I am using the trial version of articulate storyline and am comparing it to my current captivate. Up until now now it is beating captivate hands down however something scary has just happened. I have spent the last 3 days updating an existing programme which was working perfectly and was 250mb in size. It has suddenly shrunk to 7 mb in size and although i can see the images on the side panel the view on the main viewing area is blank. Does anyone know why? and more importantly what I can do about it.
Oh, my - that's a little scary. Have you changed anything with the location of the course files? Try to make sure that you're not working from any external sources (USB drive, network, etc.) and that your files are on your main (C: ) drive.
1. Work on your local drive (your C: drive). Working on a network drive or a USB drive can cause erratic behavior, including file corruption, loss of audio, and other unexpected behavior.
2. You should also make sure the directory path to your project files and your published output is less than 260 characters (for example C:\Articulate).
3. Avoid using special characters, accents or symbols in your file names.
Additional information regarding "Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces" in Windows operating systems can be found in the following Microsoft article.
If you've confirmed the files are local, can you tell me if anything has changed on the machine (any updates, etc.)?
I now know what i did..i sent the file to the recycle bin by mistake (doh!)...I restored it back to the desktop where it was originally but the articulate file is still not showing the images and media...is it possible to re-establish the link by any chance?
I'm glad you were able to find the file - but I'm not sure why that would break the links to the file, if it was restored. Have you tried restarting the machine, just in case? I'm concerned that something may have broken within the file when it was sent to the trash, but I'm not sure why it would have done that.
Can you see any instances of the media or images? For example, can you see them as placeholders on the slides or within Story view? If so, can you try importing the slides into a new file?
I apologize for the delay. Unfortunately, though, I'm not able to see the screenshots you posted. Did you insert them by pasting, by any chance? If so, I'm not sure that always works. Can you try again, but use the little image tool in your response, please?
Christine, no problem I did cut and paste. Not to worry, I went back to one I had backed up previously. It meant a couple of hours extra work but it was a lesson learnt ...thanks for the feedback and advice
I am having the same issue. I saved my file, and when i open it, all images were gone. The placeholder are still there, but any image. Even if I try to import a new image, it doesn´t appears. What can I do?
It has happened to me a few times and as a result I now alsways back up my presentations as a matter of course.
I think it has something to do with leaving the computer on and it going into hibernation mode whilst storyline is up and running. As far as i am aware these are the only times i have had the problem.So now when I am leaving the computer for any length of time I close down articulate and i haven't had the problem since.
It has happened again. Fortunately I backed it up quite regulary but still lost an annoying amount of work. I have attached a screenshot just in case anyone can shed some light on this problem.
The strange thing is when i cut and paste text or buttons from the corrupted file into the backed up file it is fine. But when I inadvertently cut and pasted the invisible images, I found that when i then went to insert images normally from file the new images were also showing up as invisible in the slide view...
Is there some setting which stops the media showing in slide view which I am not aware of?
I'm sorry to hear that you experienced this issue again. Are you able to copy and paste images from within the "clean" Storyline file, and the issue is only occurring when copying/pasting from the corrupted file into the clean file? Again, it's something we've seen when users haven't been working locally or as you previously seemed to have experienced leaving Storyline open for an extended period of time and not regularly restarting Storyline and your computer.
If you'd like us to take a look at the .story file please feel free to share it here.
I also experience this on an almost daily basis. I will be working on the file and then I might go to a meeting and the computer locks or goes to sleep. Then when I return, one of a few things happen:
1. The slide that I am working has gone completely blank, and also shows up as blank in Story view
2. All my slides have gone down to microscopic sizes and even when I try zoom in or out, they still just show the arrows, but no slides.
3. All my slides show up as blank.
This normally happens when I leave the computer for an extended period of time. (I guess about 20min or so.) I have learnt to save regularly, as well as have a variety of backups as I can't afford to lose weeks worth of work.
EDIT:
Attached is a screenshot of my work as it is at the moment. Right now it shows the slide as blank in Story view, and the next attachment is the slide with the content on it, despite the fact that Story view shows it as blank.
I also now saved the file, closed the file and Storyline it and then re-opened them both, and it is still the same...
I haven't seen this issue yet in SL2 - and it looks like your situation is happening to the reverse of what a few users saw in SL1 where images would disappear from the slide itself, but you could see them in the icon in story view. Have you confirmed that you're working on your project files following these guidelines? Is this a new issue or a constant one - have you conducted a repair of Storyline?
Thank you for the reply. I opened the two links and yes, I have followed the guidelines. I store my work in my Google Drive folder. Though I only let it run first thing in the morning so as to sync and back up to the web. Thereafter I close it so as to make sure that there is nothing odd that can disturb the saving and file reading processes. I can't imagine it being an issue?
I have followed the repair link and it doesn't allow for me to do a repair when I click on the installation file, or from my PC's control panel. It only allows for me to un-install it. But as I am pressed for time, I will try do this another time after hours. This issues isn't too much of a hassle, I just thought I should mention it and see if there is a fix.
I will see when I can re-install it and then let you know if it worked.
Thanks SL for sharing that. I don't know enough about how elements are synced within Google Drive, but I know a lot of other users utilize Dropbox or Drive to store files.
Please let us know how it's behaving after going through the repair (or uninstall steps) and if saving a file to your local drive causes the behavior to persist.
It seems that after the re-install (after the new update) and a PC restart seems to have solved the issue. The slide is showing again in the Story View.
20 Replies
Hi Paul,
Oh, my - that's a little scary. Have you changed anything with the location of the course files? Try to make sure that you're not working from any external sources (USB drive, network, etc.) and that your files are on your main (C: ) drive.
1. Work on your local drive (your C: drive). Working on a network drive or a USB drive can cause erratic behavior, including file corruption, loss of audio, and other unexpected behavior.
2. You should also make sure the directory path to your project files and your published output is less than 260 characters (for example C:\Articulate).
3. Avoid using special characters, accents or symbols in your file names.
Additional information regarding "Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces" in Windows operating systems can be found in the following Microsoft article.
If you've confirmed the files are local, can you tell me if anything has changed on the machine (any updates, etc.)?
Thanks!
I now know what i did..i sent the file to the recycle bin by mistake (doh!)...I restored it back to the desktop where it was originally but the articulate file is still not showing the images and media...is it possible to re-establish the link by any chance?
Hi Paul,
I'm glad you were able to find the file - but I'm not sure why that would break the links to the file, if it was restored. Have you tried restarting the machine, just in case? I'm concerned that something may have broken within the file when it was sent to the trash, but I'm not sure why it would have done that.
Can you see any instances of the media or images? For example, can you see them as placeholders on the slides or within Story view? If so, can you try importing the slides into a new file?
Yes the slides are showing up ok in the side panel and within story view. They are just not showing up on the slide view
Paul,
Were you able to try importing the slides into a brand new course? Does the same thing happen when you do this?
If you're not sure how to do this, take a look at this tutorial.
Thanks!
When i go to the main file:
and open it...
I click on story (HTML version) and the original file shows perfectly.
But when I try to import into articulate it doesn't seem to recognise any of the files
Good morning Paul,
I apologize for the delay. Unfortunately, though, I'm not able to see the screenshots you posted. Did you insert them by pasting, by any chance? If so, I'm not sure that always works. Can you try again, but use the little image tool in your response, please?
Thanks!
Christine, no problem I did cut and paste. Not to worry, I went back to one I had backed up previously. It meant a couple of hours extra work but it was a lesson learnt
...thanks for the feedback and advice
I am having the same issue. I saved my file, and when i open it, all images were gone. The placeholder are still there, but any image. Even if I try to import a new image, it doesn´t appears. What can I do?
And the sound too... :/
Vitor,
It has happened to me a few times and as a result I now alsways back up my presentations as a matter of course.
I think it has something to do with leaving the computer on and it going into hibernation mode whilst storyline is up and running. As far as i am aware these are the only times i have had the problem.So now when I am leaving the computer for any length of time I close down articulate and i haven't had the problem since.
Hope that helps
Paul
It has happened again. Fortunately I backed it up quite regulary but still lost an annoying amount of work. I have attached a screenshot just in case anyone can shed some light on this problem.
The strange thing is when i cut and paste text or buttons from the corrupted file into the backed up file it is fine. But when I inadvertently cut and pasted the invisible images, I found that when i then went to insert images normally from file the new images were also showing up as invisible in the slide view...
Is there some setting which stops the media showing in slide view which I am not aware of?
Hi Paul,
I'm sorry to hear that you experienced this issue again. Are you able to copy and paste images from within the "clean" Storyline file, and the issue is only occurring when copying/pasting from the corrupted file into the clean file? Again, it's something we've seen when users haven't been working locally or as you previously seemed to have experienced leaving Storyline open for an extended period of time and not regularly restarting Storyline and your computer.
If you'd like us to take a look at the .story file please feel free to share it here.
I also experience this on an almost daily basis. I will be working on the file and then I might go to a meeting and the computer locks or goes to sleep. Then when I return, one of a few things happen:
1. The slide that I am working has gone completely blank, and also shows up as blank in Story view
2. All my slides have gone down to microscopic sizes and even when I try zoom in or out, they still just show the arrows, but no slides.
3. All my slides show up as blank.
This normally happens when I leave the computer for an extended period of time. (I guess about 20min or so.) I have learnt to save regularly, as well as have a variety of backups as I can't afford to lose weeks worth of work.
EDIT:
Attached is a screenshot of my work as it is at the moment. Right now it shows the slide as blank in Story view, and the next attachment is the slide with the content on it, despite the fact that Story view shows it as blank.
I also now saved the file, closed the file and Storyline it and then re-opened them both, and it is still the same...
Hi SL,
I haven't seen this issue yet in SL2 - and it looks like your situation is happening to the reverse of what a few users saw in SL1 where images would disappear from the slide itself, but you could see them in the icon in story view. Have you confirmed that you're working on your project files following these guidelines? Is this a new issue or a constant one - have you conducted a repair of Storyline?
Good morning Ashley,
Thank you for the reply. I opened the two links and yes, I have followed the guidelines. I store my work in my Google Drive folder. Though I only let it run first thing in the morning so as to sync and back up to the web. Thereafter I close it so as to make sure that there is nothing odd that can disturb the saving and file reading processes. I can't imagine it being an issue?
I have followed the repair link and it doesn't allow for me to do a repair when I click on the installation file, or from my PC's control panel. It only allows for me to un-install it. But as I am pressed for time, I will try do this another time after hours. This issues isn't too much of a hassle, I just thought I should mention it and see if there is a fix.
I will see when I can re-install it and then let you know if it worked.
Thanks again,
S.L.
Thanks SL for sharing that. I don't know enough about how elements are synced within Google Drive, but I know a lot of other users utilize Dropbox or Drive to store files.
Please let us know how it's behaving after going through the repair (or uninstall steps) and if saving a file to your local drive causes the behavior to persist.
Hi Ashley,
Okay I will keep you posted when I am able to do so.
Thanks,
S.
Hi Ashley,
It seems that after the re-install (after the new update) and a PC restart seems to have solved the issue. The slide is showing again in the Story View.
Thanks!
S.L.
Thanks for the update SL and I'm glad everything is back to normal!
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