FIX 4 U: Slide Play button Disabled (grayed-out)?

Hi Ashley,

Thanks, yes, same here, I'm not sure - my installation was seamless, so its definitely one of those unexplained anomalies that was encountered (and I have no idea why). It seems random and isn't activated by any particular function because at times it happens when simply viewing a slide itself outside of story view.

I get this as well - to remedy I move to another slide in slide view then back. Nothing consistent in when or why - one of the mysteries of the world!

:)

Storyline inconsistencies - right up there with the wonders of the world like Pyramids at Giza. ;)

UPDATE: Ok, I've tried it again (testing), looks like this could be one way the play button is disabled...

When opening Storyline 2:

• If the default settings open up in 'Story View' first
• And, the user double-clicks any of the smaller slides (as if to activate/open the slide for editing)
• Then, the scene opens with the play button grayed-out...so at this point the user can use one of the workarounds either Wendy or I have posed in this post.

Thanks Monique for sharing hat info. I'll look at trying to recreate to see if there is consistency I can share with our team to investigate further. 

Ok, thanks, this may not be the end all be all but at least there's a few work-arounds.

I tried your suggestion but it is still grayed out.  This was working previously in this file.

I closed and reopened the file and the timeline preview but is active again.  From the other posts I've seen on this bug, I hope it gets fixed soon.

Thanks Janice - it seems that the workarounds mentioned above have helped out users but we'll continue to look into it as well.

I have the same problem with S360. 
Frankly, I´m spending more time dealing with bugs in Storyline than working with my projects.
It started after importing some slides from another project. They are inserted as a different scene.

Hi Marcos!

Sorry to hear that you ran into difficulty with this as well. Is it intermittent for you as it was for the users above?

Regarding importing your slides, the default is to add to the same scene as the file you are importing from, but you can change this if you wish. 

You will see this on the bottom of the insert slides window:

I have this problem all the time in 360!  I just tried your suggestion to click over to Story View and then back and it worked!  Also, sometimes if you click the zoom in button on the timeline the buttons will become active -- but that's about a 50/50 success rate.

Workaround didn't work for me. Still grayed out. Preview works as expected...

I wonder if this has anything to do with assets that have come from SL 3?

This stinks that this still happens at the end of year 2018...I still can't get mine to work. This software's quirks make creating these very frustrating. 

I found that I am able to re-enable the controls by clicking through the assets on the slide. There doesn't seem to be any logic to it, but if I select different layers in the timeline the controls at some point become enabled.

EDIT: This isn't consistent as a fix. Right now, for example, nothing's working.

Hello Jon and Kathryn,

Thanks for chiming in to share your experience with your timeline playback buttons.

It looks like this issue has been reported to our team. We have not been able to replicate the issue and as you're finding, workarounds found by folks are inconsistent as well. 

Workaround:

• Saving, closing SL and restarting
• Switching between scenes and slides

I'll add this to our report as we track impacted users and if you find any consistency in recreating that would be especially helpful.

• What operating system are you using?
• Do you have more than one instance of Storyline open when experiencing this issue?

Windows 10

SL 360 3.19.16600.0

1 instance of SL open

Happens intermittently, not consistent that I can tell.

Those workarounds also work most of the time. Restarting is not an automatic fix, but it usually helps kickstart a fix.

I have the exact same answers as John as below.

Also, could anyone please tell me why an end point will get stuck and won’t be able to move? All of my audio, video, images etc. end several seconds before (at the same time as one another) but I cannot drag the end point to match them? This also happens sporadically, and I cannot find a solution or understand what causes it.

Thank you!

Sincerely,
Kathryn

Kathryn Rady
Manager | Navigate
484.383.0606 (o) | 860.836.5121 (m)
krady@navigatecorp.com

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Thanks Jon. As I mentioned above, I've added this conversation to the report. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts on the workarounds as well.

Hi Kathryn, 

Is it a cue point that you've added that you can't move, or the end point of the timeline that you're unable to change? I haven't seen that, but I'd be happy to test your file and see if I can make changes to it. Upload here using the Add Attachment button.

Also, it looks like your email signature came through when you replied via email. You can remove that if needed by clicking ‘Edit’ beneath your response. Here’s a quick Peek video if you need help.

Hey Kathryn,

Thanks for letting me know the setup that you're using as well. I appreciate it.

You mention an 'end point getting stuck'? Do you mean that the items on your timeline do not reach the end of your slide?

• What happens when you try to move the end of your timeline?
• Are you able to right-click and choose 'Show until End' on your items?

Here's a brief demo:

Hi everyone,

Good news! We fixed the issue you reported where the:

Timeline preview buttons become disabled while working on a file

Be sure to install the latest Storyline 360 update to take advantage of all the recent features and fixes. 

If the problem happens again, please record a Peek 360 screencast for me, and I'll be happy to help or you can always work directly with our support engineers here.