Engage and Quizmaker, changes are not being saved properly.

Hi Hassan,

I apologize for the trouble and the delay!

Thank you very much for confirming that you're working locally. It may also help, if you haven't done so already, to check the file names for your presentation files and your interactions and quizzes. 

• You should make sure the directory path to your project files and your published output is less than 260 characters (for example C:\Articulate).
• Avoid using special characters, accents or symbols in your file names (this includes spaces and underscores).

Additional information regarding "Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces" in Windows operating systems can be found in the following Microsoft article.

It may also help to determine whether this issue is file-specific. If you haven't already, please create a blank PowerPoint and Presenter presentation. Insert a couple of placeholder interactions or quizzes. Try modifying the files and see if they reflect the same changes in the original .INTR or .QUIZ files - they should update. 

If this only happens with the original project, it may be an issue of corruption. One option would be to create a Presenter Package - this will create a package that is normally used for sharing, but it will also generate .INTR and .QUIZ files for the project into a new folder. When you do this, try opening the quiz or interaction files that are generated. Are they updated?

If you're still having trouble and you have successfully created the package, please try uploading the package to this thread. If it's not too large, I'll be able to take a look on my end and see what's happening.

On the other hand, if this happens with any project file, it may be an issue with the installation. Please try repairing Studio '13:

Articulate Support - How to Repair Articulate Studio '13

Please let us know if you see any improvement.

Best,

Christine

Thanks Christine, your input on this is much appreciated. I will try some of the above in a few days to see if things get better.

Hassan 

I, too, am experiencing these same issues with my Engage files. I created them, saved them, published them to my PPT, packaged my presentation and published it to my LMS. When I go back to made some edits to the Engage activities, they are not the same as what I published. I have lost parts of them AND the original files are nowhere to be found.

I am woking on my local drive as well. The files are not saved in the packaged folder either.

Thank you Hassan for posting your issue.

All my developers are experiencing the same exact issue! We have an impending deadline. Please help!!! We cannot find the source files any longer even though when we open Engage Interactions and Quizmaker quizzes the changes we made show up.

Thank you,

Dawn

I had this happen with my quizzes too - I tried to change an answer on two quiz questions, saved my work, and closed the quiz.  When I returned, the changes had not been saved.  The only remedy that worked for me was to delete the questions and re-enter them as two new questions - once I did that, everything saved fine.  I haven't had issues with Engage interactions yet, but I haven't tried to make changes either.

Hi Dawn and welcome to E-Learning Heroes!

Where are your changes being made? You mention that you cannot find the source files, but when you open the files, the changes show up? I'm not following.

As you can see here, we have not heard back from Hassan on his issue.

Have any of you tested the suggestions that Christine shared above?

Also note - You should all be working locally on a hard drive, not a network, server, or USB.

Leslie:

We are working from our hard drives and have ensured character paths less than 260, and we are still having issues. We go into the Engage or Quizmaker interaction using the Edit in Engage (or Quizmaker) button on the thumbnail in PowerPoint. We make the changes to our Engage interaction and save and return to the PPT file. The thumbnail shows that the file has been updated based on the date and time stamp. However, the Engage file itself still has the old date and time and none of the changes have been made to that file. When published, the correct Engage file appears. However, we are unable to find the actual Engage file anywhere on our hard drives as the one that was originally linked to is the older version with old date and time stamp.

We tried publishing an Articulate package and extracting the files, but that didn't work either, it just extracted the original file not the updated one. We've searched C; and cannot find the files anywhere.

We need to be able to go in and update files periodically with new information or to use the same interaction in another project..

Dawn

I am having the same problem. I made several changes to about 5 Engage interactions in my Presenter project. I have had to redo them 3 times! I make them in the presentation but the actual Engage Interaction files are not saved with the current date/time. Where are the files being saved to when updated within PPT?

Hi Cindy and welcome to E-Learning Heroes! Have you moved your files recently?

When you insert an Articulate Quizmaker quiz or Articulate Engage interaction into your Articulate Presenter course, a copy of the original *.quiz or *.intr file is stored within the course's *.ppta file. This means that if you ever lose the original quiz or interaction file, you'll still be able to edit and publish it in Presenter. Please review the following article for more information.

NOTE TO LESLIE -- I am having the same problems and have posted a few threads about this today and have not heard back yet.

!. File names not too long - have not changed any file names

2. on C drive

3. have not moved files

4.Tied the Package -- when I make a package file it is bringing the old version of the quiz

5. the quiz by itself in the folder has an old date on it altho I changed it today

6. Open file thru ppt it Is fine

7. Open file thru quizmaker it is the old one.

I've wasted 3 hours yesterday and all day today on this -- I just need to package this and give it to someone who is getting really impatient with me.

Thanks for any guidance on this.

Diane

Hi Diane!

I see your post here and there is a response, I'm not seeing any other posts.

So when you create an Articulate Package, you are seeing the incorrect file even though you are editing via Presenter?

I too am having the same issue. Due to the number of people contributing to this point I'm guessing this is a bug. I've followed all the rules as laid out in this thread.

Hi Brian,

This thread is a bit older, so I'd also want to confirm that you're using the latest update of Studio '13 update 5. You'll also want to make sure that you're working locally as described here, and this thread is a bit more recent with someone who has having a similar issue and I outlined a scenario under which that could occur. 

The only scenario that you described that applies to my situation is that a few of my Engage files contain spaces. Until now I was not aware we should not use spaces. I guess that's the only issue. I wish there was a way to prevent that because now I have to recreate all of those interactions if I wish to re-use them somewhere else.

Thanks Ashley for the follow-up.

Hi Brian,

I try to steer clear of spaces in file names in general, and especially in Studio/Storyline as when publishing the space will add in extra characters. I'm glad you'll be able to follow all the steps I outlined there going forward and please feel free to let us know if you need anything else. 

We are experiencing the exact same issue. We have a number of courses we are trying to update. We have spent countless hours redoing our changes and trying to get them to remain in our engage and quiz maker slides. I have followed all the rules as laid out in this thread.

What is the resolve for this problem?  Unfortunately we do not have time to keep making the same changes over and over.  

Many thanks

I feel your pain. Even after I removed the root cause of the issue (ie, the spaces in titles) it didn't reconnect the engage and quiz files. So, I guess the files will be disconnected forever and anytime I make a change to the individual interaction I have to do it twice - once to the standalone file and once to the PowerPoint file. What a pain.

Hi Jill and Brian,

As mentioned above we've seen that behavior when one or more of the original files has been moved or when they are worked on off a network drive. Once the files have been disassociated, there isn't a way to reconnect them unless you were to add a brand new version to the course. I haven't seen any other scenarios that were attributed to a known bug or something that our QA team is investigating, but as always we're happy to take a look at your specific files to see if we can replicate the issue. To share them, you'll want to create a Presenter package as described here and then send along to us here. 

I am having the same problem. Reading through this thread, I think the root cause in my case was having a team member upload the .ppt and .quiz files to our ftp site, then my downloading them and updating them from the .ppt. (The Quizmaker files themselves did not update, but the new published version showed my changes.) So it was apparently caused by MOVING the files.

So I'm thinking that if more changes are needed, I won't have to update the standalone Quizmaker files--just make the changes from the .ppt file, and all previous changes will be save in the .ppta file.  Am I correct?

Hi Karen,

Yes, they're still stored in the ppta file as detailed here so if you lost the original or severed the connection you can update and edit by accessing it within Presenter. 

In addition Karen, when working on an Articulate Presenter course in a collaborative environment with other developers, use this workflow to avoid file corruption, loss of resources, and other erratic behavior.

I have been plagued by this infuriating problem which caused me a lot of difficulties when trying to send updated Engage Interaction and Quizmaker files to a translation company. The changes that I made when working within the PowerPoint master were not being saved to the individual Quizmaker/Engage files that were stored in the same folder. Eventually, after a lot of experimentation, and trial and error, I found a work-around. This may be useful to others: 

(1) Open your Engage Interaction of Quizmaker file in the PowerPoint master by clicking the 'Edit in Quizmaker' or 'Edit in Engage' button. This opens up the correct one that you have amended - but are unable to save externally.

(2) Click the file button at the top left of the screen - this is a circle with 'a' in it that turns orange when you mouse over it. The file menu gives a few options, one of which is to send the file by e-mail. Click this function.

(3) An email will open up with the Articulate Quizmaker or engage file automatically added to the e-mail in preparation to send. Right click on this file from within the e-mail and you can save it.

(4) Save the selected file to where you want it go (in my case in the same folder that houses the PP master file for the CBT). If you don't change the name it will tell that it already exists and ask if you want to over-write the original.

This is what I did - it over-writes the old file with the correctly updated one. The date and time changes straight away and you can see you have achieved your aim. Now you can save and/or send the correct supporting Engage/Quizmaker files. Of course, if you do wish to rename it rather than over-write at this point, you can do so.

This may appear a little long-winded but it doesn't take long in practice and works just fine for me. It has allowed me to ensure the externally saved Engage/Quizmaker files are identical to the ones embedded in the PowerPoint master file.

Nigel

Hi Nigel

I've been doing exactly the same process outlined by you for the last year, as we have to work on a network drive because we have multiple editors of the same e-Learning content. This whole process drives me bonkers. Your solution is the way to ensure your amendments are truly saved. However I'm not a happy bunny, and Articulate need to understand how corporate customers work. Drive C is sooo last century. Greetings from England.

Hi, Mike -- Thanks so much for your reply! As a bit of time has passed since Nigel's last post here in the thread, it's possible he is no longer subscribed and may not see your post. If you'd like, you are welcome to reach out to him directly using the 'Contact Me' link on his profile page. 

I also wanted to note, if you'd like to share your thoughts or ideas with our Product Development team, here is the form you would need to do so.