Screenshot

May 05, 2014

Hello, I'm trying to insert Screenshot in storyline, however when I select "screenshot" from the insert menu, I do see the screen that I want to capture inside the “Available Windows" but when I click on the screen it brings back” Empty Black Screen"  (screen that I want to capture is the only screen open in the background)

Please Help

14 Replies
Christine Hendrickson

Hi Sushil,

Welcome to E-Learning Heroes!

Can you tell us a little more about the type of program you're running in the background? Also, do you have it open on a secondary monitor, by any chance? 

If you do have this open on a secondary monitor, it may help to move it to your primary monitor. If it's on a secondary and it's selected, it may be selecting it but not changing views properly. 

You could also try pressing Alt+Tab on your keyboard, and select the window - this may or may not help with the focus of the window, but might be worth a try.

Thanks!

Sushil Parikh

Thank You for getting back

My PC is running MS Window 7 Professional

I am  capturing company intranet page (IE) and I only have that page open in the background

I do not have second monitor

NOTE: Sometime I do see the screen with some captured background but the rest of the captured screen is still black background

Christine Hendrickson

Hi Sushil,

Thanks for the additional information!

It does sound strange - I haven't heard of an issue similar to this one. 

Out of curiosity, are you able to use the "Record Screen" option? I just want to see if the recording window will allow you to record that specific program. If it launches correctly, record it for a moment then attempt to insert it into a slide as a single video. If you get a black screen again, it may have something to do with restrictions on that specific program. 

If that's the case, you may want to take a screenshot on your machine and insert it into your project. For example, if you press the PRINT SCREEN or PRT SCRN button your keyboard, that will save a picture of your current screen to your clip board. You can then open Paint, Word, or even Storyline and use CTRL+V to paste the screenshot. You may need to crop this, but it might still be an option while we're working with this issue.

Thanks!

Sushil Parikh

Yes "Record Screen" option works fine.

I have recorded the same project using "Step-by-step sides" and it works fine.

I did take a screenshot using the PRINT SCREEN and paste it inside the Storyline and that also works fine.

It just when I want to use the screen print function in Storyline this specific issue occurs.

Thank You

Christine Hendrickson

Hi Sushil,

Great, thank you very much for trying those steps and confirming that the other functionality works properly. 

From this point, it may be best to troubleshoot the installation of Storyline. 

First, please make sure that you're working with a local project file when you modify or publish your project. If you're working on a network drive, or any other external storage, that might be causing the trouble. 

  • 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 (this includes spaces and underscores).

Additional information regarding "Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces" in Windows operating systems can be found in the following Microsoft article.

Please make sure you're running the most recent version of Storyline. Articulate Storyline Update 5 includes bug fixes, performance improvements, and HTML5 output enhancements. Click here for details.

If you're already working locally with your Storyline project files and you've updated, it may help to run a quick repair:

Articulate Support - How to Repair Articulate Storyline

If running the repair does not solve the problem, please try following the troubleshooting steps outlined in the following article:

Unexpected or Erratic Behavior in Articulate Storyline

Let me know if you see any improvement.

Thanks!

Donna Zacks

FYI, I've gone through the above and everything checks out, but I continually get blacked out screens when I try to insert a screenshot, or at least partially blacked out shots, while the screen recordings work fine.

Although, I do find the step by step instructions often cuts off the last slide, which is the reason I need to add a screenshot at the end.

 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Donna,

Thanks for the image. I can see the one blacked out window - is that the one that you're trying to insert as a screenshot? What are you supposed to see within that window? I'm testing with my current set up - and I see all the available windows/programs I have open for screenshot options, or the ability to do a screen clipping. 

Donna Zacks

Ashley,

I do have Snag it, and I have used that, I just found it frustrating that I couldn't use the function built into Storyline. I am able to screenshot other programs into my Storyline project, but today it won't let me do a web site, and also the program screenshot from yesterday can be viewed, but with only a portion of the screen blacked out.

Donna

 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Donna,

Without knowing the program, it's hard to say if it was program specific or not and maybe not allowing Storyline to read it in the sense of the screencapture window, but you mentioned today you can't do a website as well - so that's definitely odd behavior. You mentioned reviewing the information Christine shared above in regards to working locally, but have you also gone through the repair of Storyline 2 as detailed here and confirmed you're using the latest update, update 4? 

This discussion is closed. You can start a new discussion or contact Articulate Support.