In Storyline, when the text box has a variable to display and the text box is smaller than the actual text it's supposed to show in real time, the text is resized to fit the box. This results in a disaster :)
Basically, the text box ignores the Do not autofit setting if the text box is smaller AND the content is a variable. Any workaround or fix on this? Storyline 360. The beauty of Storyline is using variables, so we don't have to create hundreds of slides, so this is pretty important. Anyone had success tackling this?
Within Storyline (any version) the variables referenced and the text entry are not dynamic and won't update the overall text box size based on what you typed. It's designed to shrink the text to fit within the text box so you'll want to adjust the text box to display the largest amount of text possible.
I'd love for you to share more ideas and examples of how this is impacting your work. Can you send that along to our Product team as a Feature requests here?
I am also having this issue. I have attached screen shots of what you see in storyline vs what happens when published or previewed. I tried isolating just the dynamic bit, and now it only shrinks that part. I tried dragging the text box off way to the right of the slide so there was "ample room" and it still shrunk everything. I would guess its putting it to the minimum font size.
How is this affecting my workflow? I can not output an acceptable final product.
I am also having this issue in older lessons that used to display just fine in Flash. Now the variable text is completely illegible and useless in HTML5 output. I am using Storyline 3.
Unfortunately, changing text box to a shape did not help, and neither did changing size of font.
Is your player size set to Scale player to fill browser window? We have an open bug in Storyline 3, where the variable reference font size is small with this condition in the HTML5 output.
Yes, it is. Fortunately, I was able to resize the box so that all the text fit inside it and within the slide boundaries, and that seemed to fix it. (The variable name is now very short,)
Thanks for confirming, Debbie. I've added this conversation to the report that Katie mentioned above so that we can track the impact on users and notify you of updates in the future.
I'm glad that you were able to find a solution as well.
Hi, I have found an workaround to the issue of text shrinks when a variable refernece is used.
Wherever I am disaplying such text boxes, I have adding a trigger as Set Player.AccessibleText = True, and then text becomes completly readable (scroll may appear).
Hello, the best solution I have found is what Wendy and Tanmay both suggested - Use a shape to hold your variable text and add a Set Player.AccessibleText = True trigger to the slide.
Ultimately, it comes down to reclaiming how your text is styled from Articulate. Success came by changing the line spacing for that text box or shape from the default 45 pt to single. For good measure, I also lowered spacing after to 0 pt. Hope this helps someone else!
Is there plans to change this behavior? This is really problematic when you want to put the text box in the master slide to dynamically display the slide title for example. Thank you!
Would you mind sharing a Peek 360 recording or a sample project file here of how this behavior affects your work? We want to make sure that it gets properly documented either as a Feature Request or a bug depending on its nature.
I'm sorry and in no means trying to make this hard by asking for more information.
Rest assured I'm genuinely trying to get present and relevant data to help get a better idea of how the bug can occur. I've sent you a private email as well so that we can collaborate and work together towards a resolution.
Hi Michael, thank you for reaching out. I can consistently recreate the issue so I will send you a .story file as an example.
For the timebeing I went with Mark Hunter's solution of setting the line spacing to single line spacing. Oddly, on some occassions the text is still a little be smaller.
Also, as variable text appears to render differently, the font colour can look a bit off, in my case lighter. Which means I have some text that is a different line height, colour and size to the rest of the course.
I also need to submit a case about inconsistent line spacing if you use a custom size, but I won't go off topic here.
I sent you an email and Storyline file on the 9th April and I have not had a response or acknowledgement of receipt of files.
Your emails may have been blocked, but they are not in my junk folder and I cannot find a response.
Are able to provide me with an update, please?
Also, does Articulate have plans to move to a proper customer support system, such as Zendesk, where we can see a history of our cases and the status of them? Rather than only being able to reply to emails.
With the increase in subscription costs, I would expect a better support service.
25 Replies
Hi Zsolt,
Within Storyline (any version) the variables referenced and the text entry are not dynamic and won't update the overall text box size based on what you typed. It's designed to shrink the text to fit within the text box so you'll want to adjust the text box to display the largest amount of text possible.
I'd love for you to share more ideas and examples of how this is impacting your work. Can you send that along to our Product team as a Feature requests here?
Having this same issue reappear now with the latest update and a course created last May (2018). Submitted a case: 01660188
Thanks, Tracy.
It looks like Renz is already taking a look and you should be hearing from him soon.
I am also having this issue. I have attached screen shots of what you see in storyline vs what happens when published or previewed. I tried isolating just the dynamic bit, and now it only shrinks that part. I tried dragging the text box off way to the right of the slide so there was "ample room" and it still shrunk everything. I would guess its putting it to the minimum font size.
How is this affecting my workflow? I can not output an acceptable final product.
Try changing the text box where the variable is displayed to a shape instead
I am also having this issue in older lessons that used to display just fine in Flash. Now the variable text is completely illegible and useless in HTML5 output. I am using Storyline 3.
Unfortunately, changing text box to a shape did not help, and neither did changing size of font.
Hi there, Debbie!
Is your player size set to Scale player to fill browser window? We have an open bug in Storyline 3, where the variable reference font size is small with this condition in the HTML5 output.
Let me know if that matches your set-up!
Yes, it is. Fortunately, I was able to resize the box so that all the text fit inside it and within the slide boundaries, and that seemed to fix it. (The variable name is now very short,)
Thanks for confirming, Debbie. I've added this conversation to the report that Katie mentioned above so that we can track the impact on users and notify you of updates in the future.
I'm glad that you were able to find a solution as well.
Hi, I have found an workaround to the issue of text shrinks when a variable refernece is used.
Wherever I am disaplying such text boxes, I have adding a trigger as Set Player.AccessibleText = True, and then text becomes completly readable (scroll may appear).
Hello, the best solution I have found is what Wendy and Tanmay both suggested - Use a shape to hold your variable text and add a Set Player.AccessibleText = True trigger to the slide.
My solution:
Ultimately, it comes down to reclaiming how your text is styled from Articulate. Success came by changing the line spacing for that text box or shape from the default 45 pt to single. For good measure, I also lowered spacing after to 0 pt. Hope this helps someone else!
Hi Mark,
Thank you for updating this thread with your solution! I'm sure others in the E-Learning Heroes community will benefit from this!
Any movement on this? It has been nearly SEVEN YEARS since this post was published.
Is there plans to change this behavior? This is really problematic when you want to put the text box in the master slide to dynamically display the slide title for example. Thank you!
Hello Noémie,
Would you mind sharing a Peek 360 recording or a sample project file here of how this behavior affects your work? We want to make sure that it gets properly documented either as a Feature Request or a bug depending on its nature.
Hi, this is a major issue for me too. I hate it! 😔
Is there an update on this issue?
Hello Barry,
There hasn't been any movement on this bug, but we'd like to look into it if we could get our hands on a consistent reproduction of the problem.
I've sent you an email so we can work on that privately.
All the beset,
Michael Marcos
Customer Support Product Liaison
Michael, this is an insult.
Consistent reproduction? How about all the customers for the last 7 years (probably more)?
Hello Necj,
I'm sorry and in no means trying to make this hard by asking for more information.
Rest assured I'm genuinely trying to get present and relevant data to help get a better idea of how the bug can occur. I've sent you a private email as well so that we can collaborate and work together towards a resolution.
Hi Michael, thank you for reaching out. I can consistently recreate the issue so I will send you a .story file as an example.
For the timebeing I went with Mark Hunter's solution of setting the line spacing to single line spacing. Oddly, on some occassions the text is still a little be smaller.
Also, as variable text appears to render differently, the font colour can look a bit off, in my case lighter. Which means I have some text that is a different line height, colour and size to the rest of the course.
I also need to submit a case about inconsistent line spacing if you use a custom size, but I won't go off topic here.
Thank you.
Hi Michael, I hope you're well.
I sent you an email and Storyline file on the 9th April and I have not had a response or acknowledgement of receipt of files.
Your emails may have been blocked, but they are not in my junk folder and I cannot find a response.
Are able to provide me with an update, please?
Also, does Articulate have plans to move to a proper customer support system, such as Zendesk, where we can see a history of our cases and the status of them? Rather than only being able to reply to emails.
With the increase in subscription costs, I would expect a better support service.
Thank you.
Hi Barry, I sent you another email when you responded to this thread. Would you mind checking your inbox again to see if that made it through?
Michael Marcos
Is there any chance to have a solution that will work?
We have some major issues lately after keeping up with updates.
Hi Martin, try setting the text box to be a fixed height. That helped me, although the paragraph spacing is larger than it should be.
Also, single line spacing helps to fix the issue too.