like, we'd be happy to take a closer look at it. Please submit a case, including your .story file, using this link so our support team can assist you further:

Thanks!  

Hi

I'm having the same problem as Felicity. I've created links to PDFs via a trigger on a button in my Storyline file (as opposed to attaching them to the 'resources' tab) because the client wanted to ensure that, as far as possible, the learners read each PDF before moving on. So I have also created a condition that the button must have been 'visited' before the user can move on.

However, no matter where I place the PDFs (on my desktop or my C drive) the link doesn't work on the published file. The 'hand' icon appears when you click on the button, but nothing happens. The PDFs are in the 'external files' folder in the output folder.

When I go back to check the link, occasionally, and randomly, it changes.

I really need to send the live files to the client for review, and I'd like to be able to do so with the link working.

Thanks for any help

Anne

Hi Anne,

When you test your output and the links don't work, where are you testing from? If you've published for Web, you should first upload your content to a web server and test it by launching the course from there. Testing the web-published content locally from your own hard drive can cause browser security restrictions, which prevent the pdfs from opening.

If you don't have a good place to host web-published content for testing purposes, you could use our free Tempshare service...it keeps the content online for you for 10 days. Or, another approach is, if you prefer to test your content locally and you plan on having all your reviewers view your content locally from their own hard drives, you could publish for CD. This prepares the content for local viewing and will prevent those pesky browser security problems.

If that doesn't solve the issue, would you mind submitting a support case so that our support team can help you further troubleshoot?

Hi Jeanette

I published for LMS, as we put our content onto the client's LMS in a test area. If we uploaded the files as normal, I could log in as a learner and test them there.

Otherwise, I'll try your suggested solution.

Many thanks for your quick response; let's hope we don't have to grapple with this one too long!

Anne

Yes, in that case I'd recommend uploading to your client's LMS first, and launch the course from there — hopefully that will give you the behavior you're looking for.

Hi Jeanette

Just thought I'd let you know that the PDF links worked just fine once we uploaded the files to the LMS - in fact, we tested the project in our own LMS as well as the client's.

Many thanks for your help

Anne

Oh cool! Glad to hear it - thanks for letting us know, Anne!

Hi,

Another PDF-linking issue: When I run my course as HTML5 on an android tablet, clicking on the PDF links results in the PDF document being downloaded in stead of opened. Any solution to that?

Jørgen

Hi Jørgen, the behavior you're experiencing might be the default behavior of the browser you're using on your Android tablet. You're welcome to submit a support case if you'd like our support team to take a look.