Insert SSML tags

I'm having the same problem. In some cases, the tags work as expected, in others the voice reads out the tags. I'm using Ruth (English US) for the voice.

Hello Elaine,

I have reported the problem to the Articulate support team.
I will contact you when I could solve it.

Thank you.

I am also facing the same problem. Let me know if you have found the solution. Thanks

Hi Yuka!

Sorry to hear you've run into this setback when using SSML tags in Storyline.

Great move on opening a support case! I see that you connected with my colleague Ian. It looks like Ian replied to your e-mail with some feedback and steps to take.

We can continue troubleshooting through your case to help keep all information in one spot.

Hi Elaine!

Sorry to hear you've also hit this snag with SSML tags in Storyline!

Certain tags are only supported when using Standard voices, and Ruth (English USA) is one of the Neural voices. It would be helpful to see a copy of your .story file and which SSML tags were being used. Would you be comfortable sharing a copy here in the discussion or privately through a support case?

We'll delete it from our system as soon as troubleshooting is complete!

Hi Fookloy!

Sorry to hear you've also run into trouble when adding SSML tags to your Storyline course!

I'd like to take a closer look at your .story file to see why the tags are being read as text and not as proper SSML markups. Would you be willing to share a copy of your project file here in the discussion or in privately by opening a support case?

We'll delete it as soon as we finish testing!

Hello Steven,

Thank you for your comment.

Yes, I've confirmed the email from Ian. I could get success to proceed TTS with SSML tags when I use a test file which sent by Ian.
But I couldn't get success in my Storyline even if I copied Ian's file log and paseted to my TTS.

After I will uninstall and re-install Storyline next week, I would feedback to you and Ian.

Thank you very much!

Hello Fookloy,

Of course. I would share you when I found any solution.
Thank you.

I am having the same issues. I get the "storyline 360 can't convert this text to speech...." whenever I add any tags other than <speak>. It seemed to be working when I added the <speak> tags but as soon as I added <p> or <s> type tags, I get the error message upon clicking update. Any ideas?

Hi Jennifer! 

Thanks for reaching out. Sorry to hear you're running into this snag with SSML tags. 

Have you tried replicating this in a brand new .story file? Do you get the same results when trying to convert Text-to-Speech? 

Please upload your .story file to this thread or privately in your support case so we can take a closer look!

Looking forward to hearing from you! 🎉

Hi everyone, if the TTS is reading out SSML tags, can you try doublechecking to see if the TTS script isn't followed by a trailing white space (you'll know that's the case if you backspace and it doesn't delete the right character). Another way to end up with this behavior is if your TTS script ends with an empty line break, backspacing will also remove this. Here's what those two scenarios look like: 

For Jennifer, if you could share a sample of your script and how you are using the <p> and <s> tags that would be helpful. Are you closing those tags with </p>? For example:

<speak> 
<p>This is the first paragraph. There should be a pause after this text is spoken.</p> 
<p>This is the second paragraph.</p> 
</speak>

I just started at this company and am unsure of my ability to share something i am working on- but I will double check my coding and try again. I am not sure if i used a trailing white space, typically when i use HTML, i didn't think we were supposed to have spaces. Thanks. I will update this after I try that. 

Hi Jennifer, sorry about the confusion there. The original post talks about a different issue where a trailing white space or line break causes Storyline to read the SSML tags instead of applying the effect. 

Your issue is different, since Storyline is showing a warning "storyline 360 can't convert this text to speech..." and not generating the TTS audio at all. This usually means there is a problem with either formatting or using a tag that the voice type doesn't support. i.e. <emphasis> isn't supported by Neural voices, so using a Standard voice should work.

You mentioned that adding the <p> tag causes the warning to show, and one thing I can think of is if the tag isn't paired with a closing </p> as shown in this example:

<speak> 
<p>This is the first paragraph. There should be a pause after this text is spoken.</p> 
<p>This is the second paragraph.</p> 
</speak>

If you can't share the script here, you can share the script or project file with us privately by opening up a support case instead. 

Hello All,

In my side, The problem resolved with re-installing Articulate 360 and Storyline.
I am very happy and appreciate all your suport!

Thank you very mcuh.
Yuka

Hi Everyone!

I'm happy to share that we just released Storyline 360 (Build 3.84.31647.0) which includes the fix for the bug:

• Storyline reads the SSML tags in the TTS script if there is a blank space or line break at the beginning/end of the code

Now all you need to do is update Storyline 360 in your Articulate 360 desktop app to take advantage of the newest bug fixes and features!

If you run into any issues, please don't hesitate to reach out to our team by submitting a support case.