No instructions on formatting for importing questions

Feb 03, 2022

How come there are no formal instructions for formatting when we import questions from an excel file? I'm trying and testing over and over to see what the program prefers from a master slide before it decides to use it. I'm honestly very frustrated that there are no explanations for this topic. 

How do I make sure that SL chooses the right master slide when importing questions from an excel file? 

9 Replies
Joseph Stearns

Ok right after posting this since I was spending an enormous amount of wasted time trying to figure this out, I finally got it! 

Ok so SL has a built in master slide anytime you create a new .story file. Within this, there are 2 question slides. In these master slides, there are elements on the slide that trigger the program to be used whenever importing the questions from an excel file. They look like this whenever you create a new file, I've highlighted these important elements:

You can see option 1 and option 2 above, in order. 

If you take these elements, copy and paste them into your master slides (which you can import into this new .story by either copy/paste a slide that uses your master slides or by inserting a slide from your templates) and then delete these original "blank" master slides. 

By deleting the stock/blank master slides, you force the program to choose another slide. By copying/pasting these elements onto a new slide, you're forcing the program to choose your new/branding-compliant master slides. 

I've finally gotten the program to apply the right slide! I wish I could make it choose from a few different master slides during the import process to make it even more simple and customized when creating from a bunch of questions in excel. I hope Articulate can add this to their next update ;) 

Jose Tansengco

Hello Brian,

Thanks for reaching out!

Storyline 360 will always apply Slide Master layout 1 to the imported content. You'll want to make sure that you're making changes to the top most Slide Master layout if you would like these changes to get applied to the content that you're importing. 

Unfortunately, there isn't a way to set which layout gets applied apart from the first one. I'll let the community chime in to see if anyone has any workarounds that they'd be willing to share!

Brian Brownfield

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This is what was confusing me. The file I received from you was selecting the last Slide master, first layout. When I tried to duplicate with the desired slide master, it was the first slide master, last layout that was selected by the software. Not consistent behavior at all.

Brian