Invalid or corrupt storyline (created in an earlier version)

Jan 25, 2018

Erwin Ancheta
By Erwin Ancheta

Guys I need help.

I have this issue with Storyline 3.

I have not upgraded my Storyline 3 so I tried opening it to a different PC with an upgraded Storyline 3 but I still got this error.

Hope you can help.

 

 

8 Replies
Alyssa Gomez
6 years ago01/26/18 at 7:10 pm (UTC)

Oh no, Erwin! That's never a good message to see. There may still be a working version of your project in your temp files. Here's a quick Peek at how to find them:

Open this folder in Windows Explorer: %appdata%\Articulate\Storyline

  1. Scan the contents of this folder for a file that starts with the name of your project. If you find one, copy it to your desktop. If you find more than one, copy the latest version to your desktop.
  2. Change the file extension of the copy on your desktop from *.tmp to *.story.
  3. Double-click the file to open it in Storyline. 

File corruption can happen, even in the best software, and even if you’re following all the recommended best practices. To be ready if it happens, follow these tips. 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard
5 years ago01/28/19 at 5:32 pm (UTC)

Hi Mehmet,

I saw you also reached out to our Support team - the right idea when running into issues with file corruption. I see Anna got back to you and shared the following: 

I understand that you are unable to open your Storyline 360 project and being prompted with a message that it "The project is invalid or corrupt and cannot be opened". 

Just to verify, are you working locally? Is your project file (.story) saved in the local hard drive (C:\) of your computer? 

Be sure you're working on your local hard drive (typically your C: drive) when creating, editing, and publishing Storyline courses. Working on a network drive or a USB drive can cause erratic behavior, such as file corruption or an inability to save changes. See the following article for more information and tips. 

https://www.articulate.com/support/article/create-edit-and-publish-articulate-storyline-courses-on-your-local-hard-drive 

If your .story file is already saved locally and you have done restarting your computer but continues to experience the problem, there may still be a working version of your project in your temp files. Here's how to check: 

1) Open this folder in Windows Explorer: %appdata%\Articulate\Storyline 

2) Scan the contents of this folder for a file that starts with the name of your project. If you find one, copy it to your desktop. If you find more than one, copy the latest version to your desktop. 

3) Change the file extension of the copy on your desktop from *.tmp to *.story. 

4) Double-click the file to open it in Storyline. 

File corruption is unpredictable, and there's no straightforward way to determine what causes it. Common causes are environmental (disk errors, power outages, improper shutdowns), viruses, failed Windows updates, and even file size (i.e., very large files have a higher risk of corrupting). Consider using the preventative measures described in this article to protect your project files: http://articulate.fyi/1MHtYPt 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard
5 years ago04/03/19 at 4:59 pm (UTC)

Hi Jamie,

Do you see the corruption occur after a certain point in time or after adding in any specific items? A few other tips are outlined here about file naming/paths and leaving Storyline open for extended periods of time. I'd also confirm that your local drive isn't synced to a cloud/server for storage, for example like a local install of Dropbox still acts as a shared server. 

If you need our Support Team to take a look at your files, we're happy too! You can upload them here and the team will delete them when they're done troubleshooting. 

Sign In to Reply