Does Storyline have its own caching system?

Sep 05, 2018

Greetings all!

I had a very interesting problem with Storyline 2 and am wondering if Storyline has it’s own (hidden) caching system.

Yesterday, my client had a request to change the .pdf file we have in the Resources area (accessed via the Resources tab, programmed in the Panel area). She made a slight change to one page in the .pdf file, so kept the file name the same. No other change to the project content, just the updated .pdf file.

Easy, no problem. WRONG.

I downloaded the updated .pdf file to my project’s “Resources” folder on my drive, then in Storyline, opened the Panel programming window and change the file (via the Resource file browse process) to the updated .pdf file. Then published and tested, with negative results. The course was showing the old .pdf file, not the updated one.

Second try – This time I deleted the .pdf file from my Resources folder, and just to be safe, deleted the Published folder and emptied my Trash Bin.

With the file now off my computer, I downloaded the updated .pdf file again. Back in Storyline, I redid the link to the updated file, published and tested, with the same negative results. It still showed the old .pdf file. What’s going on? I go into the published folder, to the “external_files” folder and look at the .pdf file there. It has the correct date and time, but that .pdf file has the old content, not the new, updated content. How can this be?

Third try – Okay, clear my computer of all possible locations of the .pdf file (Resources folder, Published folder, etc.) and empty the trash. This time, when downloading the updated .pdf file, I change the file name of the .pdf file in my project’s Resources folder. Then back in Storyline, I redo the Resource link (from the Panel programming area), publish and BINGO, I now get the correct version of the .pdf.

So, here is the $1M question. Why did Storyline continue to publish the old .pdf file instead of the updated file when the file name was unchanged, but the content on my computer had only the new, updated content?

Thanks and cheers,

Russ

2 Replies
Julie Stelter

I don't have a lot of time Russ, but I feel your pain. I've had this happen many times. I think it is if the pdf is called from 2 spots such as hyperlink on a slide and in the resources tab. Storyline shows the older version.

The other thing that comes to mind is to delete all triggers calling this pdf and start over. You might have done this, I didn't read your entire tale because I don't want to relive my pain ;)

Matthew Bibby has a work around which we have done. 

Best,

Julie

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