I am converting a PDF to PPT to import to Storyline. When I do this, a dashed line appears around my text boxes, and stays through to the print process. When I print the Storyline to Word (For PDF purposes), the dashed lines become gray boxes around the text boxes. Is there any way to remove the dashed lines? I tried formatting shapes to remove the shape outline, but this does not work. Thanks in advance!
I can't say I've personally tried this. Can you let us know if the dashed lines first appear in Storyline, or if they appear in PowerPoint?
It could be specific to how the text was formatted for the PDF, might have carried over in PowerPoint, but I cannot say for sure.
You see the lines within the text boxes in the Storyline slides, correct? Are you able to select the text (not the text box) and paste that into a new text box? Does the same line appear if so?
You're certainly welcome to share the PDF here, if you'd like - or even the PowerPoint file. We could try importing this and see if we experience the same thing.
Thanks for your quick response! They first appear in Storyline. When I copy/paste text into a new text box, the line disappears (would this be a recommended fix?).
I won't be able to share the PPT because of confidentiality, unfortunately. Would a screenshot of the box with dashed lines help?
As much as I'd like to say "Yes", I'm afraid we could only get so far with a screenshot. That doesn't enable me to look at everything tied to that text, how it behaves when it's imported and how it was set up before it was imported.
If you're unable to share it, I completely understand. It may be a good idea to use the copy option for your text, at least for the text that you'd like to publish to Word.
I realize that may be time-consuming, especially if it's a large project, but hopefully it will improve the appearance of the content.
Thanks again for considering it. This project will be incredibly time consuming without trying to figure out the issue. I downloaded a PDF completely unrelated to my work (attached), and imported it to PPT. Then I see the same dashed boxes when I go to Storyline. I'll attach the Storyline File in a separate reply. ~Sarah
I cannot convert the PDF to Word or PowerPoint with my current version. However, I did notice that I can copy and paste from the version that launches via web browser (using the attachment you provided in Google Chrome).
As for the content currently in the Storyline file, it's acting a bit strangely. I can copy it, but I'm not able to paste the content into Word or Outlook - where I usually go to investigate formatting :)
Now, jumping back to my statement on copying the text, that may be an option but it will lose the formatting in the original PDF file.
I think a lot of it has to do with some of the points made in this article:
You could also try converting it to Word and try copying from there. That may retain some of the formatting, but I'm unable to test that on my end with my version of Adobe.
Yet another option, that ties into Ron's suggestion - would be to modify the text as much as you need to, then save that text as an image. When you publish for Word, you'd avoid the lines that are displaying. I'd recommend keeping the original content in a backup, then pull the content you want to publish to Word as an image into a new file.
Although, it may be a little easier to just convert the PDF file to Word, instead of PowerPoint, then include that content with your Storyline project's publish to Word.
Not really sure if any of this helps, but please do let us know if you're able to find a method that works for you.
Hi Christine, I think I will copy/paste the text out of the dashed line boxes to new text boxes. Seems to be the best solution so far. Thank you again for your help! ~Sarah
You're very welcome! Sorry it still came down to that, but hopefully someone else that's experienced this can chime in at some point and share some additional tips.
I hope you have a great day and best of luck with the project! :)
10 Replies
Hi Sarah,
Welcome to E-Learning Heroes!
I can't say I've personally tried this. Can you let us know if the dashed lines first appear in Storyline, or if they appear in PowerPoint?
It could be specific to how the text was formatted for the PDF, might have carried over in PowerPoint, but I cannot say for sure.
You see the lines within the text boxes in the Storyline slides, correct? Are you able to select the text (not the text box) and paste that into a new text box? Does the same line appear if so?
You're certainly welcome to share the PDF here, if you'd like - or even the PowerPoint file. We could try importing this and see if we experience the same thing.
Best,
Christine
Hi Christine,
Thanks for your quick response! They first appear in Storyline. When I copy/paste text into a new text box, the line disappears (would this be a recommended fix?).
I won't be able to share the PPT because of confidentiality, unfortunately. Would a screenshot of the box with dashed lines help?
Thanks again,
Sarah
Hi there Sarah,
As much as I'd like to say "Yes", I'm afraid we could only get so far with a screenshot. That doesn't enable me to look at everything tied to that text, how it behaves when it's imported and how it was set up before it was imported.
If you're unable to share it, I completely understand. It may be a good idea to use the copy option for your text, at least for the text that you'd like to publish to Word.
I realize that may be time-consuming, especially if it's a large project, but hopefully it will improve the appearance of the content.
Thanks!
Christine
Hi Christine!
Thanks again for considering it. This project will be incredibly time consuming without trying to figure out the issue. I downloaded a PDF completely unrelated to my work (attached), and imported it to PPT. Then I see the same dashed boxes when I go to Storyline. I'll attach the Storyline File in a separate reply.
~Sarah
Here is the Storyline file. Thank you again!
In Acrobat you can save your document as a graphic. Inserting as a graphic will provide the information without the boxes.
Unfortunately I need to be able to edit the text. Thank you for the idea, though!
Hi Sarah,
I cannot convert the PDF to Word or PowerPoint with my current version. However, I did notice that I can copy and paste from the version that launches via web browser (using the attachment you provided in Google Chrome).
As for the content currently in the Storyline file, it's acting a bit strangely. I can copy it, but I'm not able to paste the content into Word or Outlook - where I usually go to investigate formatting :)
Now, jumping back to my statement on copying the text, that may be an option but it will lose the formatting in the original PDF file.
I think a lot of it has to do with some of the points made in this article:
Things to consider when importing PowerPoint into Storyline
You could also try converting it to Word and try copying from there. That may retain some of the formatting, but I'm unable to test that on my end with my version of Adobe.
Yet another option, that ties into Ron's suggestion - would be to modify the text as much as you need to, then save that text as an image. When you publish for Word, you'd avoid the lines that are displaying. I'd recommend keeping the original content in a backup, then pull the content you want to publish to Word as an image into a new file.
Although, it may be a little easier to just convert the PDF file to Word, instead of PowerPoint, then include that content with your Storyline project's publish to Word.
Not really sure if any of this helps, but please do let us know if you're able to find a method that works for you.
Thanks!
Hi Christine,
I think I will copy/paste the text out of the dashed line boxes to new text boxes. Seems to be the best solution so far. Thank you again for your help!
~Sarah
Hi Sarah,
You're very welcome! Sorry it still came down to that, but hopefully someone else that's experienced this can chime in at some point and share some additional tips.
I hope you have a great day and best of luck with the project! :)
Christine
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