"Show Always" Option for Objects in the TImeline

Hi John

this is the explanation from the tutorial

I looked all over for that and couldn't find it, thanks.

Was I ever off on that one.  It basically means "show from beginning."  I guess it was that word "always" that threw me off.

Hi there--I'm trying to get my callouts to remain on-screen for the duration of the slide's action (even after each gesture is complete) so it will stay on the slide long enough for learners to view it. However, this function doesn't seem to work properly, even though the Show Always setting appears in the timeline (with arrows pointing both ways). Not sure what I'm missing?

I *think* I've found the answer via the Animation ribbon--trying it now and will test. :) (Sorry, thinking aloud!)

No worries Michelle :) Can we get an update on your findings? Were you able to get this resolved?

Is there any way to get an object or button to show continuously throughout a scene or even a whole module? 

Have you tried putting it on the master layout? The one problem you might have there is if you want it to be in front of other objects, because objects on the master are always on the bottom. In that case, you have to create it and copy it to each slide.

AFAIK, Storyline has no mechanism to allow a persistent foreground element. It would be a extremely useful to float a [character, audio, button bar, progress bar, logo] ABOVE the course, for the duration of the course. Storyline cannot. The master slide won't do it; no master slide element can overlay other slide elements.  I sent this feature request down the black hole for 5 years. It's available in Captivate.

Hi James!

I wanted to mention you can add an object to a layer on a slide master. Then add this trigger to the base layer: "Show layer when the timeline starts on the slide master".  The object will then overlay anything on the base layer. 

It may not be exactly what you're looking for, but hopefully that gets you closer to your goal!

hey James. not sure if you've found a work-around for this or if it's even relevant any longer, but if you add a layer to a master & auto show that layer, any elements you add appear to be placed overtop. i haven't played around w/ this too much yet, it might have limitations, but i just tried it & at a glance it works.

Hi Nate, can you elaborate on what you mean by auto show layer?
I have placed an element on a layer in my master slide and added a trigger to the base layer that says "show layer X when the timeline starts". I have disabled the function that hides the layers below.
The problem I am running into is that the object shows on the first slide in the scene, but not the second slide. Is there a way around this?
Also, if my slides have more layers it also does not show the object in the master slide anymore.

Has anyone got a solution to this yet?

Hi Wilmari,

Thanks for sharing your additional questions regarding using a layer on a slide master.

1. Is your second slide using the same slide master as the first slide where you have the layer set to display? You will need to apply the same slide master to the slide to have the same features.
2. Layers are designed to 'layer' on top of one another. If you need this layer to always show, be sure to set the layer properties to display other layers.

MY GOSH - thank you Michelle. We inherited a project & couldn't figure out why our text boxes were going away even though we had "Show Always" set on the objects. Yup, sure 'nuf, there was animation on 'em! Thank you for sharing this!

What would be helpful if we could set an object to "prevent automatic erase" and/or be able to set a "layer to not automatically hide".  As when doing this, if a layer on the main slide has "hide other layers" set, it will also hide layers on the main timeline. Thanks.

Hi, Jeff. 

What do you mean by "prevent automatic erase". You can lock an object on the timeline so it cannot be deleted during the editing process:

If that's not what you're looking for, you're welcome to submit a feature request with your suggestions.