SL Performance (M1 MacBook) Parallels

Hi, Jonathan - I am just jumping in to say I got my new M1 mac desktop this week, and I am having exactly the same problem! I had so hoped that Storyline performance would improve on the new machine, but honestly, it seems worse. The other apps I use (Adobe, etc.) are all blazing fast on the M1. 

There is an older article here https://articulate.com/support/article/using-articulate-software-on-a-mac-with-parallels-desktop#profile that suggests disabling the shared profile and working exclusively in the windows environment, which is how I had it set up before. I would prefer not to do that on the new machine, so I am wondering if that will be necessary on the M1 mac. 

One of the links on that page suggests that Parallels Desktop 16.5 and later support Apple M1 and Intel processors and work with Windows 10 on ARM Insider Preview.  When I downloaded Parallels 17, it automatically installed Windows 11. Since these articles are about 8 months old I am not sure how valid this advice is.

I will be following this thread along with you.

Hi Amanda, thanks for your reply! I am glad it's not just me, but at the same time I am not glad that we have to experience this!

I imagine it is a compatibility issue between Storyline and the Windows 11 ARM edition - hopefully it will get fixed. Our machines are more than powerful enough to run the software. Also, to add, I have tweaked all the settings and nothing fixes it.

The worst thing is, it's really slowing down my workflow and is pretty laggy. I'm looking for a solution, which for now I think will be a cloud machine. Little bit costly, but I think it will be more costly for me to continue trying to use it via parallels! 

Hi, Jonathan and Amanda.

I'm sorry to hear you're running into issues using Storyline 360 on a Mac (M1) using Parallels and Windows 11.

My recommendation would be to reach out to our support engineers through a case so our team can investigate what's happening and offer steps to try. 

Hi Amanda, quick update. Apologies for the delay. Firstly, how are you getting on with the performance of your SL? 

To let you know, I have temporarily invested in a cloud machine and am running SL through that. It works perfectly providing internet connection is good. Would prefer to be on Parallels but that isn't a choice considering the performance I was getting. Cloud machine I am running is Shadow PC which costs £30 a month. Not ideal but I think the amount of time it was slowing me down would equate to more than that! 

I did raise a case as suggested by Maria and have had a reply which I'll leave here;

"I understand that you're having issues with Storyline 360 running slow on Windows 11 ARM edition via Parallels on your Macbook Pro with M1 chip. I'm sorry about this!

Our team is currently working on a problem where the Trigger Wizard authoring is extremely slow on M1 Mac devices. This is apparently due to the "new trigger workflow" UI framework. I'll add your case to our bug report and from here, I'll meet with my team so we can prioritize accordingly."

Hi, Jonathan,

I have, unfortunately, continued to have issues. Sometimes when I add
something to a slide it just makes a big red "X" and the only way out of
that is to reboot windows and parallels. I appreciate your advice, and will
check out the cloud machine!

Im having the same problem with M1 and Parallels, the Trigger Wizard takes really long to load. Whenever I can, I try to copy and paste existing triggers and edit the triggers inside the panel without opening the wizard. But once I have a condition I do have to open the wizard.

I subscribed for the cloud machine and it's working great, thank you for the hint! But I'm hoping that I get the same performance with parallels one day.

Hi Fabian,

Thank you for sharing your experience with us! We appreciate hearing honest feedback from our customers about what features they are enjoying and which ones would make their lives easier. I'll be sure to share your comments with the team.

Hi all, hate to be here, but glad to to learn how others are thinking about their issues with Parallels. My lagging primarily comes when it's time to publish the course. For a small, 10-slide project (no video or excessive amount of content), publishing takes foreeeevverrr! Definitely an issue for workflow. Going to keep researching and will submit a case also. Keep you all posted. 

Hi Ashley,

I'm sorry you're having this issue with Parallels! I noticed you haven't created a case yet regarding your publishing experience. So, I created one on your behalf! You should be hearing from our support engineers soon regarding this matter.

Thanks for reaching out!

Hi Fabian, 
Did you experience any lag with the cloud machine? Can it handle any extensive workflow? Appreciate your time. 

Just to throw my hat into the ring. I'm having the exact same issues, I've tried working through the solutions on the thread Lori linked. Even assigned 32gig of ram but it's still really slow. I'm also finding sluggishness in selecting and moving objects in both the timeline and the edit pane.

Hi James, 

So sorry to hear you are experiencing these issues as well with Storyline 360 while using Parallels and Windows 11. Thank you for sharing what you've done to troubleshoot so far. 

I have opened a Support Case on your behalf. One of our talented Support Engineers will reach out shortly to see if there are any other troubleshooting tips we can assist you with.

Thanks again for reaching out. Hope you have a nice weekend! 

I'm starting to feel like there needs to be a support group for M1 Storyline users... I run Storyline on Parallels and my trigger workaround had been to copy and paste triggers and edit them as needed in the trigger panel. Only now I've discovered that copying and pasting triggers does NOT work for keyboard navigation. So a button will work fine with a mouse, but if you tab to it on your keyboard and press enter, absolutely nothing happens. I REALLY hope this is something Articulate can fix because this creates an enormous workflow problem for me. See this post for more on the copied trigger problem.

Hi everyone,

I have some great news to share! We just released another update for Storyline 360. In Update 77, we've included important fixes and new features.

One of the bugs we've fixed is: 

• The trigger wizard performs faster on M-series Macs.

Launch the Articulate 360 desktop app on your computer to take advantage of this update, and click the Update button next to Storyline 360. You'll find our step-by-step instructions here.

Please let me know if you need additional help!

wow I *just* came in to check on this issue!!  Can't wait to see how this rolls out!  Wish us all luck!

So far so good,  vast improvement in the responsiveness of the application. 

Hi Patrick!

Thanks for reaching out and sharing the feedback! So glad to hear the performance of the trigger wizard has improved for you after updating Storyline!

If you run into any trouble moving forward please let us know and we'd be happy to help!

Hey Steven, not just improved performance in trigger wizard, but increased responsivity  in publishing and saving files as well.  I can't speak on behalf of the large community of creative unicorns who incorporate Storyline into their Mac workflow, but I can tell you its larger than you guys thought and I for one am grateful beyond words that you took our issue seriously. 

Hi Patrick,

What a great joy to see positive feedback like this! So happy that you're now seeing improved performance and increased responsiveness in publishing and saving Storyline files!

We're always looking to improve our products; thanks for sharing your experience with us!

Enjoy the rest of your day, and happy developing! 🙂

Couple of months rigorous use.  Some detailed feedback I think you'll find valuable. 

I think we could still improve performance, on application launch and file loading, and we did get a significant bump in trigger wizard performance, but I still think it could be better, I just don't think we should close the book on supporting this feature and further optimizing it.