I have a Storyline project that I would like to be able to edit in Powerpoint - is there a way that is possible? I know going Powerpoint to Storyline is fine, but what about the other way?
I have tried copying and pasting slides, tried copying all elements on a slide and pasting... but no luck!
I have read through all of the replies to this request and the fight against installing this option is frustrating. It seems that there might be some legal reason why Articulate is not incorporating the ability to export Storyline to Powerpoint. With all of the instructional technology rebuttals by Articulate against the idea, it appears that a large population of Storyline users have legitimate reasons to use this option. It would seem that Articulate would install the option for those who want it and get more people to but Articulate. If user chose not to use it then that's ok. The great number of users who "need" the option could use it as they needed. It is therefore my conclusion that it is a legal problem or one that would cost a bundle from Articulate to Microsoft. Something is not right here. This smacks of legal issues. That's my humble opinion.
I have often wished for the PowerPoint conversion feature
myself. There are two aspects to the problem. One is editing
Storyline in PowerPoint which we can't now do. The second, is making
Storyline act like PowerPoint when presented to a live audience. I
have done this frequently just by shutting off the narration and
advancing the slides manually while I do the talking.
Yes. I agree! Either that, or create (free of charge!) a collaborative
editing plug-in program for those reviewers who do not have Articulate
Storyline. Madcap Flare does this, so I think Articulate can do something
like this too.
I am not sure why you would want to take all the work in Storyline, export back to Powerpoint, edit it and bring it back to Storyline. All the scripting and cool stuff will be gone.
I export the Storyline to Word and get people to go through the Storyline interactive and type on the Word file all the changes they want to make.
I then update the file and let them look again.
Seems to work well as 99.9 % of staff can use Word but Powerpoint is not so good for staff except as initial screens to load into Storyline to save cut and paste.
Hi Steve, I work in a Hospital in New Zealand and we do offer staff Storyline Education for staff that want to do basic edits but this has not worked well in the past. If they make a mistake, it can be lots of work to recover the work.
They have basic skills and most people can open a word document, add words to it, save it and send back to me to make the changes.
Nurses and Educators have enough to do and keeping the process as simple as possible for them makes it easier.
For images they can either add them to the same Word document or email them separately, as long as they label them and tell me where they want them put.
The trouble sometimes is that we over complicate things and wonder why it takes so long to develop elearning content.
Something I have also learnt with Content Experts, is if recording for different screens, write down the script first and then a recording session is quick and less stress on the staff.
Hi Steve, I am totally liking working in the hospital environment where I can create eLearning programs to benefit the staff in their education. Best job in the world. :)
It appears that some of you who replied to this discussion just don't SEE and READ the replies that address classroom instructors. We can create great interactive CBT lessons with Storyline but when an instructor wants to review the CBT in a classroom using an abbreviated version of the CBT, a Powerpoint version would allow the instructor to create a custom review for a classroom environment. I have created numerous CBT modules for a two year mechanic training program directly in Storyline without using Powerpoint. The client's instructors want to periodically review these modules with the trainees in a classroom environment using snibbits from the CBT in Powerpoint. If there was a way for the client's instructors to create a review of the CBT by editing a Powerpoint version of the lessons, it would be a blessing for them. How would you review these lessons with the trainees in a classroom type setting?
Interesting discussion. I create interactive educational material using Articulate Storyline 3 so that our Hospital Staff can receive material to learn from on their own without having to go to a classroom session. We have too many staff for face to face instruction so use a blended approach.
Use eLearning for staff to gain an understanding of the theory, watch some instructional videos, review some case studies and do a few quizzes to test knowledge. This can then be combined with a practical session to put the theory into practice.
The eLearning session and the face to face sessions complement each other and so need to be treated seperately.
If you are wanting a review of the online session for a classroom, use the original Storyline version and make a different version for the classroom. It will take less time than screen shots and adding to PowerPoint.
Have fun creating amazing educational material that people can learn from. :)
Hi Wendy, Not everyone is using Storyline 360 and some of my users are not proficient in learning new software as they are health workers. Good for geeks. :)
Wendy, the instructors do not have any Articulate software nor do they intend to purchase it. Not sure that you understand what I mean by "review". The instructors want to review the CBT material with the students and highlight important points AND clarify areas of misunderstanding. It seems that the only way to get this done is to "reverse engineer" the Storyline CBT since the export to Word results in a severe degrading of graphics.
Please read some of the other replies by Storyline users who requested this feature to get a better understanding of why it would be useful.
Just wanted to elaborate on what Wendy shared regarding Articulate Review in case it's helpful.
Users do not need to have Storyline 360 to see the content. There is no download required, and all feedback can be shared in a comment as they view the content.
My opinion has changed on this, I have always said why would you want to export to PPT. However Ppt is almost universal and it may be good or bad most SMEs will deliver content in PPT, being able to export something backing PPT that is editable (if only the text) can be better for reviews. Also I have known a few companies want PPTs that they can translate for niche markets where the cost of a full translation is not financially viable.
I agree with Phil. Teams ask for PPTs. SMEs and support staff have it. I'm not trying to "cheat" Articulate out of anything. I just need to deliver to certain groups in PPT, and it's not an export option.
I can see a use case for this. They definitely should be able to do it technically. As Phil said, having stuff editable and shapes in SVG would be nice. The issue will be, what parts of each slide's timeline get exported? Perhaps some sort of marker that will export a particular frame of each slide. Other than that, I would recommend using Snagit to capture your screens at specific points. It has some good features for moving parts of the image and easily adding things. I imagine you can also just export to a video and grab specific frames from the thing.
Phil, you have always had great comments and discussions on many items posted by Articulate users. I have always found your comments and work to be very useful. I am happy to see you take a stance for adding the PowerPoint export feature.
On a final note, this discussion dates back 6 years with 6 pages of comments and 50+ people with input. It seems that this might be something that the folks at Articulate would make some attempt to add this feature after getting this much attention from their user base.
Thank you all for participating in this discussion.
This is a big problem that hopefully the next version of SL will resolve. Most companies do not have the funds to purchase licenses for everyone needed to review and make major edits. 360 is great for minor edits, but sometimes you have to go back to the drawing board only extrapolating key elements.
My company wants PPT export also. We have clients in several countries who wish to see PPT versions of projects, with all of the links, animations, etc. intact so they can give feedback or make edits. Right now, anything that's exported will be static, so the client can't tell how things interact or if the visuals or links do what they are supposed to.
On a separate but related concern, I've found that creating things in PPT first, then uploading them to Storyline (or even Captivate) causes some significant changes to the functionality of some of the links or even drastic changes to images or animations. I still haven't figured out why, so it doesn't seem practical to create things in PPT first since SL has its own ideas on what it wants to do to the PPT when it's converted. As such, an option to export to PPT would be an ideal way for us to create materials, then send them to clients for review before we place them in our LMS.
Crystal, you're tracking this request?? This thread is 6 years old and has over 140 comments from users saying they need this feature. This is a serious function flaw in Storyline, and needs to be corrected. If you can't tell from the comments, users are MAD. Your comment just adds fuel to the fire. Either let us know you're actively working on getting this to the roadmap, or stay quiet. Your comment and Articulate's passive response to this much-needed request is unacceptable.
Some of these customer contributions are almost laughable, for several reasons:
Articulate did not build Storyline because they had enough feature requests for a long enough time period. Neither did Apple build the iPhone or the iPad because enough people complained for far too long. Great things are built by outstanding engineers doing what they do best--innovating. Articulate innovates better than most, and they shouldn't allow themselves to be distracted by noisy chatter about feature requests, particularly if the request makes little sense (see #2).
Expecting Storyline to export to PowerPoint is like asking AutoCAD to save drawings as text, or like asking PhotoShop to save images as word documents. It could probably be done, but it makes literally zero logical sense. I don't expect Articulate to divert precious Engineering resources away from Rise and Storyline to spend months building something that 0.01% of their customers will use.
We shouldn't attack staff who are only here trying to help. Not only are the Community Moderators not decision-making executives, but they're also kind, helpful, and technically adept at what they do. Even offering to monitor such a wacky request is a gift. Greet kindness with kindness.
I understand that not everyone has worked in software, but let's be reasonable. Thank you Articulate for focusing on the right things, and thank you staff for devoting your days to helping people!
Some of these customer contributions are almost laughable, for several reasons:
Articulate did not build Storyline because they had enough feature requests for a long enough time period. Neither did Apple build the iPhone or the iPad because enough people complained for far too long. Great things are built by outstanding engineers doing what they do best--innovating. Articulate innovates better than most, and they shouldn't allow themselves to be distracted by noisy chatter about feature requests, particularly if the request makes little sense (see #2).
Expecting Storyline to export to PowerPoint is like asking AutoCAD to save drawings as text, or like asking PhotoShop to save images as word documents. It could probably be done, but it makes literally zero logical sense. I don't expect Articulate to divert precious Engineering resources away from Rise and Storyline to spend months building something that 0.01% of their customers will use.
We shouldn't attack staff who are only here trying to help. Not only are the Community Moderators not decision-making executives, but they're also kind, helpful, and technically adept at what they do. Even offering to monitor such a wacky request is a gift. Greet kindness with kindness.
I understand that not everyone has worked in software, but let's be reasonable. Thank you Articulate for focusing on the right things, and thank you staff for devoting your days to helping people!
Karen, you are obviously not one who tries to meet the needs of your clients. Feature request are a way to track user desires for upcoming releases of a product. I design and deliver CBT to various clients. I ALWAYS ask if there are "features" that would help my product better achieve their needs. Although I am not a software programmer, I don't think that exporting from Storyline to PowerPoint is anything like your analogies in #2 since the product will go the other way. Referring to this as a "wacky request" is very disrespectful to all those who have participated in this discussion. If this is so wacky, please enlighten us on some details to support your position on disregarding this feature.
Karen, I do believe Articulate is an innovative product, and chose it for my team because of the ease of use and strong functionality, However, I'm wondering if your use of the product is just a bit different than the way the rest of us on the thread use it. A lot of organizations have a need for collaboration between teams, vendors, and SMEs. This program is expensive. I cannot justify a $1200/year purchase for anyone other than the staff that is actively creating training materials, although I do have a need to have others perform housekeeping items, like making small adjustments to slides/scripts. The Word output and online review doesn't provide all that is needed for this. Another consideration is that some of our teams will present a PowerPoint from the original course we created - it's just the way things are - business logistics. I hope this helps in understanding why this topic is not laughable, and why users continue to pipe in on this topic after 6 years. I do believe Articulate can do this, I also believe that a great deal more than 0.01% would utilize this feature request. This program isn't cheap, and Articulate should be listening. It is their job to listen - in all honesty, they work for us. We purchase their product, and it's not the only product on the market. What we're saying is that we don't want to switch products, but we need this feature. I hope this helps in understanding where some of us are coming from on this thread.
168 Replies
I have read through all of the replies to this request and the fight against installing this option is frustrating. It seems that there might be some legal reason why Articulate is not incorporating the ability to export Storyline to Powerpoint. With all of the instructional technology rebuttals by Articulate against the idea, it appears that a large population of Storyline users have legitimate reasons to use this option. It would seem that Articulate would install the option for those who want it and get more people to but Articulate. If user chose not to use it then that's ok. The great number of users who "need" the option could use it as they needed. It is therefore my conclusion that it is a legal problem or one that would cost a bundle from Articulate to Microsoft. Something is not right here. This smacks of legal issues. That's my humble opinion.
Victor raises an interesting point.
I have often wished for the PowerPoint conversion feature
myself. There are two aspects to the problem. One is editing
Storyline in PowerPoint which we can't now do. The second, is making
Storyline act like PowerPoint when presented to a live audience. I
have done this frequently just by shutting off the narration and
advancing the slides manually while I do the talking.
Steve Max
Yes. I agree! Either that, or create (free of charge!) a collaborative
editing plug-in program for those reviewers who do not have Articulate
Storyline. Madcap Flare does this, so I think Articulate can do something
like this too.
I am not sure why you would want to take all the work in Storyline, export back to Powerpoint, edit it and bring it back to Storyline. All the scripting and cool stuff will be gone.
I export the Storyline to Word and get people to go through the Storyline interactive and type on the Word file all the changes they want to make.
I then update the file and let them look again.
Seems to work well as 99.9 % of staff can use Word but Powerpoint is not so good for staff except as initial screens to load into Storyline to save cut and paste.
Thanks Ross,
I never knew what publishing to Word was good for. This explains it.
Steve Max
Hi Steve, I work in a Hospital in New Zealand and we do offer staff Storyline Education for staff that want to do basic edits but this has not worked well in the past. If they make a mistake, it can be lots of work to recover the work.
They have basic skills and most people can open a word document, add words to it, save it and send back to me to make the changes.
Nurses and Educators have enough to do and keeping the process as simple as possible for them makes it easier.
For images they can either add them to the same Word document or email them separately, as long as they label them and tell me where they want them put.
The trouble sometimes is that we over complicate things and wonder why it takes so long to develop elearning content.
Something I have also learnt with Content Experts, is if recording for different screens, write down the script first and then a recording session is quick and less stress on the staff.
Have great Storyline day.
Thanks Ross,
Hollywood discovered scripts so long ago. Why didn't it occur to us sooner.
I hear New Zealand had a great health care system, unlike ours.
Steve
Hi Steve, I am totally liking working in the hospital environment where I can create eLearning programs to benefit the staff in their education. Best job in the world. :)
It appears that some of you who replied to this discussion just don't SEE and READ the replies that address classroom instructors. We can create great interactive CBT lessons with Storyline but when an instructor wants to review the CBT in a classroom using an abbreviated version of the CBT, a Powerpoint version would allow the instructor to create a custom review for a classroom environment. I have created numerous CBT modules for a two year mechanic training program directly in Storyline without using Powerpoint. The client's instructors want to periodically review these modules with the trainees in a classroom environment using snibbits from the CBT in Powerpoint. If there was a way for the client's instructors to create a review of the CBT by editing a Powerpoint version of the lessons, it would be a blessing for them. How would you review these lessons with the trainees in a classroom type setting?
Couldn't they use Articulate review to make the comments as they go through the module?
Interesting discussion. I create interactive educational material using Articulate Storyline 3 so that our Hospital Staff can receive material to learn from on their own without having to go to a classroom session. We have too many staff for face to face instruction so use a blended approach.
Use eLearning for staff to gain an understanding of the theory, watch some instructional videos, review some case studies and do a few quizzes to test knowledge. This can then be combined with a practical session to put the theory into practice.
The eLearning session and the face to face sessions complement each other and so need to be treated seperately.
If you are wanting a review of the online session for a classroom, use the original Storyline version and make a different version for the classroom. It will take less time than screen shots and adding to PowerPoint.
Have fun creating amazing educational material that people can learn from. :)
Hi Wendy, Not everyone is using Storyline 360 and some of my users are not proficient in learning new software as they are health workers. Good for geeks. :)
Wendy, the instructors do not have any Articulate software nor do they intend to purchase it. Not sure that you understand what I mean by "review". The instructors want to review the CBT material with the students and highlight important points AND clarify areas of misunderstanding. It seems that the only way to get this done is to "reverse engineer" the Storyline CBT since the export to Word results in a severe degrading of graphics.
Please read some of the other replies by Storyline users who requested this feature to get a better understanding of why it would be useful.
Hey Ross,
Just wanted to elaborate on what Wendy shared regarding Articulate Review in case it's helpful.
Users do not need to have Storyline 360 to see the content. There is no download required, and all feedback can be shared in a comment as they view the content.
Articulate Review
Articulate Review: Allow Reviewers to Comment Without an Account
My opinion has changed on this, I have always said why would you want to export to PPT. However Ppt is almost universal and it may be good or bad most SMEs will deliver content in PPT, being able to export something backing PPT that is editable (if only the text) can be better for reviews. Also I have known a few companies want PPTs that they can translate for niche markets where the cost of a full translation is not financially viable.
I agree with Phil. Teams ask for PPTs. SMEs and support staff have it. I'm not trying to "cheat" Articulate out of anything. I just need to deliver to certain groups in PPT, and it's not an export option.
I can see a use case for this. They definitely should be able to do it technically. As Phil said, having stuff editable and shapes in SVG would be nice. The issue will be, what parts of each slide's timeline get exported? Perhaps some sort of marker that will export a particular frame of each slide. Other than that, I would recommend using Snagit to capture your screens at specific points. It has some good features for moving parts of the image and easily adding things. I imagine you can also just export to a video and grab specific frames from the thing.
Phil, you have always had great comments and discussions on many items posted by Articulate users. I have always found your comments and work to be very useful. I am happy to see you take a stance for adding the PowerPoint export feature.
On a final note, this discussion dates back 6 years with 6 pages of comments and 50+ people with input. It seems that this might be something that the folks at Articulate would make some attempt to add this feature after getting this much attention from their user base.
Thank you all for participating in this discussion.
This is a big problem that hopefully the next version of SL will resolve. Most companies do not have the funds to purchase licenses for everyone needed to review and make major edits. 360 is great for minor edits, but sometimes you have to go back to the drawing board only extrapolating key elements.
My company wants PPT export also. We have clients in several countries who wish to see PPT versions of projects, with all of the links, animations, etc. intact so they can give feedback or make edits. Right now, anything that's exported will be static, so the client can't tell how things interact or if the visuals or links do what they are supposed to.
On a separate but related concern, I've found that creating things in PPT first, then uploading them to Storyline (or even Captivate) causes some significant changes to the functionality of some of the links or even drastic changes to images or animations. I still haven't figured out why, so it doesn't seem practical to create things in PPT first since SL has its own ideas on what it wants to do to the PPT when it's converted. As such, an option to export to PPT would be an ideal way for us to create materials, then send them to clients for review before we place them in our LMS.
Hi Keythe. I wanted to pop in and share these tips for importing PowerPoint content to Storyline, which includes information about how certain animations and image effects are handled.
We don't have the option to export to PowerPoint from Storyline on the roadmap at this point, but we are tracking this request.
Crystal, you're tracking this request?? This thread is 6 years old and has over 140 comments from users saying they need this feature. This is a serious function flaw in Storyline, and needs to be corrected. If you can't tell from the comments, users are MAD. Your comment just adds fuel to the fire. Either let us know you're actively working on getting this to the roadmap, or stay quiet. Your comment and Articulate's passive response to this much-needed request is unacceptable.
Some of these customer contributions are almost laughable, for several reasons:
I understand that not everyone has worked in software, but let's be reasonable. Thank you Articulate for focusing on the right things, and thank you staff for devoting your days to helping people!
Karen, you are obviously not one who tries to meet the needs of your clients. Feature request are a way to track user desires for upcoming releases of a product. I design and deliver CBT to various clients. I ALWAYS ask if there are "features" that would help my product better achieve their needs. Although I am not a software programmer, I don't think that exporting from Storyline to PowerPoint is anything like your analogies in #2 since the product will go the other way. Referring to this as a "wacky request" is very disrespectful to all those who have participated in this discussion. If this is so wacky, please enlighten us on some details to support your position on disregarding this feature.
-Vic
Karen, I do believe Articulate is an innovative product, and chose it for my team because of the ease of use and strong functionality, However, I'm wondering if your use of the product is just a bit different than the way the rest of us on the thread use it. A lot of organizations have a need for collaboration between teams, vendors, and SMEs. This program is expensive. I cannot justify a $1200/year purchase for anyone other than the staff that is actively creating training materials, although I do have a need to have others perform housekeeping items, like making small adjustments to slides/scripts. The Word output and online review doesn't provide all that is needed for this. Another consideration is that some of our teams will present a PowerPoint from the original course we created - it's just the way things are - business logistics. I hope this helps in understanding why this topic is not laughable, and why users continue to pipe in on this topic after 6 years. I do believe Articulate can do this, I also believe that a great deal more than 0.01% would utilize this feature request. This program isn't cheap, and Articulate should be listening. It is their job to listen - in all honesty, they work for us. We purchase their product, and it's not the only product on the market. What we're saying is that we don't want to switch products, but we need this feature. I hope this helps in understanding where some of us are coming from on this thread.