4 Things to Know About the Triggers Panel in Storyline 360

As you’re creating engaging e-learning projects in Storyline 360, you might find you need to use a combination of triggers to create the exact interactions you envisioned. In general, the more complex the interaction, the more triggers you’ll need to create it. 

But increasing the number of triggers you’re using doesn’t mean you have to also increase your stress levels. That’s because the Triggers panel in Storyline 360 makes it easy to manage them all and troubleshoot anything that isn’t working as you’d expected.

Let’s walk through some of the most helpful features of the trigger panel to make sure you’re getting the most out of it.

1. What Can You Do in the Triggers Panel?

The Triggers panel is your one-stop-shop for viewing, creating, and editing the triggers on a slide or layer. You can find it on the top right-hand side of the Storyline window.

The buttons at the top of the Triggers panel make creating and adjusting your triggers incredibly easy. Here’s more about what each of them can help you do.

Below those buttons, you’ll find all the triggers on your slide or layer organized into five categories: Object triggers, Slide triggers, Key press triggers, Player triggers, and Variable triggers. To keep things tidy, you can collapse and expand that list by trigger category or groups of triggers.

2. Does Trigger Order Matter?

There are a number of circumstances where it does. That’s because triggers on the same object activate one at a time. That’s why it’s important to check that the order of the triggers in the Triggers panel reflects the order you want things to happen in.

That check isn’t hard to do at all. Just remember: 

• You can add triggers not just to your slides and layers, but also your slide masters too! So if there’s a trigger you expect to always use on a particular layout, it’s often easier to add it to the slide master rather than copy and paste it to every slide you’re using it on. Keep in mind, though, that slide master triggers execute before the slide and layer triggers.
• If there are multiple triggers on the same object that are activated by the same action, they’ll execute sequentially in the order they appear in the Triggers panel.

If you have multiple triggers on the same object, their order is easy. Just drag and drop them in the list or use the Up and Down arrows at the top of the Triggers panel.

Pro tip: if you’re troubleshooting a slide with several triggers and something isn’t working quite right, take a closer look at your trigger order. That’s often the culprit!

3. Is There A Way to Temporarily Turn Off a Trigger?

When an interaction isn’t working as expected, sometimes eliminating individual triggers one-by-one can help narrow down the culprit. But you don’t need to delete each trigger to troubleshoot your work. Instead, hover over the trigger you want to disable and click the Disable Trigger icon that appears (it looks like a lightning bolt). Click the icon again to re-enable your trigger.

4. What's That Unassigned Triggers Section All About?

When you’re in the middle of reworking a slide or layer, you might not realize that a change you made ended up breaking a connected trigger. Luckily, Storyline 360 has a safety net of sorts for when this happens: the Unassigned Triggers category. If a trigger loses the information about what should happen or when it should take place, it’ll move itself to this section and turn red so you know to fix it.

Wrap-Up

With the help of the Triggers panel, keeping track of all your triggers is super easy— no matter how complex the interaction. Interested in learning even more about how triggers and variables can help you create any e-learning experience you can imagine? Check out these articles:

• Storyline 360: Working with Triggers
• Storyline 360: Working with Variables
• Get a Step-by-Step Guide to the New Triggers Panel and Workflow in Storyline 360
• Storyline 360: What Are Triggers? 

Want to try something you learned here, but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial, and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning. If you have any questions, please share them in the comments.