Set as Default shape - not storing the text box settings

May 08, 2012

Hi,

I am adding callout shapes to a screen recording video that I am creating.

I had created a shape that was yellow with no line, and set the font type and size (Verdana 16pt).

I also adjusted the internal margin for the text box within the shape properties.

After making the chanegs I choose to make this the default call out shape.

However the problem is that some of the setting are not being saved. The text box margin settings, the font settings (to not have any shadow on the text), and the setting to not Autofit text to the shape are not remembered as part of the default shape.

Is there any other way to have a shape template - that would remember these settings?

So that the shapes could be dragged and dropped onto the screen recording.

Thanks!

39 Replies
Bruce Graham

Hi Melanie,

This sounds the same as the "Default Marker Shape" "bug" (which I have submitted). It retains the type of shape, but not all the settings that one applies to it.

I would submit it as a bug referencing this thread, with examples of what you want, and what happens.

The concept if Default shape settings is one area that does (IMHO) need some "tidying up".

Bruce

Bruce Graham

Brian Batt said:

Hi Melanie,

I submitted the issue to the Quality Assurance team on your behalf.  In the meantime, you should be able to use the Format Painter to make them all the same:

http://community.articulate.com/tutorials/products/using-the-storyline-clipboard.aspx


Brian/Melanie,

Please also be aware though, (and I think I've submitted this on more than one occasion) the Format Painter does not function across slides with, for example, text fonts and colours, and sometimes even within a slide. I'd appreciate your take on this one.

Bruce

Brian Batt

Phil Mayor said:

Bruce, is it the format painter on the floating menu (contextual) that doesnt work?  Because i dont normally get a problem with the format painter on the toolbar


Hi Phil,

The Format Painter in the pop up menu doesn't work as expected.  It's been documented & forwarded over to QA.  However, you can use the one from the Home ribbon.  

Brian Batt

Bruce Graham said:

Brian Batt said:

Hi Melanie,

I submitted the issue to the Quality Assurance team on your behalf.  In the meantime, you should be able to use the Format Painter to make them all the same:

http://community.articulate.com/tutorials/products/using-the-storyline-clipboard.aspx


Brian/Melanie,

Please also be aware though, (and I think I've submitted this on more than one occasion) the Format Painter does not function across slides with, for example, text fonts and colours, and sometimes even within a slide. I'd appreciate your take on this one.

Bruce


Hi Bruce,

I just tested the Format Painter on a button & it worked as expected except for the change of the button type:

http://www.articulate.com/support/contact/screencast.php?screencastid=6bf23bbdcfdd48288a6b71ba8a0f58c8

If you have an example where it doesn't work as expected, let me know and I'll take a look.

Brett Rockwood

Bringing this back to life...

Is there any update on the "Set as Default Textbox" issue. It still doesn't retain the text box attributes of Internal Margins, Autofit, or Wrap. Using the Format Painter is helpful but not very efficient. You have to remember to do the Format Painting before you do any text styling, e.g., bold, italic, etc., as the Format Painter will wipe those out, which can be very frustrating. 

Brett Rockwood

Hi Leslie, thanks for the response. True enough that the text styles hold, e.g., font, size, bold, etc.

What I was trying (not very successfully) to say is that the Format Painter isn't very useful to get the other attributes applied (margins, wrap, etc.) if you have applied any text overrides — such as this italic — inside your text box because the Format Painter is going to blow those up and you'll have to apply them again.

How the Format Painter deals with overrides is a bit of mystery to me, sometimes the whole text box takes on the overridden attribute and other times it doesn't; I haven't spent any time really troubleshooting it but I've seen both happen. Do you know how it's supposed to behave when you format paint a text box that has some of its content with overrides applied?

Brett Rockwood

Hi Leslie. Yes, the format painter is doing what you would expect it to do. I'm not really asking a question but giving a heads up that if you plan on using the format painter as a workaround to the Set Default Text Box option not working properly beware that any styling you've applied to the text box before applying the format painter is going to be wiped out. (Of course that is obvious but if the Default Text Box option was working properly we wouldn't even be having this discussion.)

Patrick Clarke

Hi there,

Is there any update on the  "Set as Default" bug?

I am looking at working on a big project with lots of recordings and lots of captions. The thought of having to manually edit, via Format painter, all of the captions in the project isn't pleasant.

Whilst Storyline 2 does so much well - having this bug still around after 4 years or so isn't great.

Is it being looked at?

Is there any intention to fix it?

Any idea of timescales?

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Patrick,

Thanks for reaching out here. The initial discussion here was in regards to Storyline 1 and it was behaving as designed in terms of the elements that were accessible for using the "set as default" and I don't believe there was a change in Storyline 2. You'll see that using the format painter would allow you to use those elements as you mentioned and any other changes that would be included in the default text boxes would have to be something shared in the form of a feature request. 

Patrick Clarke

Thanks Ashley. Sorry when searching around for a solution I missed that this was in reference to SL1.

So there is currently no way to set up default caption style prior to screen recording - is this right?

It would be great and a massive time saver if this was available.

If SL could match Captivates functionality in this area that would be fantastic. I am thinking primarily about being able to predefine and set default captions. It also allows you to make global changes to objects in a couple of different ways:

Apply To All Items - To apply the effect to all objects that belong to the object type.

Apply To All Items Of Same Style - To apply to all objects that use the same object style.

I will submit a feature request now. 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Patrick,

I wouldn't say that's entirely accurate - there are some settings associated with the captions you can set as default. For example,  if you go to the Design tab and select Colors > Custom colors to update your color theme, you'll want to edit Accent 1 for the caption background and the Text/Background - Light 1 for the text color. You could also change the font associated with it (this article is Storyline 1 but again the same steps would apply in Storyline 2). You'll also see a method described here for how to modify elements of the text after the fact for screen recording captions. 

The other options you mentioned here do sound like great feature requests though - so please send them along if you didn't already. 

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