Custom Theme Importing

Aug 05, 2013

Hi, all!  I read the other posts on the Forum regarding this topic, but did not see specific details relating to my problem.

I have a client who has two PowerPoint themes they want me to use for all on-line training courses. Both themes consist of 2 slides-- a Title slide, and a Content slide. Both have custom logos at the top and bottom of the slide, with the center being mine to work with.

I tried importing the PowerPoint files into Storyline and save them as new themes.  So far, so good. I get two 298 KB files.

Then I exit Storyline and reopen it and create a new scene and try to import either ahtml file, but all I get is white space.

Any ideas of what might be causing this?  I am using Windows 7 and the latest version of Storyline and the Office 2010 suite.

9 Replies
Richard Harshaw

Hi, Leslie.  Funny thing happened when I followed the advice of the tutorial you linked in your reply of 8/12/13. I did what the tutorial said and Storyline saved the two themes as I expected.  So far, so good. 

The themes now show up in the Design tab under "Custom."  Again, so far, so good.

This morning I decided it was time to change the theme on a project by selecting the other theme the client wants. I clicked Design, then Custom and found my theme, and selected it. Storyline chugged along for a few seconds and then all my slides changed from the client's theme "A" to "B"--- except none of the background graphics (frames, logos, etc.) came across.  The themes show sizes of 368 and 903 KB each, but all I get in either theme is the text from the client's template.

Any ideas what I am doing wrong? 

PS: I am working on a 64-bit machine.  Could that be my problem?

Richard Harshaw

I mentioned the 64-bit because when I tried to import the PPTX files in my 64-bit machine, they would not import and directed me to a file that said 64-bit systems were not supported by Storyline (Error: Failed to Import PowerPoint Presentation; see the second major section, "You do not have a supported version of PowerPoint installed").  I can import just fine on my 32-bit laptop, just not my 64-bit desktop.

Once I opened the PPTX files in Storyline, I clicked Design and then "Save Current As Theme". Storyline dutifully saved the file as an athml file, but when I try to use that theme on new projects, only the text of the theme shows up; none of the background graphics or client logos show up.

I  was not aware of a "storytemplate" file format, so just tried it.  Saved the file fine, but I cannot find a way to apply that template to a new project.

To put it as clearly as I know how-- I have created a new project with the client's slide template. That went just fine. Even tried to save it as a new theme, but no luck. I set up my animations, timings, audio, etc.  Now, I need to take that complete project and apply the client's other PPT template. I don't want to have to go back and re-create the entire project again, redoing all the animations, etc. 

Is that making any sense yet?

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Richard, 

A Storyline Template is stored as a *.storytemplate file.  By default, these files are located in the \My Articulate Projects\Storyline Templates\ folder, but they could be in another location if you downloaded or saved them elsewhere. When saving your Storyline projects, you should see the option to "Save as" a .story file or a .storytemplate file like in the image below. 

You can insert a new slide based on a Template at any time, or you can create a new project based on an existing template.  However, you would not be able to apply a Template to an existing project.

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