SL 360 Backward (in)Compatibiity: Feedback Master Properties

Feb 07, 2023

Hi Group

Am I correct in thinking that now there is no backward compatibility between Storyline 360 and Storyline 3 since the inclusion of 'Feedback Master Properties'  since about 360 version 3.69.28997.0?

I ask 'cos today I made a simple change to a SL V3 project in SL 360, and now the project won't open in SL3 anymore. The open fails in SL3 with a message about 'Feedback Master Properties' not being compatible. I didn't touch anything to do with feedback masters other than add a layer that probably used a 'blank' one.

If this is the case (and please tell me if I'm wrong), I think I'll be telling people that there is no backward compatibility between SL3 and SL360 anymore as it's just a bit too precariously balanced. 

Also, if this is the case, I can't see a way of getting the slide(s) I tweeked in SL 360 into a SL3-format that I can import back into the SL3. Anyone have any ideas on how that might be achieved? Is there some kind of back-office repair tool or something that would strip these pesky new feedback master properties that I don't know about? 

Thanks for any insight anyone can throw on this.

PeteB

5 Replies
Jose Tansengco

Hi Pete,

Thanks for reaching out! 

You'll need to return the feedback master properties to their original settings to restore the compatibility of your project file with Storyline 3. You can check out this article for more information on compatibility between Storyline 3 and Storyline 360 project files: 

Feel free to open a case with our support team if you're having difficulties restoring the compatibility. 

Pete Brown

Thanks for the response, Joe.

I did see that article before making the post, but as I didn't expressly change any setting on any of the Masters it isn't clear how to set them back to 'original settings' or what those settings should be. Am I missing something?

Would you be able to tell/show me what the default setting in SL 360 should be to be compatible with SL v3?

Thanks again for the support. 

Pete Brown

Hello Anyone Who's Following Along or Who's Encountered a Similar Problem

In conjunction with Articulate support, a resolution/work-around was found. The problem was, as expected, that a Layout Master Layout mas made incompatible with SL3 by doing a small change using SL360.

I didn't explicitly change the Layout Master or any of its child layouts in SL360, but I did add a slide with a layer in SL 360 which had a layer, which used the Blank Layout Master.

To get the project opening again in SL3, in SL360 you should try the following:

  1. Create a new Feedback Master Layout - although in my subsequent testing I think making a duplicate of the offending Feedback Master and child Layouts seemed to work just as well
  2. On any slide that uses your suspect Feedback Master Layout (i.e., layers on that slide), change the slide/layer to use one of your new Feedback Layouts
  3. Once the offending Feedback Layout is no longer used by any slides, delete that Feedback Master or Layout from the project 
  4. Do a save in SL 360 and hopefully your project should now open in SL3 again

I'm sure variations of this would work, but the key thing would be to stop using the dodgy Layout and/or Master and remove it from the project. 

A couple of things to note:

Slide Layers that use the new Feedback Layout may have things like it's 'When Revisiting' and 'Hide Layout When Timeline Finishes' etc set back to the default settings when you open the SL3 project again so check that on the slides you've changed when you project's open in SL3 again.

Having very tight and tidy Feedback Master/Layout structures will make your life a lot easier in this kind of situation, so as a point of good housekeeping, try to always keep those tidy! E.g., if your project only uses a single Feedback Master with only the Layouts that you need in it, it'll be easier to find and replace offending Layouts.

This entire process could be a real pain if the project is large and lots of slides use the incompatible Feedback Master Layout. So, from now on, I'm going to avoid opening a SL3 project in SL360 unless it wasn't going to be opened in SL3 ever again. If I had to edit a SL3 project for someone who wanted to keep it in SL3, I'd take the time to install a trial of SL3.

I hope you never have to put this into practice!

Thanks, as always, to the Articulate support team (Lianne especially!)