... closing down all instances of PPT, opening the file you want to publish (and no other PPT file) and then publish as normal.
I used to see crashes maybe 10-30% of the time, but this has now reduced dramatically by following the above steps over the last 3-4 months. Maybe it allows PPT to clear its head? Either way, it's worth a try if you're having the odd crash.
Even after closing PowerPoint, if your PPTA file is large (say, it has a lot of audio and/or video), it can take awhile for Articulate to finish its work. What I do is open task manager and leave it open. On the Processes tab, I monitor a process called pptal.exe after closing PowerPoint. Until that disappears, Articulate is still working (it appears to be copying the .ppta file from a temporary folder to your development folder). If you open PowerPoint again before this process completes, sometimes issues can occur. And, in fact, I have experieinced issues if I close PowerPoint but the PowerPoint process doesn't actually have time to clear before I re-open PowerPoint.
Also, I have found that the more I use my computer while publishing, the more likely it is that publishing will hang and I have to force it closed with CTRL+ALT+DEL. So I make it a point to try and publish when I need a 10-15 minute break!
Is there a laptop or desktop configuration that will speed the processing? More memory? Video card? Also, can you tell me anything about creating content on a mac and then uploading to my LMS on a Windows system?
More memory will definitely be a plus during publishing, Mike. There are lots of other tips in the forums on increasing publishing speed. For example, if you have a lot of PowerPoint-created shapes and what-not on a single slide, grouping those and saving the group out as an image and then replacing the group with the image definitely will help. In short, the fewer elements per slide that Articulate has to deal with during publishing, the faster publishing will be.
As far as the Mac goes, sorry, can't help you with that. But again, a search of these forums will yield a lot of discussion on that.
@Steve - I figured there must be some connection between pushing your machine too hard and Articulate crashing. But I can't say I've proven anything either way. That may be the case if you're running a tired machine? Publishing speeds (and stability) in SL are a serious improvement though. Very rapid indeed.
5 Replies
To add to your tip, Simon...
Even after closing PowerPoint, if your PPTA file is large (say, it has a lot of audio and/or video), it can take awhile for Articulate to finish its work. What I do is open task manager and leave it open. On the Processes tab, I monitor a process called pptal.exe after closing PowerPoint. Until that disappears, Articulate is still working (it appears to be copying the .ppta file from a temporary folder to your development folder). If you open PowerPoint again before this process completes, sometimes issues can occur. And, in fact, I have experieinced issues if I close PowerPoint but the PowerPoint process doesn't actually have time to clear before I re-open PowerPoint.
Also, I have found that the more I use my computer while publishing, the more likely it is that publishing will hang and I have to force it closed with CTRL+ALT+DEL. So I make it a point to try and publish when I need a 10-15 minute break!
- Steve Gannon
GanTek Multimedia
Hi Steve,
Is there a laptop or desktop configuration that will speed the processing? More memory? Video card? Also, can you tell me anything about creating content on a mac and then uploading to my LMS on a Windows system?
Thanks!
Mike
More memory will definitely be a plus during publishing, Mike. There are lots of other tips in the forums on increasing publishing speed. For example, if you have a lot of PowerPoint-created shapes and what-not on a single slide, grouping those and saving the group out as an image and then replacing the group with the image definitely will help. In short, the fewer elements per slide that Articulate has to deal with during publishing, the faster publishing will be.
As far as the Mac goes, sorry, can't help you with that. But again, a search of these forums will yield a lot of discussion on that.
- Steve Gannon
GanTek Multimedia
Welcome to Heroes, Mike!
We do have customers who successfully use our products with Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion, or Bootcamp for Macintosh:
http://www.articulate.com/blog/how-to-run-articulate-on-macs/
For best practices using Parallels Desktop for Macintosh, please review the following article:
http://www.articulate.com/support/presenter09/kb/?p=1559
Good luck!
@Steve - I figured there must be some connection between pushing your machine too hard and Articulate crashing. But I can't say I've proven anything either way. That may be the case if you're running a tired machine? Publishing speeds (and stability) in SL are a serious improvement though. Very rapid indeed.
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