I am having intermittant results with losing audio from an Engage interaction after publishing. It is still there in the unpublished version and if I preview an Engage interaction the audio is present. Most of my slides are Engage interactions. Sometimes the audio will be on a particular slide on one publishing action and missing the next. I have yet to get all the audio on all the slides at once.
Sorry to hear about the trouble you're seeing with this. Hopefully we'll be able to figure out what's causing those issues with the audio files.
First, can you please confirm that you're working with local project files?
Work on your local drive (your C: drive). Working on a network drive or a USB drive can cause erratic behavior, including file corruption, loss of audio, and other unexpected behavior.
You should also 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.
Also, though the article below is for Studio '09 published audio, it may help with the issues you're seeing and I would recommend taking a look at the suggestions:
My filename lengths are approximately 100 characters, but I haveused spaces in names almost all the way back to DOS (Yes, I go back that far.)and was happy to have that flexibility. I will have to get used to not usingspaces with Articulate products, but that will be difficult since I have usedspaces in all my directories for many years. I should be able to create somespecial directory for Presenter. I like to use Windows 7 Library for datastorage and am not sure how that will work.
My local drive is partitioned into C: and D: (Factory) and D: isdesignated as the Data Drive. I am saving the Presenter docs on the D: drive.Does that impact the ‘local’ vs. ‘external’ issue?
I have lost files too many times in the past, so I amperiodically using File/Save As to store a backup to an external drive througha USB port. It may be this will create a setting within PowerPoint. I should beable to get around that by closing PowerPoint after every backup.(Something ofa pain, but doable.)
I typically store my Presenter files in a folder with the samename as the folder. After the first version, I include a date code in the nameusing both spaces and underscores. (Ex: Compressor Overview 1_13_15.ppta) Ialso store the Published courseware with the same name as the root folder, butstore the Published version in a folder called Publish. (Ex. D:\Documents\APrimary\Business\IM Consulting\AWC\Compressor Overview\Publish\CompressorOverview)
So it looks like I have been violating several naming rules formany years. I have not had this audio problem with previous projects and I have beenusing Presenter for a couple of years.
My filename lengths are approximately 100 characters, but I haveused spaces in names almost all the way back to DOS (Yes, I go back that far.)and was happy to have that flexibility. I will have to get used to not usingspaces with Articulate products, but that will be difficult since I have usedspaces in all my directories for many years. I should be able to create somespecial directory for Presenter. I like to use Windows 7 Library for datastorage and am not sure how that will work.
I hear yha - I've been working with files for longer than I'd like to admit, but I've only seen a glimpse of DOS :) I've seen spaces, underscores, periods and too many characters in file names cause really strange issues in Articulate content, as well as content produced else where. It is a difficult habit to break, but it may save you some time later on in a project.
My local drive is partitioned into C: and D: (Factory) and D: isdesignated as the Data Drive. I am saving the Presenter docs on the D: drive.Does that impact the ‘local’ vs. ‘external’ issue?
As much as I'd like to say "no", the answer is "yes". I'm actually using the same set up. I use my C: drive for installations and I store all of my downloads, etc. on my D: drive. However, with content I'm modifying, I move it to the C: drive. Storing the content on that other partition is fine - but when you're actively working on a project, try moving it to the C: drive if you're running into issues.
I have lost files too many times in the past, so I amperiodically using File/Save As to store a backup to an external drive througha USB port. It may be this will create a setting within PowerPoint. I should beable to get around that by closing PowerPoint after every backup.(Something ofa pain, but doable.)
Backups are always a good idea! :) Are you creating Presenter Packages? If not, I would definitely recommend doing so as this will store all the data for the project in one easy to move/store package:
I typically store my Presenter files in a folder with the samename as the folder. After the first version, I include a date code in the nameusing both spaces and underscores. (Ex: Compressor Overview 1_13_15.ppta) Ialso store the Published courseware with the same name as the root folder, butstore the Published version in a folder called Publish. (Ex. D:\Documents\APrimary\Business\IM Consulting\AWC\Compressor Overview\Publish\CompressorOverview)
I used to do something similar, but now I usually follow a naming pattern close to "NamingGoneWild1172014.ppta". It's not as pretty, but it works and I can easily determine the date if need be. I try my best not to move the projects I'm working with around, but I do try to keep them in a very short directory. As I mentioned earlier, I try to keep my projects on the C: drive. I have a folder on that drive dedicated to my Articulate (and other development tools) projects. I'm using "C:\ProjectFiles\Articulate\", for my more commonly used files, for example.
So it looks like I have been violating several naming rules formany years. I have not had this audio problem with previous projects and I have beenusing Presenter for a couple of years.
We all tend to use the methods we're comfortable with - and that's fine :) If you weren't running into trouble with files, it wouldn't even be a suggestion. However, they're things that have come up in the past and moving away from those habits has improved issues for quite a few developers. It certainly could not be the cause, but then again, if it is, it would be best to avoid it!
3 Replies
Hi there Doyle,
Sorry to hear about the trouble you're seeing with this. Hopefully we'll be able to figure out what's causing those issues with the audio files.
First, can you please confirm that you're working with local project files?
Additional information regarding "Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces" in Windows operating systems can be found in the following Microsoft article.
Also, though the article below is for Studio '09 published audio, it may help with the issues you're seeing and I would recommend taking a look at the suggestions:
Articulate Support - Audio is missing or lost in published Presenter
Thanks for responding so quickly.
My filename lengths are approximately 100 characters, but I haveused spaces in names almost all the way back to DOS (Yes, I go back that far.)and was happy to have that flexibility. I will have to get used to not usingspaces with Articulate products, but that will be difficult since I have usedspaces in all my directories for many years. I should be able to create somespecial directory for Presenter. I like to use Windows 7 Library for datastorage and am not sure how that will work.
My local drive is partitioned into C: and D: (Factory) and D: isdesignated as the Data Drive. I am saving the Presenter docs on the D: drive.Does that impact the ‘local’ vs. ‘external’ issue?
I have lost files too many times in the past, so I amperiodically using File/Save As to store a backup to an external drive througha USB port. It may be this will create a setting within PowerPoint. I should beable to get around that by closing PowerPoint after every backup.(Something ofa pain, but doable.)
I typically store my Presenter files in a folder with the samename as the folder. After the first version, I include a date code in the nameusing both spaces and underscores. (Ex: Compressor Overview 1_13_15.ppta) Ialso store the Published courseware with the same name as the root folder, butstore the Published version in a folder called Publish. (Ex. D:\Documents\APrimary\Business\IM Consulting\AWC\Compressor Overview\Publish\CompressorOverview)
So it looks like I have been violating several naming rules formany years. I have not had this audio problem with previous projects and I have beenusing Presenter for a couple of years.
Thoughts???
Hi Doyle,
My filename lengths are approximately 100 characters, but I haveused spaces in names almost all the way back to DOS (Yes, I go back that far.)and was happy to have that flexibility. I will have to get used to not usingspaces with Articulate products, but that will be difficult since I have usedspaces in all my directories for many years. I should be able to create somespecial directory for Presenter. I like to use Windows 7 Library for datastorage and am not sure how that will work.
I hear yha - I've been working with files for longer than I'd like to admit, but I've only seen a glimpse of DOS :) I've seen spaces, underscores, periods and too many characters in file names cause really strange issues in Articulate content, as well as content produced else where. It is a difficult habit to break, but it may save you some time later on in a project.
My local drive is partitioned into C: and D: (Factory) and D: isdesignated as the Data Drive. I am saving the Presenter docs on the D: drive.Does that impact the ‘local’ vs. ‘external’ issue?
As much as I'd like to say "no", the answer is "yes". I'm actually using the same set up. I use my C: drive for installations and I store all of my downloads, etc. on my D: drive. However, with content I'm modifying, I move it to the C: drive. Storing the content on that other partition is fine - but when you're actively working on a project, try moving it to the C: drive if you're running into issues.
I have lost files too many times in the past, so I amperiodically using File/Save As to store a backup to an external drive througha USB port. It may be this will create a setting within PowerPoint. I should beable to get around that by closing PowerPoint after every backup.(Something ofa pain, but doable.)
Backups are always a good idea! :) Are you creating Presenter Packages? If not, I would definitely recommend doing so as this will store all the data for the project in one easy to move/store package:
Articulate Support - How to Create an Articulate Package
I typically store my Presenter files in a folder with the samename as the folder. After the first version, I include a date code in the nameusing both spaces and underscores. (Ex: Compressor Overview 1_13_15.ppta) Ialso store the Published courseware with the same name as the root folder, butstore the Published version in a folder called Publish. (Ex. D:\Documents\APrimary\Business\IM Consulting\AWC\Compressor Overview\Publish\CompressorOverview)
I used to do something similar, but now I usually follow a naming pattern close to "NamingGoneWild1172014.ppta". It's not as pretty, but it works and I can easily determine the date if need be. I try my best not to move the projects I'm working with around, but I do try to keep them in a very short directory. As I mentioned earlier, I try to keep my projects on the C: drive. I have a folder on that drive dedicated to my Articulate (and other development tools) projects. I'm using "C:\ProjectFiles\Articulate\", for my more commonly used files, for example.
So it looks like I have been violating several naming rules formany years. I have not had this audio problem with previous projects and I have beenusing Presenter for a couple of years.
We all tend to use the methods we're comfortable with - and that's fine :) If you weren't running into trouble with files, it wouldn't even be a suggestion. However, they're things that have come up in the past and moving away from those habits has improved issues for quite a few developers. It certainly could not be the cause, but then again, if it is, it would be best to avoid it!
Thanks, Doyle :)
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