I am currently busy evaluating AS and thus far find it a great tool and in all likelihood one that we will adopt going forward.
I have a problem with regards to exporting the story to word for printing and manual editing. In short, the images/frames (even when set to maximum size) are blurry when printed. Is there a way to print each slide as one would in PowerPoint, without the header and the boilerplate at the bottom?
Out of curiosity, does the content appear blurry within Word, or does it only happen when it's printed? Are you resizing the content once it's in Word?
Also, for the additional content, you should be able to highlight the rows of text that get inserted within Word and delete them if you don't want them to show. You can also choose to exclude layers, etc, when you go to export to Word from within Storyline.
Are you able to share the .story file that you're trying to print? If so, I can try to print the content (or at least part of it) and see if I experience the same thing.
Thanks for the reply. The contents appear relatively clear in word and only turns out blurred when printed. Also, trying to first save the file as a PDF before printing does not seem to help. The PDF renders the images blurred as well.
The Story file cannot be shared to the web since AS crashes the moment I hit "upload" to the trial website.
I will try some additional work arounds from my side. Perhaps a screen grab when exporting the Story to CD will work?
Thanks for getting back to me. I'm not quite sure what you mean by the trial website - are you trying to publish the file?
If you'd like, we can take a closer look at the files and see what may be happening. Click here to submit a support case with our technical department. On the second page you should be able to attach the .story file (not the published content) - this will be something like "MyTestProject.story" and it will be marked as an "Articulate Storyline Story". We should be able to find out what's causing the crash, as well.
Also, if you do submit a case, please share the details with me so I can follow the progress and update this thread
I am experiencing the same thing. I used several images that are 300 dpi in the storyline file. I also used some of the characters and expressions to create a training document. When I export to word, all the images are optimized in a lower print quality (myabe 150 dpi). They are pixelated and quite frankly subpart.
Are there options to configure the output resolution or does the application just default to something?
Have you tried adjusting the quality for the publishing settings? I know it sounds a little strange, but this option will be under the publish to "CD" option, even if you aren't using this method to publish. If you click on "Publish" and select "CD", you'll see an option on the right for "Quality". If you click on the blue text to the right of that, you'll be able to see what current quality settings you're using for your course and/or adjust them.
Thanks for sharing that tip Christine, but those steps are for producing a CD and don't help my issue.
I am actually looking to publish the content in a printable format such as Word.
It seems like this application is optimized for interactive video and HTML publishing which is great. And, I need something to support users who want printed materials. As it stands, the printing capabilities for this tool are unusable because the images are too pixelated.
Actually, I suggested that because it has been known to improve quality output for more than CD. As I said, I know it sounds like a strange method, but I have seen that option improve quality for others in the past.
Did you try it?
Also, I've heard If you scale up the small images you may be able to retain quality.
This is currently a known issue in Storyline, when publishing projects to Word. Images produced are of low quality, and you can only select the size of the screenshot to either Medium or Large, but can't change quality setting for the images. If your file is set to publish Medium screenshots, you can try selecting Large screenshots to create larger images in the published Word document.
Our Quality Assurance team are already aware of this issue, and are already investigating the issue further. Unfortunately, we cannot offer a time frame for when or if this issue will be addressed. In the meantime, it may be best to try the suggestions posted here to try to improve the quality, but it still may not appear as crisp as the original.
Let me know if you're able to see a difference using any of these suggestions, Rob.
I tried adjusting the quality of the publishing settings, but it made no difference to the quality of the Word export. You mentioned that the QA team were aware of and working on the issue. Any idea when we might see an update that addresses this issue?
Thomas, I think update 4 attempted to deal with the image quality in Word output. In my experience there was improvement but it still leaves a lot to be desired. Definitely make sure you have the most updated version of SL (I believe it is currently at update 5). I find there are still issues with the way layers are output; frequently they appear with the underlying hidden objects of layers still visible. It comes out quite a mess sometimes.
Brett is correct, we're currently on update 5 and you can read all the release notes on fixes included in each update here. Also as Brett mentioned there were a few fixes in update 4 dealing with the quality when publishing to word.
Thank you both. Hope to see things improve moving forward, as my widescreen projects exported "large" are quite difficult to read even when the viewer has zoomed in.
11 Replies
Hi Thomas. Welcome to E-Learning Heroes!
Out of curiosity, does the content appear blurry within Word, or does it only happen when it's printed? Are you resizing the content once it's in Word?
Also, for the additional content, you should be able to highlight the rows of text that get inserted within Word and delete them if you don't want them to show. You can also choose to exclude layers, etc, when you go to export to Word from within Storyline.
Are you able to share the .story file that you're trying to print? If so, I can try to print the content (or at least part of it) and see if I experience the same thing.
Thanks Thomas!
Hi Christine,
Thanks for the reply. The contents appear relatively clear in word and only turns out blurred when printed. Also, trying to first save the file as a PDF before printing does not seem to help. The PDF renders the images blurred as well.
The Story file cannot be shared to the web since AS crashes the moment I hit "upload" to the trial website.
I will try some additional work arounds from my side. Perhaps a screen grab when exporting the Story to CD will work?
Best regards,
Thomas
Hi Thomas,
Thanks for getting back to me. I'm not quite sure what you mean by the trial website - are you trying to publish the file?
If you'd like, we can take a closer look at the files and see what may be happening. Click here to submit a support case with our technical department. On the second page you should be able to attach the .story file (not the published content) - this will be something like "MyTestProject.story" and it will be marked as an "Articulate Storyline Story". We should be able to find out what's causing the crash, as well.
Also, if you do submit a case, please share the details with me so I can follow the progress and update this thread
Thanks very much Thomas,
Christine
I am experiencing the same thing. I used several images that are 300 dpi in the storyline file. I also used some of the characters and expressions to create a training document. When I export to word, all the images are optimized in a lower print quality (myabe 150 dpi). They are pixelated and quite frankly subpart.
Are there options to configure the output resolution or does the application just default to something?
Welcome to E-Learning Heroes, Rob!
Have you tried adjusting the quality for the publishing settings? I know it sounds a little strange, but this option will be under the publish to "CD" option, even if you aren't using this method to publish. If you click on "Publish" and select "CD", you'll see an option on the right for "Quality". If you click on the blue text to the right of that, you'll be able to see what current quality settings you're using for your course and/or adjust them.
It'll look like this:
Thanks for sharing that tip Christine, but those steps are for producing a CD and don't help my issue.
I am actually looking to publish the content in a printable format such as Word.
It seems like this application is optimized for interactive video and HTML publishing which is great. And, I need something to support users who want printed materials. As it stands, the printing capabilities for this tool are unusable because the images are too pixelated.
Any other options?
Hi Rob,
Actually, I suggested that because it has been known to improve quality output for more than CD. As I said, I know it sounds like a strange method, but I have seen that option improve quality for others in the past.
Did you try it?
Also, I've heard If you scale up the small images you may be able to retain quality.
This is currently a known issue in Storyline, when publishing projects to Word. Images produced are of low quality, and you can only select the size of the screenshot to either Medium or Large, but can't change quality setting for the images. If your file is set to publish Medium screenshots, you can try selecting Large screenshots to create larger images in the published Word document.
Our Quality Assurance team are already aware of this issue, and are already investigating the issue further. Unfortunately, we cannot offer a time frame for when or if this issue will be addressed. In the meantime, it may be best to try the suggestions posted here to try to improve the quality, but it still may not appear as crisp as the original.
Let me know if you're able to see a difference using any of these suggestions, Rob.
Thanks!
Christine,
I tried adjusting the quality of the publishing settings, but it made no difference to the quality of the Word export. You mentioned that the QA team were aware of and working on the issue. Any idea when we might see an update that addresses this issue?
Thanks!
Thomas, I think update 4 attempted to deal with the image quality in Word output. In my experience there was improvement but it still leaves a lot to be desired. Definitely make sure you have the most updated version of SL (I believe it is currently at update 5). I find there are still issues with the way layers are output; frequently they appear with the underlying hidden objects of layers still visible. It comes out quite a mess sometimes.
Hi Thomas,
Brett is correct, we're currently on update 5 and you can read all the release notes on fixes included in each update here. Also as Brett mentioned there were a few fixes in update 4 dealing with the quality when publishing to word.
Thank you both. Hope to see things improve moving forward, as my widescreen projects exported "large" are quite difficult to read even when the viewer has zoomed in.
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