I have a course that contains nearly 300 slides. I am trying to consolidate or delete some of the Master Slide Layouts. When I am in the “View Master Slide” menu and roll over some of the layouts, the pop-up text shows me how many slides use that particular Layout. From the thumbnail in Story View is was easy to locate most of the slides using a given layout. However, one layout still says that it is used on one slide in the course. I don't want to delete that layout for fear that one of my slides will suddenly loose that content but I won't know where. Is there any way to determine where in the course each layout is used? It is exhausting to go into Story View and right click each of the 300 slides to learn which layout is applied to that slide.
Hi, I'm having the same problem but I do have a little fix for you (I realize this is an old post).
I go to the master I want to delete and put a huge bright box on the layer. then I can find it on the story, as long as as it isn't a slide that has a full background on it.
My only problem is, I have full backups and CANT find it still! :D
That is normally how we help isolate slide masters as well. I'm not sure what you mean by "full backups" though? Could you share a bit more information?
I remember asking for this in a feature request a long time ago - it would help out HUGELY when we import PowerPoints that clients have that sometimes have been altered over the years, and may have literally dozens of slide masters.
I have SAME issue with Articulate Storyline. One Master says it's used by 2 slides. I have right-clicked to confirm EVERY slide in my project. I also put a BIG RED BOX on top of the slide. Thinking that "This will surely stand out!" Right? Wrong..... I even looked in all of my LAYERS. Nothing. I cannot find the rogue Master. I have saved as.... and moved on. Would be nice to at least see a LIST of slides that use that particular Master. What d'ya think Articulate? I saw another request for this 3 years ago!
I had the same problem Solution was to put a big red blob on the master slide (as suggested by others) and then export your story to MS Word. You can then quickly scroll though your slides in Word and identify the culprit slide(s) quite quickly, by slide number as well.
Doug, that is a great suggestion. It really is a shame that one has to go through such contortions just to find where your masters are being used but this is the best suggestion I've seen so far for dealing with it. Thanks for contributing.
It's still a workaround though. I'm assuming that Storyline 3 builds on the codebase of Storyline 2 (and that 360 shares a lot of code too). Since v2 can tell the number of slides that are using a master, I'd have thought that it would be a logical extension to be able to retrieve their ID too.
My S360 trial has long expired and I'm reluctant to install the S3 trial until I've a few questions banked. I'm hoping that somebody who has the software can enlighten me.
Chris: Agree, it would be a logical extension (but not provided in SL3). Trace Precedents / Dependents throughout the application would be great. Another example, check dependents before deleting a slide.
Look in the question banks as well, could be lurking there
Just a heads up that I figured out today. A draw from a question bank also has a layout. But it can only be accessed from the Story View, not slide view. I'd wasted hours trying to track down a rogue master that was used on that one single slide in my project. The usual tricks like placing a bright colored shape on the master, or even using a trigger to pop something up in case that shape was hidden behind objects on the slide hadn't helped. I'm still using Storyline 2, so not sure if they fixed this in 3 or 360.
Sad that there are multiple threads about finding masters going back YEARS and there's no feature that addresses it yet!
I was looking in Storyline 360, and I don't see where a draw from question bank slide has a layout option. I took a quick screenshot of that here. The individual question slides within the question bank can all have their own slide master layout.
Perhaps I'm misunderstanding what you're running into, but I'd love to take a look at your .story file to see how it's working.
I was having this issue today, where I could not locate 3 slides used by a second Master slide set (which I wanted to delete). I figured out what Jen is saying about the Draw slide. In Storyline 360, from the Story View, select a "Draw from" slide. From the Home menu, select Apply Layout and it will show you which Master slide is currently selected. Sure enough, my 3 "Draw from" slides where making use of that second Master. Once re-assigned, I am now able to finally delete that second Master slide set. Thanks Jen.
Thanks very much for the solution you offered, Jen!
When I did a search again for this issue today, I came upon your post, as well as the one below laying out the same method. This problem has vexed me for a couple of years! What a relief to know how to correct it.
In the slide master view, it would be nice to know which layout is use on which slides. When a SL file has been touched by many designers over the life of a course, there could be large number of different slide masters and feedback masters.
I had the same problem Solution was to put a big red blob on the master slide (as suggested by others) and then export your story to MS Word. You can then quickly scroll though your slides in Word and identify the culprit slide(s) quite quickly, by slide number as well.
26 Replies
Hello Brian!
Unfortunately there is not a way to see which slides are using the masters, it will only tell you how many are using them.
Also, you will not be able to delete a slide master or layout that is currently being used by one or more slides in your story.
Hi, I'm having the same problem but I do have a little fix for you (I realize this is an old post).
I go to the master I want to delete and put a huge bright box on the layer. then I can find it on the story, as long as as it isn't a slide that has a full background on it.
My only problem is, I have full backups and CANT find it still! :D
Hi Rebecca,
That is normally how we help isolate slide masters as well. I'm not sure what you mean by "full backups" though? Could you share a bit more information?
Look in the question banks as well, could be lurking there
I remember asking for this in a feature request a long time ago - it would help out HUGELY when we import PowerPoints that clients have that sometimes have been altered over the years, and may have literally dozens of slide masters.
I have SAME issue with Articulate Storyline. One Master says it's used by 2 slides. I have right-clicked to confirm EVERY slide in my project. I also put a BIG RED BOX on top of the slide. Thinking that "This will surely stand out!" Right? Wrong..... I even looked in all of my LAYERS. Nothing. I cannot find the rogue Master. I have saved as.... and moved on. Would be nice to at least see a LIST of slides that use that particular Master. What d'ya think Articulate? I saw another request for this 3 years ago!
Hi Nan! You are welcome to share your thoughts here as well.
Done! :) I'll probably be retired by the time it's implemented, but at least future users will have the feature.
Thanks Nan
Do Storyline 3 or 360 provide better tools for locating where slide masters are used?
I had the same problem Solution was to put a big red blob on the master slide (as suggested by others) and then export your story to MS Word. You can then quickly scroll though your slides in Word and identify the culprit slide(s) quite quickly, by slide number as well.
Doug, that is a great suggestion. It really is a shame that one has to go through such contortions just to find where your masters are being used but this is the best suggestion I've seen so far for dealing with it. Thanks for contributing.
It's still a workaround though. I'm assuming that Storyline 3 builds on the codebase of Storyline 2 (and that 360 shares a lot of code too). Since v2 can tell the number of slides that are using a master, I'd have thought that it would be a logical extension to be able to retrieve their ID too.
My S360 trial has long expired and I'm reluctant to install the S3 trial until I've a few questions banked. I'm hoping that somebody who has the software can enlighten me.
Chris: Agree, it would be a logical extension (but not provided in SL3). Trace Precedents / Dependents throughout the application would be great. Another example, check dependents before deleting a slide.
Just a heads up that I figured out today. A draw from a question bank also has a layout. But it can only be accessed from the Story View, not slide view. I'd wasted hours trying to track down a rogue master that was used on that one single slide in my project. The usual tricks like placing a bright colored shape on the master, or even using a trigger to pop something up in case that shape was hidden behind objects on the slide hadn't helped. I'm still using Storyline 2, so not sure if they fixed this in 3 or 360.
Sad that there are multiple threads about finding masters going back YEARS and there's no feature that addresses it yet!
Hi Jen
I was looking in Storyline 360, and I don't see where a draw from question bank slide has a layout option. I took a quick screenshot of that here. The individual question slides within the question bank can all have their own slide master layout.
Perhaps I'm misunderstanding what you're running into, but I'd love to take a look at your .story file to see how it's working.
I was having this issue today, where I could not locate 3 slides used by a second Master slide set (which I wanted to delete). I figured out what Jen is saying about the Draw slide. In Storyline 360, from the Story View, select a "Draw from" slide. From the Home menu, select Apply Layout and it will show you which Master slide is currently selected. Sure enough, my 3 "Draw from" slides where making use of that second Master. Once re-assigned, I am now able to finally delete that second Master slide set. Thanks Jen.
Thanks very much for the solution you offered, Jen!
When I did a search again for this issue today, I came upon your post, as well as the one below laying out the same method. This problem has vexed me for a couple of years! What a relief to know how to correct it.
https://community.articulate.com/discussions/articulate-storyline/removing-unwanted-slide-masters-in-storyline-360-draw-from-question-bank-default-format-issue
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you - Francois!!
Thanks, Jen & Francois! 2 years later, your solution saved me a ton of time!
link not working
Hello Diane!
It looks like that discussion was deleted. Can you share more specifically what you're running into, and we can point you to an updated resource?
In the slide master view, it would be nice to know which layout is use on which slides. When a SL file has been touched by many designers over the life of a course, there could be large number of different slide masters and feedback masters.
Hi Brian
Check my solution (5 years ago) in this response chain. It is not the tidiest solution but does work!
Save you searching:
I had the same problem Solution was to put a big red blob on the master slide (as suggested by others) and then export your story to MS Word. You can then quickly scroll though your slides in Word and identify the culprit slide(s) quite quickly, by slide number as well.