How do I embed a Word doc inside Storyline 2?

You could attach it as in the resources section of the player.

Thanks Phil but I'm not using the resource section. I've had a play and added it using the hyperlink function (to file not url) and this seems to work once uploaded to our LMS.

Hi Chris,

You could house the file on your local drive and then link to the file within the Resources section of Storyline, and then you could follow the directions here in terms of linking to the course within the slide. 

Thanks Ashley that sounds like a perfect solution. However I've had a go and can't get it to work. I've added the two files to the resources area, temporarily turned on the resource link at the top of the player and checked that they open (they do) but when I come to add the hyperlink to the text on the specific slide and test it, it comes up with 'Invalid url or file not found'

I've published the file and can see that both the word docs are in the output and am now stuck on what to do. I'd upload the story file for you to look at but its got company data in it so can't do that unless I can share it privately.

story_content/external_files/HR_Policies_Procedures.docx

story_content/external_files/Policy_Changes_Overview.docx

You need to host on the web as testing locally will throw errors. and at least one slide needs to have the resources section checked to ensure the files are in the published files.

Also ensure there are no spaces in the filename.

Thanks Phil, I'd noticed the errors when trying to run locally but I also uploaded to our LMS and it didn't work there either. Its only 1 slide (tabbed browser using layers) so I'll make the resources tab visible in the player and try uploading it again to see if that works.

Thanks Phil, I've just tested it and it works. Key learning points for me here are:

• Use the 'resources' section and link to documents from there rather than potentially uploading multiple times for use on a variety of slides
• Resource tab needs to be visible in the player (at least in one slide) otherwise it doesn't work
• Can only test that they work by hosting on web (upload to our LMS for me)

I'm going to see if I can make the resources tab 'invisible' as I don't really want the learners to be able to see it. If I can't then I'll live with it being there. As usual this community comes up trumps and am so glad we choose Storyline as our new authoring tool.

I think I've got it how I want it now. I've left the resource as not visible in the main player controls and have added a new slide that the learner will not be able to access. In that slide I've turned on the resources tab so that it is published and will upload and test in our LMS.

To ensure completion is still registered properly I've also changed the number of slides that need to be viewed to take account of the extra 'invisible' one.

Glad you've got it working as you'd like Chris - and your solution was what I was going to suggest in terms of enabling the resource tab on one slide that users can't ever get too. 

Let us know if you need anything else.

Sorry I was out most of the day, but you seem to have found the solution I use.

This way you can be confident that the resources are always attached.

Also as a final check, look in the Story_content folder to see if the external files folder is there and your document is in there.

Thanks both. I checked that the story_content folder was there when I didn't have the resources tab activated and it was (hence my surprise that it didn't work) but thanks to you I've got a way of doing it now. FYI, I've created an internal Yammer support group for those in my company who use Storyline 2 and have linked to this thread as it gives everyone a working and common solution we can all use. 

Thanks Chris for the update and glad that the solution was able to work for you! Nice to be able to link your other colleagues here too. 

Just one final thing that I could do with help on around this now I've got it working. If I run this on a mobile device, when you select the Word doc it opens up but on top fo the main course and I don't seem to be able to get back to the slides. Any ideas?

I suppose it depends on which app or if the browser is opening the file, you probably haven't got much control over this