Embedded Word Document or PDF
Dec 12, 2012
By
Max Ulrich
I would like to embed both Word Documents and PDFs into a Storyline Project, but the learning material will be presented offline. What is the best method to convert a Word Document or PDF into a usable Web Object that is not hosted on the internet? I have looked at using Google Drive to share a document and then saving the page as an HTML file, but this provides a working document rather than a clean presentation. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
47 Replies
Dear Mike,
Thank you very very much for your tip. It is great help,
Regards
Massoud
I've been able to embed a pdf as a web object.
I've also embedded it via this really awesome PDF viewer: http://elearningbrothers.com/how-to-embed-a-pdf-viewer-in-articluate-storyline/
However, what I'm looking to do is to target a certain page/destination within a pdf without making the user leave my training. I can easily do it if the pdf opens in a new tab/window using this method: http://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/link-html-pdf-page-acrobat.html
But having the user leave my training is not an optimal solution. The PDF is a really large user guide for an application, and what I'm hoping to do is direct users to specific sections of it within the training. Anyone have any ideas?
Right now the solutions I've come up with aren't great ways to go about it. We could break the PDF up into multiple PDFs by section and embed them separately, which is obviously not optimal and also a ton of work for such a large document with so many sections. And that would also mean the user couldn't browse around if they realized other sections were of use to them. Or alternately we could put links within the PDF on the first page that allow the user to navigate to the appropriate page. But that's an extra step we're forcing the user to take, and not all users are saavy enough to handle that (and let's face it, some who are saavy enough are just too lazy to bother).
I've also been following the discussion in this thread: https://community.articulate.com/discussions/articulate-storyline/can-i-attach-or-embed-a-pdf
Mike.......Thank Goodness that someone finally posted the answer to this question in a format that a non computer savvy person such as myself could understand!!! Worked perfectly.
Glad that this thread was able to assist you as well Graham :)
Great article about embed pdf in html is here.
Thanks Deran for sharing and welcome to the E-Learning Heroes forum. As you get started in the forums, I also wanted to share a link to our general community guidelines here and please feel free to let us know if there is anything we can assist with.
Hi Mike,
I know this is an old post, hopefully you (or someone in the community) will still be to answer my question.
I followed the instructions for embedding PDF file, it works. However, I'm unable to get SL output to show the full height PDF window. Regardless of the PDF file properties setting used, only a partial window is created in the SL output.
I've attached a png file, which shows the screen capture of my SL file and the output as viewed in IE.
Any and all assistance is greatly appreciated.
Hi Daniel,
It's hard to tell from your image, but what's your story size? It looks like it's shrinking inside that as well? I'm not aware of any code changes - but perhaps others in the community could take a look if you can share that .story file or the PDF as well.
Hi Ashley,
Please see attached files for my SL file and the zipped output.
I'm not sure if the following settings are a factor: Story size = 16:9; Player Properties-Browser Settings are Browser size = Display at user's current browser, Player size = Scale player to fill browser window.
Thank you,
dan
Thanks Dan for sharing it here. What are the dimensions of your PDF? Perhaps you'll want to look at changing the story size to accommodate more height for the PDF as well - or as you mentioned if the browser the user is using is set to show at a smaller set up - you could look at modifying that setting as well to show it at the browser full size.
Also, as a reminder it looks like you're linking to the PDF off your D drive, as we typically recommend working on .story files and linking to files off the local drive to prevent any odd behavior.
Thanks for the suggestion Ashley,
I found a workable solution; changed the width and height settings for the index.htm file. the modified object tag is now <object data="EmbedFile.pdf" type="application/pdf" width="670" height="830">.
Thanks Daniel for sharing that workaround here, as that tidbit of height and weight may also help another user who comes across this thread looking to do something similar.
Need help fast! Hot mess and deadline dates!!!! Yikes!!!!
Hi Mike,
Hopefully you'll see this (5 years after the event!)
I've just stumbled across this as I'm having a similar issue with embedding some PDFs in my file.
I have about 50 or so that I need to dot around various places in my project.
Thanks,
Ian
Hi Janet,
I'm having similar issues. How did you get on?
Ian
Hi Mike, the URL of the PDFOBJECT is not working.....Can you put here the new one or at least the code...? Thanks
Hi Agencia,
This discussion is a bit older, but I'll reach out to Mike and see if he still has a copy of this he can share.
Hi Agencia,
It looks like that website has changed quite a bit in the past 5 years! The opportunities (js vs straight HTML) have also been updated. the .js option is new to me, so if you need that option, I'd recommend walking through their site. But the straight html generator seems to work the same. https://pdfobject.com/generator/
1. Click the generator
2. Select Standard Markup (no javascript)
3. Add the name of your pdf to the URL dialogue
4. Generate the code
5. Add that code to notepad and continue on as previously described.
Here's the code where mypdf.pdf is replaced with the name of your pdf.
<object data="mypdf.pdf" type="application/pdf" width="100%" height="100%">
<p><b>Example fallback content</b>: This browser does not support PDFs. Please download the PDF to view it: <a href="/pdf/sample-3pp.pdf">Download PDF</a>.</p>
</object>
I hope that helps!
Mike
Mike,
Does your link above to PDFObject.com/generator resolve the issue I have here where in 3 different browsers, the PDF I've set to open page width doesn't load that way? See the difference in the attached. IE does it perfectly—the rest don't. Chrome's doc area is shrunken; Firefox has to be manipulated via the PDF viewer toolbar; and Edge allows no adjustment tools at all, not even on right-click. Help!
Hi Tonya!
I think what you're seeing is how the different browsers handle the inline PDFs. The support and implementation varies (that's why you see different PDF bars in each).
My hunch is that the inline method may not be the best approach if you're shooting for consistency. It's possible that some more sophisticated code (the .js option) could control for this, but unfortunately, that's beyond my current skill. I must consult the Google.
Mike
Hi, all, Jumping on this thread to try to get some more insight. We'd like to embed a Word document in Storyline slide to allow a learner to try some basic Word tasks. I've tried sharing the document from SharePoint and from Google Drive, but the links don't work. Would it make a difference if I saved the Word document on something like Amazon S3 or Google Cloud? Thanks!
Hi Maki,
Thanks for reaching out and sharing what you would like to include with your project file. We'd be happy to walk through this with you so that you can get this working properly. I have a few additional questions to understand your current setup: