Cannot Open Storyline from a Drive

Jun 16, 2021

Does anyone experience being unable to open a Storyline file from a network drive on their computer? It says I don't have permission so I always have to copy to my desktop to open it, then save to the copy in the network drive.

I was wondering if anyone knew:

a) why this happens?

b) a workaround for this?

Thanks in advance!

7 Replies
Ren Gomez

Hi Charlie,

We do recommend working from your local drive when editing your files, as working from a network drive can cause latency issues resulting in erratic behavior or file corruption.

You can still save your files to a network drive, but I wouldn't re-open them until you drag them over to your desktop or your local folders.

This article below shares more tips on that topic. I hope it helps!

Charlie Sinclair

Thanks Ren. I'm not too savvy with things like this so would it be preferable to work from the local drive as opposed to my desktop? 

I recently had a laptop die on me when my files were on my desktop so I lost three weeks of work! If this happened whilst I had files on my local drive, would I lose those too?

Sorry to bombard you but I have the fear after losing work and am an over-saver!

Walt Hamilton

Yes, if something happens to your local drive or computer, you may lose all the work that isn't backed up at a different physical location.  Ask yourself, "If my computer does something stupid right now, and I lose all the work that isn't backed up, will I be upset?" The answer is really the answer to "Should I create a new backup right now?"

The only people who think they have enough backups are those who haven't lost computer work.

With SL, work locally, but back up on the network.

Joseph Francis

One way to mitigate this is to use a cloud backup technology like Box. Your "working file" is stored locally (on your PC), and when you save it, its twin on Box is versioned up to maintain currency.

The upside is, all previous versions are available on Box, should you want to "go back in time." And, should your machine die, you can log in from another machine, log in to Box, and download the most-recent version to seamlessly continue working.