I have an existing course that we'll be using as a template for other topics, so I'm saving it as a new course with a new name. I can't get the LMS identifier to change, though. Is that a problem? I don't have an internal use for the identifier, but I don't want something to get messed up if two courses have the same identifier. I feel like this is a very basic question that I should know the answer to! Thanks!
I'm pretty certain you'd need to add a step to change the identifier in the publishing settings to avoid collision should the courses ever find their way to an LMS
The Identifier field is a unique string of characters assigned by Storyline. Your LMS uses it to identify your content. If you're republishing a course that's already in your LMS, don't change the value in this field.
Do you do a "save as" prior to updating the course and publishing? Does the course have the same title when you go to publish? Those two things should help and update the field prior to publish.
Thanks! Yes if we are just fixing or updating an existing course, I never touch that. In this case, I was saving an old course on one topic as a new course that would be a new topic (but we wanted to keep the same framework/master slides). By default it didn't seem to change it when I changed the course title, but I was able to manually add a number to the string and publish it once, and then it "remembered" the new identifier.
Old: 6eXBC5jt2Gv_course_id
New: 6eXBC5jt2Gv2_course_id
Is the _course_id part on the end something that gets auto-generated based on title, such that I might not need to alter the number? Or is this just text that gets sent as is.
If you'll be creating it as a new course - doing a save as or even importing the slides into a new file should reset all those fields to ensure you don't overwrite anything on your LMS. The _course_id is what you're seeing appended to the end of the number, and the numbers themselves are the ID.
I seem to have the exact same issue. We create our courses in Dutch, and then do a save as to create the translated French version. Even though the file names differ, sometimes, they generate the same identifier. Even though the file name & title of the course are different in the Dutch vs French version. Is the only solution really to manually change the identifier? Seems tricky...
Hi Wendy! Hmm, that's odd. I would expect doing a "save as" to create a new file with a new title would change the identifier. What version of Storyline are you using?
Are you finding that the identifiers are causing a problem in your LMS?
Hi Alyssa. We are using Storyline 360 v10.3.13923.0. I have manually changed the identifiers just to be sure that we wouldn't have any problems in our LMS. Didn't want to take the risk.
I am having the opposite problem. I want to keep the same identifier as if I don't my LMS will require a new direct link to the updated course. But despite only swapping out an old embedded video with a new one as the only change, and then republishing, a new identifier is created. Can I simply edit the identifier in the published manifest or will that mess things up?
Changing the identifier in the published output isn't something that we could help with, but I'm sure it's something other folks have done in the community. ;-)
I'd suggest testing a version of the course with your edits prior to sharing, as any edits to the published output aren't something I can offer advice on. It's not something we've tested so it's difficult to then say if the course would behave normally. If you weren't ready to upload to your LMS you could always look at testing in SCORM Cloud, as that would provide a good baseline for how it should work.
I tested out a few .story files in 360, and I didn't see the identifier changing when removing pieces, so I'd want to know more about your steps as to "why" it's changing. It should change if you're saving as a new version, or looking at renaming the course, etc.
I replaced a video on one of the slides with a different one, and did a "save as " to create a second version (I added _V2 to the end of the file name). I went ahead and edited the manifest file so all the identifiers matched the ID of the original version. It tested fine on scormcloud, and I am awaiting testing by my LMS team.
The reason for my questions is that our LMS, which is cornerstone, considers the change in that identifier as being a significant enough change that it creates a new version of the course, hence making the direct link unusable and requiring us to update all existing links to that course. So we need to know a best practice for editing a storyline file to avoid creating a new identifier.
If you're doing a "save as" of the file, that's always going to create a new identifier as it'll be a new version of the course. So that does make sense - and the identifier is one way that the LMS recognizes that the course is the same and to treat it as such.
If you edit the file and save using the same file name/version as before - that shouldn't be updating things like the LMS identifier.
Reusing an old course to create a new one, in order to have a unique identifier for the new course, what I've done is to start a new project in Articulate, and then import scenes from the old course. This seems to break that unwanted association.
Thanks for the suggestion. In this case I am trying to update a course and keep the same identifier. But for cases where I don't want to do that your approach seems solid.
Hi Ashley! I'm trying to create a template course, which I want to amend and 'save as' a new version and publish to create a new course. But whenever I save as a new version and republish, it gives it the same identifier. If I close and reopen Articulate, it changes the identifier, but this is slowign our process down - is there any way to force it to refresh the identifier without restarting Articulate?
18 Replies
I'm pretty certain you'd need to add a step to change the identifier in the publishing settings to avoid collision should the courses ever find their way to an LMS
Hi Rebekah,
The Identifier field is a unique string of characters assigned by Storyline. Your LMS uses it to identify your content. If you're republishing a course that's already in your LMS, don't change the value in this field.
Do you do a "save as" prior to updating the course and publishing? Does the course have the same title when you go to publish? Those two things should help and update the field prior to publish.
Thanks! Yes if we are just fixing or updating an existing course, I never touch that. In this case, I was saving an old course on one topic as a new course that would be a new topic (but we wanted to keep the same framework/master slides). By default it didn't seem to change it when I changed the course title, but I was able to manually add a number to the string and publish it once, and then it "remembered" the new identifier.
Old: 6eXBC5jt2Gv_course_id
New: 6eXBC5jt2Gv2_course_id
Is the _course_id part on the end something that gets auto-generated based on title, such that I might not need to alter the number? Or is this just text that gets sent as is.
Thank you!
Hi Rebekah,
If you'll be creating it as a new course - doing a save as or even importing the slides into a new file should reset all those fields to ensure you don't overwrite anything on your LMS. The _course_id is what you're seeing appended to the end of the number, and the numbers themselves are the ID.
I seem to have the exact same issue. We create our courses in Dutch, and then do a save as to create the translated French version. Even though the file names differ, sometimes, they generate the same identifier. Even though the file name & title of the course are different in the Dutch vs French version. Is the only solution really to manually change the identifier? Seems tricky...
Hi Wendy! Hmm, that's odd. I would expect doing a "save as" to create a new file with a new title would change the identifier. What version of Storyline are you using?
Are you finding that the identifiers are causing a problem in your LMS?
Hi Alyssa. We are using Storyline 360 v10.3.13923.0. I have manually changed the identifiers just to be sure that we wouldn't have any problems in our LMS. Didn't want to take the risk.
Good to know, Wendy. Thanks for those details. If you run into any more problems with this in the future, you know where to find us!
I am having the opposite problem. I want to keep the same identifier as if I don't my LMS will require a new direct link to the updated course. But despite only swapping out an old embedded video with a new one as the only change, and then republishing, a new identifier is created. Can I simply edit the identifier in the published manifest or will that mess things up?
Hi Gordon,
Changing the identifier in the published output isn't something that we could help with, but I'm sure it's something other folks have done in the community. ;-)
Hi Ashley,
Thanks for the reply. I know how to edit the identifier in the manifest; that's' not an issue. My questions are:
1) why would SL360 create a new identifier when published after basic edits
2) if I edit the manifest to match the old identifier will that affect the proper functioning of the module in any way
Thanks
Hi Gordon,
I'd suggest testing a version of the course with your edits prior to sharing, as any edits to the published output aren't something I can offer advice on. It's not something we've tested so it's difficult to then say if the course would behave normally. If you weren't ready to upload to your LMS you could always look at testing in SCORM Cloud, as that would provide a good baseline for how it should work.
I tested out a few .story files in 360, and I didn't see the identifier changing when removing pieces, so I'd want to know more about your steps as to "why" it's changing. It should change if you're saving as a new version, or looking at renaming the course, etc.
Hi Ashley,
I replaced a video on one of the slides with a different one, and did a "save as " to create a second version (I added _V2 to the end of the file name). I went ahead and edited the manifest file so all the identifiers matched the ID of the original version. It tested fine on scormcloud, and I am awaiting testing by my LMS team.
The reason for my questions is that our LMS, which is cornerstone, considers the change in that identifier as being a significant enough change that it creates a new version of the course, hence making the direct link unusable and requiring us to update all existing links to that course. So we need to know a best practice for editing a storyline file to avoid creating a new identifier.
Hi Gordon,
If you're doing a "save as" of the file, that's always going to create a new identifier as it'll be a new version of the course. So that does make sense - and the identifier is one way that the LMS recognizes that the course is the same and to treat it as such.
If you edit the file and save using the same file name/version as before - that shouldn't be updating things like the LMS identifier.
Reusing an old course to create a new one, in order to have a unique identifier for the new course, what I've done is to start a new project in Articulate, and then import scenes from the old course. This seems to break that unwanted association.
Hi John,
Thanks for the suggestion. In this case I am trying to update a course and keep the same identifier. But for cases where I don't want to do that your approach seems solid.
Hi Ashley! I'm trying to create a template course, which I want to amend and 'save as' a new version and publish to create a new course. But whenever I save as a new version and republish, it gives it the same identifier. If I close and reopen Articulate, it changes the identifier, but this is slowign our process down - is there any way to force it to refresh the identifier without restarting Articulate?
Hi Rebecca,
Instead of doing the save as, did you also try importing the slides into a new project?
I'd follow the import method or save as/close/reopen to ensure it's changed and reset each time.
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