Automatic Import of Closed Captions for Media - Not working as expected

Aug 18, 2020

Laura Bell
By Laura Bell

Hey team

We are producing _a lot_ of modules at the moment and each has closed captions with sound.

The documentation says that if we named our closed caption (.srt) files with the same name as the file and stored them in the media directory, Storyline 360 would automatically import them. (Source: https://community.articulate.com/articles/articulate-storyline-360-user-guide-how-to-add-closed-captions#import)

Import Captions Simultaneously with Media
If your caption files have the same names as your media files and are stored in the same folder with the media, they’ll automatically import into Storyline 360 when you import your media.

For example, if I have a video called MyVideo.mp4 and the corresponding caption file is named MyVideo.srt and is located in the same folder, I only need to import the video into my Storyline project, and the captions will automatically import and sync with the video.

This doesn't appear to work for us.

The media files are .aac (standard for this) and the subtitles files are .srt.

I know we can add them manually per slide but at over 800 slides to do - we would love this automatic option to work.

What have we missed here?

16 Replies
Katie Riggio
over 3 years ago08/21/20 at 12:11 pm (UTC)

Hi Laura,

Thank you for taking the time to share this. You took all the right steps in the import process, and I'm happy to explore further!

Do your closed caption line durations overlap with other lines? I ask because we're looking into this open bug in Storyline 360:

  • Behavior: Importing .SRT files for closed captions (cc) does not work correctly if the cc line duration overlaps with other lines.
  • Workaround: Click the Audio or Video Tools tab and select the Closed Captions: Import option.

1

If that's not it, are you comfortable with sharing your files? We'll run a few tests and let you know what we find. Simply use this private upload link.

Lauren Connelly
over 3 years ago12/10/20 at 4:21 pm (UTC)

Hi Nora!

Great question! It looks like in the .srt file, the duration of one caption overlaps the duration of the following caption. In that case, captions are missing. We recommend manually importing the .srt by going into the Video Tools tab and use the Closed Captions: Import option.

If you'd like us to look at the affected file, you can upload it using this secure upload link.

Julia Salmon
3 years ago03/18/21 at 2:03 pm (UTC)

Hi - I'm having the same issue as all of the comments above. I initially had .SRT files named to match the accompanying video .MP4 files and no captioning automatically imported.

I then tried to manually import the Captions, as mentioned above - still didn't work.

The caption files were originally created with a text editor (Notepad), then imported to Davinci Resolve, where I edited both the video and caption content as required. I then exported .MP4 and .SRT content from DaVinci and tried to insert the files into Storyline - without success on the caption side of things.

Storyline does recognise that something is there, in terms of the Captions: although nothing is viewable on screen (either when editing, previewing or in published format) - if I try and import again, Storyline warns me that I will overwrite the existing captions (which are not visible!) - so it recognises that there is content present. It just won't display the caption content in any screen.

Help!

Julia Salmon
3 years ago03/18/21 at 2:19 pm (UTC)

Hi - I have just noticed something, regarding Caption behaviour:

I imported a video file and manually imported the captions into Storyline (which didn't display).

I then went to 'Edit Captions' and within that window, chose to delete the captions (which were not visible) and I got a system warning message to check I wanted to remove the captions.

Having deleted them, I saved and closed the Caption editing window.

However, I then selected 'Add Captions' from the ribbon, to reopen the Caption editing window - and from within that, selected to 'Import Captions' again - at which point I again got a warning message that I would be overwriting the existing captions (which I had deleted) - BUT, the original caption boxes appeared for the first time on the editing ribbon (but without any text appearing), with the correct time settings for each:

 

This is the first time there has been any visible evidence that Storyline is aware of something loaded in a caption format - albeit that the caption boxes are still not populated with any text.

Thoughts?

Lauren Connelly
3 years ago03/26/21 at 1:01 pm (UTC)

Hi Jeremy!

I see that you reached out to our Support Team directly in a support case and worked with my teammate, May! Great call. May has logged this as a possible software bug where Storyline is not importing the closed captions automatically with its media that has the same name and folder container. 

We'll continue updating you in your support case!

Scott Wilson
2 years ago03/03/22 at 5:18 pm (UTC)

Hi folks,

I've run into this problem too with the latest version of Storyline 360.

On a single slide I can hit Insert Audio and it will insert a WAV file along with the identically named SRT file.

But when using the Media Library to quickly import 100+ Wav files, it does not import the captions with it.

Is there a workaround for this as manually importing 100 files is painful, especially after creating 100 caption files 😖😖😖

Lauren Connelly
2 years ago03/04/22 at 8:32 pm (UTC)

Hello Scott!

Sorry for the trouble! I understand that it is possible to import audio and captions on a single slide, but the caption file isn't included when importing multiple audio and caption files into the Media Library. Is that correct?

I'd recommend connecting with our Support Team in a support case to better understand what you're running into and then also to offer a workaround. I'll keep an eye out on your case to see what the fix is!

James Bertelsen
2 years ago03/18/22 at 10:54 pm (UTC)

Hi all,

I've created an app that will take a Storyline 360 file, and export an Excel report of all captioned media, with original and converted filenames, word counts, etc.

Regarding import, the report tool allows you to edit caption text manually or automatically in bulk by speech-to-text, and update the captions in bulk automatically in the Storyline file.

The app will export: the updated Storyline file, the report, all captions and media files.

I'm interested in streamlining the workflow and adding features. 

If you'd be willing to share a Storyline 360 file while I'm still in the testing phase, I might be able to help you out.

Sign In to Reply