Video and Audio Not Linking When Editing from Different Computer

Hi there Rafe,

Certainly sounds like a complicated issue, but hopefully we can get everything running properly for you - at least for the projects that don't want to behave.

First, what type of files are you opening to modify the projects? Are they simply PowerPoint files, or were they projects created in Presenter '09 or '13? Of they were created with Presenter, how were the files shared with you? If possible, try to have the developer send you a full Presenter Package file - this will ensure all of the project files are shared and not just the published files. 

Here's information for creating and sharing a package, depending on the version you/your colleague are using:

Studio '09: Articulate Presenter Package

Studio '13: How to Create an Articulate Package

If the files were sent to you in a compressed file, try to make sure you extract the files before opening them. Also, please be sure to work with only 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.

I'm opening PPTX files. They were projects created in PowerPoint using the Articulate Presenter '09 ribbon. They were shared with us just be including all of the original files for the project in a folder and the PPTX and accompanying PPTA file.

I feel like we have tried the Presenter Package file before and it just packages a published file, but maybe we did it wrong. I will have the original creaters take a look at the link you gave us for Articulate Packaging.

The files were not compressed when they were sent to us.

Thanks for the additional information on directory paths.

Certainly, Rafe :)

Hopefully packaging with that option will do the trick.

If not, please let me know.

Thanks!

We are still getting issues doing it this way. Using Articulate Packaging.

When I open the file given to me that was packaged from Articulate it opens the same way with lots of white X boxes. If I preview the slides it appears to play the content, but some of that content seems corrupted. One SWF file is playing at like double speed and ending before the audio attached to the slide is done playing and it goes on to the next slide. It also appears to lose all design/layout stuff that was associated with the project.

Any other ideas?

Hi Rafe,

Yikes - yeah, it does sound like it may be corrupted. That's certainly not expected behavior. 

This may help:

Articulate Support - Here's how to fix a corrupt PowerPoint file

How large is the file? If it's not too big, you could try attacking the Presenter Package here. I'd be happy to take a look and see if the same thing happens on my end. If the file is too large, however, it may not post to the thread. You're welcome to send it to me, if you'd like, or you're welcome to send it over to our support team for additional testing. 

Thanks!

The file is large. The first one we tried contains 270+ slides with almost every one containing SWF and MP3 media associated with them.

We then broke it into 8 separate modules and it still isn't working.

What I ended up doing was finding the file structure for the originally linked media and I mimiced it on my computer. This has seemed to link most content and the stuff that didn't I am manually loading back in.

Hi Rafe,

So sorry to hear about all the extra work this has caused. I am happy, however, to hear that working with the file structure seems to have helped. 

Let me know if you're able to make any more progress with this.

Thanks again for keeping me updated!