Saving templates - items disappearing!

Hi there Ray. Welcome to the community!

Sounds like those triggers and variables aren't saving properly. The first thing I would do is make sure you're working with local project and template files. 

• 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. 
• 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).
• 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 relocating the files doesn't help, please be sure you're running the most recent version of Storyline. To find this information, click on "Help" and "About Articulate Storyline" Are you running version 2 (1212.1412)? If not, please download and install Update 2 from the link below.

Articulate Storyline > Download Update 2

If the problem continues, please try creating a new, blank Storyline file. Does the same thing happen if you create triggers on the Master slide? 

Let me know how it goes!

Thanks,

Christine

Hi Christine, and thanks for your reply!!

Regarding the saving and naming, I have tried all of that, and also created a new file from blank, using a different machine in case it was the laptop I was using initially. Exactly the same thing happens - I have attached a word file with a couple of screen shots to show what it looks like, and also a couple of lines of text outlining this and one or two other small problems I'm encountering with templates and slide masters.

I checked and we do have the latest version of storyline downloaded as well.

Puzzling!

Thanks,

Ray

Good morning Ray!

Thanks for the document!

I took a look and tried to recreate the template you're working with. It looks like this is actually normal behavior for the templates.

If you pull the template into a new file, the triggers for slides need to be reassigned. However, if you're going to use the buttons/objects on the Master to move to the previous and next slides, those triggers should remain the same. If the triggers are for specific slides, whoever, they need to be setup again when you use the template in a new file.

As for the title of the file, yes. This is normal as well. This is because you're not actually launching the .storylinetemplate file. You're opening a new file with the template. This is also why the triggers for specific slides need to be reassigned when you open the template. 

For example, if you double-click on the actual template file, within a folder, Storyline will launch the file but prompt you to insert slides. This is because Storyline will be pulling content into a new file from the template, but not actually opening the original template. The same happens if you open the template from the Articulate menu, or if you import from the template. 

So, if you need to make changes to the original template, you'll want to insert it into a new file, modify the file and save it under the original template name. Just keep in mind that if you specify any slides, you will need to modify that in any other project files. Again, though, if you use the "next slide" or "previous slide" triggers, you won't run into the triggers resetting. 

I'm attaching a template here for you, just so you have another one to check out. The same behavior should happen with this file when you import/insert it as well. 

I hope this makes sense :) If you have any questions, please let me know.

Thanks!

Christine

Probably what Ray is trying to have is not "technically" a template, but rather a sample file with all the triggers and variables assigned. 

You'd probably be better off by saving your file as a .story file and then renaming it for every new project.

Good point, Massimiliano. I agree, sounds like it may be easier to create a base .STORY and just build up from that file for separate projects.

Would that work for you, Ray?

Christine

This has indeed worked!

It sounds like templates aren't quite meant for what we'd like to use them for; i.e. saving time when building multiple lessons in the same format by having as many triggers, icons and variables pre-done, but it certainly seems like saving a base story file and using that each time will work - thanks to both of you!

Ray

Glad to hear it, Ray! :)

Good luck with the projects and have a great day!

Christine

Hi,

I wish I came across this thread earlier...

I came to the exact same conclusions. I tried to design clean and reusable Templates\Themes but I discovered that I lost triggers and variables when exporting my Story file as Templates or Themes.

So, yes, a Story file is the best starting point for a new project!

Pierre