File Management - Locking the .story file

Apr 28, 2015

Our company has many departments around the world who each have their own ISD/course developers. We were working on a file for someone else and realized they opened it after we did. Is there a way to lock the .story file so no one can open it if it's already opened? 

Or if anyone shares files with other departments, how do you manage those files? Check-in/check-out? Any software or processes that you can recommend?

10 Replies
Katie Riggio

Welcome, Audrey. Happy to help!

The ability to lock a file is not yet a feature in Storyline, but I'd love to understand more about your needs. Would you mind sharing a little more about why having such a function would come in handy for you and your team?

Let me know, as I'm happy to share this concept with our product team! 

Audrey Rice

Hi Katie,

I work with a team that produces training tutorials. To date, we've created
over 200 videos, which are in constant need of updating. Currently, we have
no easy way of know who is working on what file, therefore, there have been
times when more than one person was working on the same file at the same
time. As you can imagine, this is not a good thing.

We are looking for a way to prevent this from happening again.

I hope that helps.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Leslie McKerchie

Thanks for the additional details, Audrey.

When working collaboratively with others, we advise working locally and then re-saving the file to the network.

I know that many network servers have the option to lock/check-out files when they are being worked on. Have you reached out to your IT Team to see if this is a feature that may be available to you and your team?

I'll reach out to my team to understand as well.

Audrey Rice

Thanks for getting back to me. Your suggestion does not solve our problem,
however. We need a sure-fire way of knowing if someone else is currently
working on the file that we are about to touch.
If I could lock the file, then it would be impossible for someone else to
work on it as well.

Does that make sense?

Leslie McKerchie

I understand, Audrey.

There is not a file-locking feature within Storyline. I have submitted this as a feature request on your behalf.

I wanted to share some information about how we manage these feature requests as that may be helpful.

I see that you are an Articulate 360 Teams member, so you do have the option to use Team Slides. Here are a few other options for collaboration as well.

Folder and file locking is a feature of Windows as well, so I'd be sure to reach out to your IT Team on best practices of use and implementation.

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