Master slides and templates

Jan 30, 2020

I'd love some further clarification on using master slides, templates, and creating templates. 

I'm supposed to create a template for my team that consists of the following slides:

  • Title slide
  • Objectives slide
  • Section break
  • Content screen
  • Summary slide
  • Quiz question slide
  • Results slide

I can see how I can add new slide masters to create most of the slides. Where I am running into issues is the quiz slide and the results slide. 

I tried to import a quiz slide from a content library template. It inserts a slide, but then it also creates an additional master, but they don't look anything like the template online. I also can't delete this new set of master slides. I'm not able to copy the quiz from the slide that was inserted and create a master from it. 

So my main questions are:

How do I create a quiz slide master?

How can I delete the master slides that were automatically created after inserting one slide from an online template?

5 Replies
Judy Nollet

Any new Storyline project automatically includes a default "Question" layout.

  • If your file still has a "Question" layout under your main Master, then re-design it as desired.
  • If not, it's a bit trickier. I don't know of any way to insert a new "Question" layout. So, alas, you might have to start your template/set-up file from scratch.

As for getting rid of the other master:  Yes, that's what happens whenever you import from other courses. You get all of that course's Master slides -- even if you only import 1 slide. And you get another copy of the Master slides if you later import another slide. Sigh...

You can't delete a Master if any slide is using one of it's layouts. So first, if any slide uses a layout from the unwanted Master, either delete the slide (if the content isn't needed) or switch it to one of your own layouts. Then you shoud be able to delete the unwanted Master.

FYI: If you see a pin next to the Master, that means it's preserved. Just right-click it, and you'll get a drop-down menu where you can de-select the Preserve Master checkbox.

BTW, I find that Question layouts tend to be a bit funky when I add additional elements. So for my "set up" files (.story file with the basic elements), I create a "storage" scene. In that, I put each type of quiz slide and get those ready to accept actual content. Then, when I'm ready to create the actual quiz, I copy and paste those pre-designed slides as needed, and put them in the appropriate location. The "storage" scene gets deleted when it's no longer needed.

My set up file also includes a Final Assessment scene. In that, I just start with 1 question slide and the Results slide. For any given course, I can add questions as needed, or just delete the entire scene if there won't be a final quiz.

Judy Nollet

Here's the Slide View of one of my set-up files:

In Storage (scene 6 in the image):

  • I keep my HELP slide there, and I usually add other lightboxed slides, too.
  • I keep a prepped slide for Single Response, Multiple Response, Matching, and Sequence questions.  FYI: I do this because I find Question slides act funky if you add extra elements to the layout. So I keep a basic Master Question layout, and then create my final layouts in Storage.
  • This extra scene is also handy for temporary storage. For example, I sometimes add a slide that has pre-formatted objects that I can quickly copy and paste elsewhere, when needed.
  • To prevent a user from seeing any of this when they shouldn't,  I just remove the entire Storage scene from the Menu (if that function is used).
  • When the final course has been approved, I clean out Storage!

In a FINAL ASSESSMENT (scene 5 in the image), I have my pre-designed Results slide. Since a Results slide likes to have question(s), I also keep 1 bogus question slide. When the time comes to prep the actual assessment, I copy Question slides in the Storage scene and paste them into the Final Assessment scene. 

Joyce Hensen

I also use "storage scenes", but I use them a little differently. Often I create graphics, or have large screen shots in PP. I can line things up exactly as I want them, make overlays that might be used for different states, etc. When slides are imported from PP, everything stays the same size (unlike pasting images that always resize down to the screen size). That gives me all of the images I'll need and I can copy and paste within the story file. When I'm finished I delete the storage scene, but usually keep the PP file for later editing as needed.

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