HTML Links in Storyline

If you create an HTML page with internal anchors you can link directly to that glossary term and allow the user to scroll through the page after. It sounds like you're trying to use a PDF as your source file. If that's all you have to work with then you could add the anchors after you export to html which is pretty easy. 

You could also link to a specific area of a PDF but it is fraught with challenges, and I don't recommend it. 

Hi.

I have a similar issue that I would also like to resolve, without having to learn Javascript first!

I would like to place a command button in Storyline 2 that, when clicked, will open a separate MS Word document and the automatically jump to a specific place in that document.  In other words, I need Storyline to jump to a bookmark in a Word document.  

The reason why I need the link to an external Word document, instead of just putting the wording on a different Storyline slide, is that I want the user to copy the text the Word doc takes him to, and then use it by pasting it into an email, etc.  In short, therefore, I am using Storyline to navigate the user through a range of potential scenarios, in order to provide the specific wording to use for his particular situation (where the wording for each different scenario is earmarked with its own bookmark).

When working between MS Office products, the way to create such links appears to be by adding a hashtag and then the bookmark name to the end of the url address.  If one then references the url address with the # suffix in a hyperlink, the linked document opens at the exact spot of the bookmark, instead of just at the top of page one (which won't work for me, because there are hundreds of situations, and I can't expect the user to scroll through such a long document to find the right wording).

However, this "include the bookmark name in the url address" approach doesn't work in Storyline.  If I add a "Jump to URL/file" trigger to my command button and then add the directory location of the doc that I want to link to, including the #bookmark name portion directly after the file name in the url address, Storyline tells me that it is an "invalid URL or file not found".  If I remove the # portion, however, then it opens the linked doc, but only at the top of page one.

Is there a way to create a trigger that will jump to a specific point in a Word (or any other creatable type of) document?

Thanks.

This sounds like a bug to me, as the # sign is used for the exact type of bookmarking in web pages, so it really should be supported. Rather than having to learn javascript, how about if we just give you some code to use? You don't really have to know how it works, just where to replace your new URL each time.

Test out this code to see if it works for you:

var url = "https://community.articulate.com/discussions/articulate-storyline/html-links-in-storyline#reply-476396";
window.open(url, '_blank');

Hi.

Thanks so much.  Will give it a shot first thing tomorrow and report back here.

Appreciate!

Hi Michael.

My first attempt at using the code failed - it couldn't find the linked bookmark.

Do I use the code exactly as-is n terms of punctuation: i.e. inverted commas, spaces, etc. as you provided it?

Thanks.

One caveat regarding linking to a Word document in the browser: All of your users must have Microsoft word installed on the PC they are using to access the course. If not the link will not work. I've found, that even in a controlled environment, it isn't foolproof. 

You should just be able to replace the "link" between the quotation marks on the first line of the code. So replace "https://community.articulate.com/discussions/articulate-storyline/html-links-in-storyline#reply-476396" with your link. Can you post a sample of what you link links like? I could try to replicate it in Word here.