HELP!!! Corrupt/Invalid file!

Oh no, Tara! I'm so sorry you've run into this. It sounds like you've already tried our usual troubleshooting steps. I also tried a few things on my end like importing it into a new file, but unfortunately I didn't have any luck. Do you happen to have an earlier version of the file saved somewhere?

File corruption can happen, even in the best software, and even if you’re following all the recommended best practices. To be ready if it happens, follow these important tips. 

Well, I have the auto-save feature enabled in Storyline. I haven't 'saved
as' anywhere else on my computer, but does the Auto-save have temp files
that it creates somewhere?

*Tara E. Laughlin, Ed.D.*
Director of Readiness Curriculum
tlaughlin@pairin.com
www.pairin.com

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Hi Tara,

Yes, I would expect there to be a recovery file in your temp files if the auto save feature was turned on, but you mentioned you already checked there. Just in case, here's a quick Peek at how to find them:

Open this folder in Windows Explorer: %appdata%\Articulate\Storyline

1. Scan the contents of this folder for a file that starts with the name of your project. If you find one, copy it to your desktop. If you find more than one, copy the latest version to your desktop.
2. Change the file extension of the copy on your desktop from *.tmp to *.story.
3. Double-click the file to open it in Storyline. 

Oh. I did try that... it didn't find any results. Like nothing at all...
and I've built over 30 elearning units with Storyline over the last several
months. Do you know why it would be that there would be nothing at all in
my temp file?

*Tara E. Laughlin, Ed.D.*
Director of Readiness Curriculum
tlaughlin@pairin.com
www.pairin.com

* Connect with us*

<https://twitter.com/PairinInc?ref

Hi Alyssa,

Do you know if it's even possible to extract something which shows what the
slides looked like so I could try to re-create them similarly?

Thanks,

*Tara E. Laughlin, Ed.D.*
Director of Readiness Curriculum
tlaughlin@pairin.com
www.pairin.com

* Connect with us*

<https://twitter.com/PairinInc?ref

Hi there Tara,

I see you also submitted a case about this (01102822), so let's keep the conversation going over there. 😊

Hi Tara, 

It looks like you may have missed an email I sent you via your case on 7/19, so I wanted to reach out to you here, as well. Let me know if you didn't receive my most recent case email to you, and I'll resend it!

Hi there I am having the same problem and tried all the above. Luckily I published it for release last night but when I checked this morning it was corrupt so although its released on our web page I cannot make any changes in the future.

Is there a way seen as though I have published it so have all the files in a zip file that i can recover it into articulate?

thanks in advance

Hi there Tracey, I'm sorry that happened! Did you not find a backup version in your Temp files?

You won't be able to recover the .story file from the published version. Perhaps you could send us the .story file, and we could try opening it on our end?

I'm in a somewhat similar situation. The main Storyline 360 file won't open because it is considered invalid or corrupt. There are two temp files in the appdata folder, but they have the same date/time as the main file and they also show as corrupt.

I've tried importing each of these files into a new project (one slide, a group of slides, all slides) without success. In this case, though, the error message is that the file is being used by another process or I don't have the proper security permissions. (All files are local to my hard drive, and my computer has been rebooted.)

Is there anything else I should be trying?

Thanks

David

Hi David,

I'm sorry you've run into this. If the temp folder was empty or those versions weren't accessible, there's not another option to find them that I'm aware of. 

We have some best practices outlined here to help prevent issues like this one for future files. 

If you work with an IT team, they may also be able to scan your computer for any other files in your temp or hidden folders, but it's a bit of a long shot. 

Again, I'm really sorry you've run into this, please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help. 

This actually had a happy ending thanks to an old weird trick. As I mentioned, I wasn't able to open or import either the main file or the two automatic backups. I was just about to give up and re-do the work using my own backup when I remembered that in the old days, it sometimes helped to make a copy of an unreadable file and work from that. So that's what I did, and the copy opened just fine. Problem solved! Although I can't really explain why.

Thanks, David for the update! I'm glad you found a method that worked. 

Hi, would you be able to try opening this course for me please?  It's corrupted and I can't locate the backup files.  

Thank you, 

Tanya 

Hi Tanya,

I am unable to open the file as well and it will not import into a new file. You're using Storyline 360, correct?

There may still be a working version of your project in your temp files. Here's how to check: 

1) Open this folder in Windows Explorer: %appdata%\Articulate\Storyline 

2) Scan the contents of this folder for a file that starts with the name of your project. If you find one, copy it to your desktop. If you find more than one, copy the latest version to your desktop. 

3) Change the file extension of the copy on your desktop from *.tmp to *.story. 

4) Double-click the file to open it in Storyline. 

File corruption is unpredictable, and there's no straightforward way to determine what causes it. Common causes are environmental (disk errors, power outages, improper shutdowns), viruses, failed Windows updates, and even file size (i.e., very large files have a higher risk of corrupting). Consider using the preventative measures described in this article to protect your project files.