Certificate printing in 360

Nov 25, 2016

Does anyone know if Storyline 360 prints certificates if the course is not loaded into a LMS for example courses made available via a website?

22 Replies
Chris Pim

So I have upgraded to 360 and there is still no reliable print method for all platforms as far as I can see.

My ELearning enhanced widget no longer works at all.

The solution here http://elearningbrothers.com/printing-slides-articulate-storyline-2/   works reliably except not on iOS

So in effect there is no one reliable method.

I put this in as a feature request ages ago and it has still not been implemented.  I am outrgaed that I had a reliabl print solution for Storyline 2 but this no longer works in Storyline 360. I thought software was supposed to get better!

Has any kind soul out there found a solution to printing?

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Chris, 

I'm sorry we let you down on this. It is something we brought up with our team based on a lot of feedback here in ELH, we've got it in our pipeline for development to allow the same method that you had in Storyline 2 to work in Storyline 360. The ETA is still in flux, and Articulate 360 subscribers will get the update as soon as it's released. 

Chris Pim

That's great to hear and thanks for such a quick reply.

Sadly at the moment I can't upgrade any of my Storyline 2 projects to the better player experience that is provided by 360 because there is still no reliable print method - something  that is absolutely essential for my users.  Essentially I have paid a lot to upgrade to a useless product (for me).

As usual it seems impossible to get a straightforward idea of when such a fix would be implemented which could mean I have paid an expensive upgrade that does not work for me.

It could be argued that I should have checked this and that Articulate could not guarantee that a third party 'plugin' would work anyway. However, a print function has been talked about for years and years and I would suggest it is a fundamental feature that should have been there from the beginning in Storyline 1. The idea of having E learning where a user can't reliably print a slide, to my mind, is so out of kilter with what users would expect and designers would need.

I am so disappointed.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Chris,

I understand and again I'm sorry for the trouble this has caused you and how our development process and lack of timelines makes it that much more complicated for you to know what's coming. We are continuing to refine a product and the new features/fixes right up until the moment it's ready to go live. This also means that the timing of things like the release date is a bit more fluid until the team feels confident that every things been locked up and ready to go. 

If there is anything else I can help you with, please don't hesitate to ask, and you can also always reach our Support Engineers 24/7 by reaching out here. 

Chris Pim

Hi Ashley
My outstanding problem is now at a critical level.
It is possible we could lose a big contract now with a company that requires only HTML5 output using the responsive player and a reliable print method.
We upgraded to 360 because of this requirement for HTML5 only in the responsive player but really did not expect to have a print method that once worked reliably now no longer working. I can't upgrade any of my courses at all until this is resolved.
It is simply not good enough to say the development is in the pipeline. I need to have a more clear understanding of when this will be resolved. Please give me some clearer guidance on this.
Chris

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Chris,

Great news! Articulate 360 Update 4  was just released, and included a number of fixes which you can see in the release notes available here.  The item you all may be particularly interested in is how it fixed an issue where HTML5 output wouldn't display a custom report.html file for printed quiz results.

Just launch the Articulate 360 desktop app on your computer and click the Update button for Storyline 360. Details here.

Let us know if you have any questions, either here or by reaching out to our Support Engineers directly.

Chris Pim

These are all really elegant . However I need a solution that can print wysiwyg any slide in any browser or operating system. For example printing typed notes or the current state of a non-assessed drag and drop or Likert activity.

Currently I don't think any of these solutions does that. Unless anyone knows better?

Chris Pim

This may work for a known certificate with predictable content...but what about being able to print any slide in it's current state.

I had a widget that worked perfectly in Flash and HTML5 on any sytem in Storyline 2. Now it no longer works.

Could the technical team not look at the widget and see why it no longer works in Storyline 360. This would help lots of people out who bought that widget and had a working solution?

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Chris,

I can see how that would be frustrating, but the custom widgets and plugins that folks have purchased aren't something created by Articulate and not something we generally support.

The difference between that widget and the ability to print the report.html file is that the printing of the report.html is based in the published output, and then folks did some custom work on that file to create certificates. Based on the changes we made to the HTML5 publish in SL360 - it stopped the ability to access that report.html file - so the fix we put in place gave back that functionality.

If folks need a copy of every slide, what about using the Publish to Word, and then attaching that as a PDF to the course within the Resource tab? That way they could print out the entire document and have access to the course offline or hold it in their hands?

Chris Pim

Hi Ashley,

I can see it would work for a certificate.

We need a way of printing certain slides that might change as a result of user input during the E learning playthrough. So they might type into a box and then want to print their comments, they might do a drag and drop activity and want to print the state they leave it in, or fill in a likert activity and print their current position...

It is simply being able to print reliably any slide in it's current state.

Now I understand in principle not supporting 3rd part things but it was working in Storyline 2 - for both Flash and HTML5. Now we have no solution for this.

What I can't understand is why after 4 years(?) this is not a supported feature. You can't actually print what you see on the screen reliably.

Please don't just drop this - I need some help.

 

Chris Pim

Hi,

 

One solution is that there is a javascript workaround that prints reliably is most in browsers in HTML5 and another solution that works for iOS. What we could do is have both buttons and hide/show the relevant one. But does anyone know in Storyline 360 how to test which environment is being used by the user?

 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Chris,

I know a print button is something lots of folks have accomplished using Javascript. This forum discussion is a bit older, but includes a few examples from Storyline 2, so you could look at testing those and upgrading into Storyline 360? It's outside my area of expertise or what our team is equipped to support as well so I can't guarantee how or if it'll work - but since it's something folks did in Storyline 2, I imagine there have to be some similar examples people have started using in Storyline 360 as well. 

As for a "print screen" button, it has been discussed here in ELH for some time as you mentioned, and our team is actively listening and evaluates all the different ideas for feature requests shared here and in this form. We take into account the viability of other workarounds, the time and effort involved in implementing a feature, possible risks and issues that may arise, and how it'll work across platforms and devices. As you mentioned, reliable printing across browsers including mobile output is where that last point can trip things up...as most mobile devices don't have a print option.  With all that being said, I will still share the feedback with the rest of the team as we're always evaluating any changes to the current feature set and ways in which we can continue to provide the best e-learning authoring tools. I am glad you continue to push us on that, as that's how we get better and more aligned with our customers needs! 

One other thought, where did you buy the print widget from? Perhaps they're also developing an option for Storyline 360? It may help to also push from that side of things as well - doesn't hurt to have multiple balls in the air on this one! 

Let me know if there is anything else I can assist with! 

Chris Pim

Hi Ashley.

 

I understand everything you said here. The people that produced the widget seem no longer to be in business (Enhanced E learning) as their website seems to have disappeared.

 

 The thing is that being able to print any slide reliably in it's current state is a must have and should have been there from the beginning. How can you have an interactive piece of E learning where a user can't print out their interactivity on a slide? Don't you agree?

 

  Instead of spending developer time producing a dial widget which essentially replicates a slider is all well and good and great to have but on the balance of things a print widget would be a 1000 times more wanted by the community. Does Articulate actually listen?

 

  How hard can it be to find a solution to this?

 

  Why not actually ask the community how important a feature this would be? Because, and I am doing it now, those that shout about the feature request loudest get their voice heard it seems to me and Articulate surely needs to know not who shouts loudest but which features would be most significant. Perhaps a survey?

Julian Stubbs

Hi,

I have a course where the client wants the learner to print a certificate with their name (that they input at the beginning of the module and their score. As results aren’t stored on the LMS it needs to be from Storyline.  I’m working with a developer on this one and he can’t find a solution. He is using Storyline 3. 

All we really wanted was a print screen button.

Any suggestions for a solution?

Thanks.

Julian 

 

 

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