Icons Inserted Play to end of Slide and can't control timing in Storyline 360
Jul 30, 2018
The title of my discussion pretty much says it all...I use icons a ton and they are the most frustrating things in SL360.
When I insert an icon it defaults to play to the end of the slide AND when you right click it in timeline there is no timing option meaning I then have to drag it all the way back through the timeline to where I want.
This is a complete time suck and something that is a very basic request the developers should fix.
What's also a problem is that this behavior happens on some icons but not all from the content library...meaning there is a mechanism for fixing this is just hasn't been applied to all icons.
What we really need is a way to specify on a per project basis (or even just global preferences) the default insertion timing for all media:
Text Boxes
Images
Icons
Shapes
Why is this still not done? Please make this a priority.
18 Replies
Hi there Robert,
I can understand why you would be frustrated! Those icons definitely shouldn't appear at the end of the timeline, and I'm sure you don't want to manually change the timing for every icon.
Have you checked that the blue playhead is located at "0" seconds when you insert the icon? Here's a Peek that explains what I mean.
Let me know if that helps!
Yes the playhead is at 0...it has to do with them being inserted with "Play until end" already marked AND no timing option when I right click.
To be clear, images insert this way too, but they usually have the timing option available.
In either case, having to go and adjust EVERY image, shape, and icon I insert is a giant time suck...and honestly a pretty basic thing to fix.
I know this is not the first time it has been mentioned though couldn't find any actual discussions about it.
(FYI I got a bad gateway error when trying to view your PEEK screencast.)
Do you have an example to share? I inserted a number of icons and didn't run into the issue. Can share a slide with some icons on it that have the issue?
View the Peek screencast linked below.
Note that all three inserted items..SHAPE, ICON, and PICTURE default inserted to "Show Until End" meaning extra work to remove that EACH TIME.
Also note that the Icon I inserted did NOT have the TIMING option when I right-clicked.
I just picked one icon, but rest assured there are MANY that have this issue.
Here's link: https://360.articulate.com/review/content/b57779bd-adf9-4934-8c15-353c504f6844/review
When you have grouped objects, you won't see the timing option except inside the group on individual objects.
Some of the icons are single vectors (which will show the timing) and some are grouped vectors (which doesn't as a group).
That's how the vectors were created so there's not much we can do at this end and unfortunately, there's not a way to know which ones are grouped vs not-grouped before inserting.
And Tom...while I appreciate you saying you inserted a number of icons and didn't have the problem, here's another screencast where i typed woman into the search box and picked the first three on the list and ALL were missing the Timing option.
Link: https://360.articulate.com/review/content/5357ca56-8919-43c5-a6fc-c5096a09faa5/review
I have to believe that if the first three of one keyword have the issue, this is indicative of a large number of icons across the library.
And again to be clear there are TWO issues:
1) The timing issue being missing from icons
2) MORE IMPORTANTLY, we end users should be able to choose the default settings when inserting all media and not be stuck with whatever the developers of SL360 think makes sense.
With that said, inside the group, you can select all of the objects on the timeline and set the timing at once and not have to do ti for each element.
TOM, that is an incredibly lame excuse for something..either the developers need to make all icons the same way or solve the issue another way.
YOU really expect us to have to do that much work to solve a timing issue that shouldn't exist in the first place?
Apologies for sounding negative above, but it makes little sense to me why we are beholden to this rigidity in terms of default timing.
And as for the grouped vectors, I feel there is a mechanism to allow for timing as group, just as if I were to take three objects and manually group them, I could then adjust the timing of the newly formed group.
Surely there is a way for that same functionality to be applied to icons with grouped parts?
No need to apologize, I can see your perspective on it.
We do want to make the software as efficient and functional as possible. If you want a specific feature to control those default settings, you are always welcome to submit a feature request. The developers review all of the requests and prioritize them based on demand and other points of value.
As far as grouping of other objects, they work just liked the grouped vectors. They also have the absence of the timing feature. This makes sense because one can have multiple objects on the slide and each could have different timing and they could all be in the same group.
The feature to move them all is to open the group, select them all, and then access the timing.
Hello,
Is there an update to this issue?
Hi Colette,
Welcome to the E-Learning Heroes community! ✨
Since this is an older post and there have been many updates in Storyline 360, I want to ask you some follow-up questions to understand better how to help you.
If you're comfortable sharing your project with us, you can upload it here or privately in a support case so we can investigate the issue. We will delete it from our systems once troubleshooting is complete.
Hello,
Thank you for your response. In Storyline 360, for every file, when I
insert an icon on the timeline, the icon extends to the end of the
timeline. It does not provide me the “timing” option to adjust the timing.
Instead, I have to drag the icon on the timeline from the end to where I
want it to end on the timeline, which is time-consuming as my timelines can
be long.
Best,
Colette
[image: Virginia Department of Social Services]
[image: VDSS Facebook] [image: VDSS
Twitter] [image: VDSS LinkedIn]
[image: VDSS YouTube]
*Colette Perkins*
*Instructional Designer, Workforce Development*
Virginia Department of Social Services
801 East Main Street, Richmond, VA 23219
(804) 726-7879 www.dss.virginia.gov
[image: current VDSS campaign]
Hi Colette,
Thanks for the additional information. We still do not have any updates on when this feature will be changed, but I can confirm that a request has already been raised to our product team for the ability to change the default setting 'Show until the end of the timeline' when inserting objects. We'll let everyone in this forum know when an update becomes available!
Thank you for your feedback. I would very much welcome the ability to
change the default setting “Show until the end of the timeline.” It is very
time-consuming to move the object from the end to where you want it on the
timeline. Thank you!
[image: Virginia Department of Social Services]
[image: VDSS Facebook] [image: VDSS
Twitter] [image: VDSS LinkedIn]
[image: VDSS YouTube]
*Colette Perkins*
*Instructional Designer, Workforce Development*
Virginia Department of Social Services
801 East Main Street, Richmond, VA 23219
(804) 726-7879 www.dss.virginia.gov
[image: current VDSS campaign]
+1 for allowing icons to have configurable defaults.
I loathe doing any animations that are longer than 30 seconds because of this issue. Incredibly monotonous to have to drag over the timeline EVERY SINGLE TIME because it automatically shows until end.
I'd vote for adding the "Timing..." option to the icon (group) level, in addition to the current one on the icon's individual elements level. Thanks!
Hi Mengqiao!
Thanks for sharing the feedback on the type of functionality you'd like to see in Storyline!
I've included you in the feature report, and will update this discussion if it makes it onto our Feature Roadmap!