I'm trying to understand how to add slide numbers in Storyline 360. I have gone through several posts, but none of which worked. I have read that I have to manually add a trigger on each slide, and that doesn't seem productive to me if I have over 30+ slides.
There isn't a built-in feature for slide numbers in Storyline 360, since it's designed to be non-linear. I have seen lots of ways to do it based on using variables or a manual entry, though. We'd love to hear more thoughts on how this feature could dramatically impact your workflow and course development in a Feature request here! And in case you're wondering, here's how we manage all the great ideas we gather from the community. 🙂
I have the same request. I understand the "non-linear" concept but that is not the only way to use Storyline. I'm making a 100-question quiz for a client, and I need a way to indicate how far along they are. A simple slide number variable would be tremendous.
I understand your frustration, Julie, especially since you're working with such a large course. Thank you for taking the time to submit the request. I hear you, and I'll advocate for this feature on your behalf!
Yes, ditto here on the slide number request. We are in a setting where we would love to go to comletely non-linear e-learning but our client is requesting slide numbers. Thanks for listening:)
Thanks for adding your voice to the discussion here, Jim! The more input, the better- it really helps us gauge how useful a feature would be to our community.
You could use a number variable and do a reference on a master slide(s). This way, you're only setting up a few triggers on master slides instead of every individual slide.
If your project allows users to revisit slides, you'll probably need some conditions so those slides are not double counted.
Here's a very rough example (SL360 file) of using a number variable and placing the variable reference and triggers on one slide master layout to create the effect of slide numbers. You could copy/paste the triggers and reference across multiple layouts as well.
Granted, the assumption here is that you are using stock PREV/NEXT buttons and your course is linear, which may or may not be your case.
The other thought to note, is that I took away the PREV button on slide 1, and the next button on slide 5 to prevent the user from adding or subtracting beyond the range of 1-5.
Slide numbers would be helpful for me as well. I am contracting out narration using articulate review and I have to use the titles and descriptions for reference. There are some challenges with this as some of the slides have the same title so it takes longer to clarify which one.
Thanks for adding your voice, Cecile! I can certainly understand how slide numbering would make reviewing projects a lot easier. We're continuously exploring new features, and customer input is extremely valuable in that process. :)
In the meantime, I would recommend adding the player menu with numbered entries, just for the review process. Once your project is ready to launch, you can remove the menu before publishing the file.
No offense to staff, but page numbering has been repeatedly submitted as a feature request since 2012 at least.
Customers keep returning to request this feature over and over again, with no action taken over the course of three full releases and X number of incremental updates of Storyline.
As has been pointed out so very many times; Storyline already tracks scene / slide numbers in an array as they are created. This information is available to Storyline... it uses that information to create the menu. Why is this information not available to the developer as global variables?
Even in a non-linear scenario, it should be possible for the developer to ignore slide numbering for slides they want exempted from the count.
Honestly... it should be as easy as checking a box.
"Add Slide Number?" Check.
"Exclude from slide numbering" Check.
I'm sure that Storyline users find new things to add to the feature request list every day... but slide numbering has got to be one of the oldest and most oft-submitted feature requests.
No offense taken! I know the Feature request process has been shrouded in mystery and a bit of an unknown for folks...but we're working on it! Here's a look at the process our team goes through. I'll be sure to pass your thoughts along to the team as we continue to look at this feature.
We're always working to improve Articulate tools and improve our processes - so know that the team is focused on building a project you love! ❤️
Our company has been using Lectora and we're looking to move over to Storyline. This is one feature that is missing. We've been using a variable for total and current page numbers that is activated upon entering every page. This value is displayed in a text object in the interface.
Access to the current and total page numbers would be very helpful.
The access to the player variables (such as CurrentSlide) were something that were not purposefully exposed in Storyline 1 or 2, but that folks were able to find workarounds for and access through unsupported methods.
With the changes that were made to the Storyline 3 and 360 player based on our updates for HTML5, it removed those "back doors" to system variables. I'm sorry that's caused you an additional struggles, and our team is keeping an eye on ways we could incorporate these features into future updates.
I was really surprised to find that so many of these system variables are not exposed. This would be such a huge benefit! I was trying to create a dynamic "x slides out of y" and since my course does not use back and next buttons it is all going to have to be hard coded. Bummer.
A work around I created, since I have no back and next buttons on my course, was to create a variable that holds the total number of slides (entered as its default value) then create a slide number variable that increments by 1 on each slide when the timeline starts. %varSlideNumber% of %varSlidesTotal% If you have a back and next button you could subtract when you hit the back and add on the next btn. I am sure I am not the first developer to do this. :)
We love hearing these other ways to accomplish it Curtis, and our team is looking at other ways we could help with implementing more of those features you'd rely on system variables for. Can you share any other insight or ideas on what you'd like to see as a Feature request here?
I have been able to add page numbering to my quizzes using previously posted advice. By adding a landing page prior to the actual quiz, I am able to set the page value back to 0 should the user move to the quiz via Menu (customer's request). However, the issue I have run into is during the review, Prev/Next buttons appear. I intentionally don't use them in the quiz. Should a learner select Prev during the review, the page numbering increased. I would think I need to add a trigger to the previous button to subtract 1 ... however, I'm not sure where to place the trigger.. for the Review Previous button.
52 Replies
Hi Julie,
There isn't a built-in feature for slide numbers in Storyline 360, since it's designed to be non-linear. I have seen lots of ways to do it based on using variables or a manual entry, though. We'd love to hear more thoughts on how this feature could dramatically impact your workflow and course development in a Feature request here! And in case you're wondering, here's how we manage all the great ideas we gather from the community. 🙂
I have the same request. I understand the "non-linear" concept but that is not the only way to use Storyline. I'm making a 100-question quiz for a client, and I need a way to indicate how far along they are. A simple slide number variable would be tremendous.
I totally agree with you, Veronica... I can't see myself adding triggers on every slide. What happens if I have over 50 slides?
I've added this as a feature request, hopefully, Articulate will listen to all of us...
But, in the mean, I'm stuck.
I understand your frustration, Julie, especially since you're working with such a large course. Thank you for taking the time to submit the request. I hear you, and I'll advocate for this feature on your behalf!
Yes, ditto here on the slide number request. We are in a setting where we would love to go to comletely non-linear e-learning but our client is requesting slide numbers. Thanks for listening:)
Thanks for adding your voice to the discussion here, Jim! The more input, the better- it really helps us gauge how useful a feature would be to our community.
Thank you, Ali:)
I agree, and submitted a feature request (as I have done for previous versions). Fingers crossed everyone!
You could use a number variable and do a reference on a master slide(s). This way, you're only setting up a few triggers on master slides instead of every individual slide.
If your project allows users to revisit slides, you'll probably need some conditions so those slides are not double counted.
Here's a very rough example (SL360 file) of using a number variable and placing the variable reference and triggers on one slide master layout to create the effect of slide numbers. You could copy/paste the triggers and reference across multiple layouts as well.
Granted, the assumption here is that you are using stock PREV/NEXT buttons and your course is linear, which may or may not be your case.
The other thought to note, is that I took away the PREV button on slide 1, and the next button on slide 5 to prevent the user from adding or subtracting beyond the range of 1-5.
Hope this helps.
Slide numbers would be helpful for me as well. I am contracting out narration using articulate review and I have to use the titles and descriptions for reference. There are some challenges with this as some of the slides have the same title so it takes longer to clarify which one.
Thanks for adding your voice, Cecile! I can certainly understand how slide numbering would make reviewing projects a lot easier. We're continuously exploring new features, and customer input is extremely valuable in that process. :)
In the meantime, I would recommend adding the player menu with numbered entries, just for the review process. Once your project is ready to launch, you can remove the menu before publishing the file.
Thanks for the tip. This will help :D
I completely understand why this is not an SL feature. But for some courses, those that are linear, it would be REALLY useful!
No offense to staff, but page numbering has been repeatedly submitted as a feature request since 2012 at least.
Customers keep returning to request this feature over and over again, with no action taken over the course of three full releases and X number of incremental updates of Storyline.
As has been pointed out so very many times; Storyline already tracks scene / slide numbers in an array as they are created. This information is available to Storyline... it uses that information to create the menu. Why is this information not available to the developer as global variables?
Even in a non-linear scenario, it should be possible for the developer to ignore slide numbering for slides they want exempted from the count.
Honestly... it should be as easy as checking a box.
"Add Slide Number?" Check.
"Exclude from slide numbering" Check.
I'm sure that Storyline users find new things to add to the feature request list every day... but slide numbering has got to be one of the oldest and most oft-submitted feature requests.
Hi Rodney,
No offense taken! I know the Feature request process has been shrouded in mystery and a bit of an unknown for folks...but we're working on it! Here's a look at the process our team goes through. I'll be sure to pass your thoughts along to the team as we continue to look at this feature.
We're always working to improve Articulate tools and improve our processes - so know that the team is focused on building a project you love! ❤️
Our company has been using Lectora and we're looking to move over to Storyline. This is one feature that is missing. We've been using a variable for total and current page numbers that is activated upon entering every page. This value is displayed in a text object in the interface.
Access to the current and total page numbers would be very helpful.
If I understand correctly, right now in SL3 there is no feature to get this done? In SL2 I used javascript but in this article they say it is not supported anymore: https://community.articulate.com/discussions/articulate-storyline/current-slide-number
I really need the slide numbers of SL2, but the font increase in HTML5 of SL3 as well... Why remove features that were working fine..
Hi Jelle,
The access to the player variables (such as CurrentSlide) were something that were not purposefully exposed in Storyline 1 or 2, but that folks were able to find workarounds for and access through unsupported methods.
With the changes that were made to the Storyline 3 and 360 player based on our updates for HTML5, it removed those "back doors" to system variables. I'm sorry that's caused you an additional struggles, and our team is keeping an eye on ways we could incorporate these features into future updates.
I was really surprised to find that so many of these system variables are not exposed. This would be such a huge benefit! I was trying to create a dynamic "x slides out of y" and since my course does not use back and next buttons it is all going to have to be hard coded. Bummer.
A work around I created, since I have no back and next buttons on my course, was to create a variable that holds the total number of slides (entered as its default value) then create a slide number variable that increments by 1 on each slide when the timeline starts. %varSlideNumber% of %varSlidesTotal% If you have a back and next button you could subtract when you hit the back and add on the next btn. I am sure I am not the first developer to do this. :)
We love hearing these other ways to accomplish it Curtis, and our team is looking at other ways we could help with implementing more of those features you'd rely on system variables for. Can you share any other insight or ideas on what you'd like to see as a Feature request here?
what about a way to reference the slide title/number on the slide? EX: "1.3 Tools"
I don't think we currently have access to that variable.
I have been able to add page numbering to my quizzes using previously posted advice. By adding a landing page prior to the actual quiz, I am able to set the page value back to 0 should the user move to the quiz via Menu (customer's request). However, the issue I have run into is during the review, Prev/Next buttons appear. I intentionally don't use them in the quiz. Should a learner select Prev during the review, the page numbering increased. I would think I need to add a trigger to the previous button to subtract 1 ... however, I'm not sure where to place the trigger.. for the Review Previous button.
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