Reducing Storyline project file size?
Mar 11, 2024
Disclaimer: my team is stuck using a 2-year-old version of Storyline (3.65.28121.0) because that's how government IT works. :/
We have a large project that was outsourced to a vendor a couple of years ago due to lack of staffing. We are now revising the course internally, but are publishing only the interactions for an eBook course. So we'll take a large lesson file (100MB, for example) and remove all the slides except for the 2 or 3 slides that are a knowledge check for republishing. So the project file is now only 3 slides, with zero audio and zero graphics. Yet the file size is still 100MB. I've tried a Save As a couple of times with some success, where the resulting file is a more rational 700kb. But that approach is hit or miss. Often I just end up with a new file that's also 100MB. Clearly the project file is hanging on to a bunch of hidden cruft it doesn't need.
I've also tried copying those 3 slides and pasting into a new Storyline file, but of course that results in formatting/design problems we don't want to have to fix manually.
Is there a way to get these stripped-down files down to the appropriate stripped-down size?
Thanks.
8 Replies
Hi Chris, I have always gone with the Save As, but I have occasionally come across files that won't let go of some unused media, even when the media is not showing in the library.
Rather than copying and pasting, have you tried importing the slides? I'm not sure if that will give you a different outcome to Copy Paste.
try publish to web and check in the output folder - where are the "big" files
e.g. fonts are integrated in "\html5\data\css\output.min.css"
Thanks for the responses. Importing seems to be about as reliable as the Save As option. I'd be interested to see if the latest version of Storyline has this same problem. If not, I guess this is yet another issue Articulate needs to resolve with a future version of the application. Clearly it's not a good thing for a saved file to hold on to deleted assets indefinitely.
Hi Chris, there is one more option. Just ensure you have your original/latest file backed-up and archived before you do this.
Make a copy of the Storyline file, then change the extension of the new copy to *.zip. Once changed to {yourfilename}.zip, uncompress the file. You can then hunt through the media file for any large files that are not used (video/audio).
You need to be certain that the files are not used. If you are certain, delete them. Once you have completed this, zip the contents back up, and then change the extension back to *.story. If you deleted the correct files, the story file should open up without complaint.
When you zip the file back-up, make sure you zip from the correct location (selecting the files as shown in this image).
"Save" and "Save as" do not differ in the storyline from the compression of the .story file
if you delete media,
how to 'save & compact' fast
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As a bonus on Sams' approach. If you are not sure of big files that are used or not. Replace them with 1kb small files. You will notice the difference when reverting back to .story files
Yes, good call Math
Thanks Sam, this is helpful (if a cumbersome workaround, as I'm dealing with a couple hundred files). Also Jürgen's explanation is helpful as well, though that solution does not work for files that have already been saved and closed. Once I open that file again I can click the Save button a hundred times and it's not reducing the file size. I still have a 75MB file that has nothing more than two multiple choice questions and zero graphics or audio. Frustrating.