Storyline 2: Caveat, Critique and Request

Hi Bud,

Thanks for reaching out here and being such an avid user and fan of Articulate. We're happy to have you as a part of our community as well! 

In regards to your specific query about SL2 and the experience you've been having, I wanted to offer some thoughts, ideas and solutions here for you. 

First, in regards to your large files, here are a few suggestions to consider:

1. If the file size is continuing to increase and getting larger with every change, I'd look again to what you're adding and how large those files are. If it's a very media heavy course, that will be something to look at in terms of ways to reduce a heavy load on the program 

2. To help with media heavy courses, look into videos that can stream over the internet, likely in the 2-3 mbps bitrate range, and especially when inserting videos ones that have a smaller duration and spreading multiple videos out over a few slides. 

3. Look at using more slides if adding a lot of elements to one slide. Storyline preloads content in the published output, to help handle larger courses and decrease playback delays but when going through a preview or timeline preview, it'll have to load all the elements for each slide before it can continue. 

4. As you mentioned, always working from your local drive and following the general guidelines here.  We likely sound like a broken record the number of times you've seen this in the forums - but it's often the stem of many of the issues we see. 

5. Close down other programs or applications. If the Storyline file is growing in size and being unruly when it comes to working in the application or trying to publish, I try to close down anything else that could be taxing the system and give all the power to Storyline. 

If there are specific issues or features you'd like to see, we are always happy to discuss here and get insight from multiple community members but the best way to keep track of them and ensure they're filed correctly with our Product development team is to submit a feature request.  There is no limit to the number you can submit and your honest feedback is what we're looking for! 

Lastly, I know you mentioned you didn't want to be told to submit a support case, and I didn't see a recent one for you in regards for the SL2 issues you've been having. Submitting a support case is really the best option for our team to understand and take a look at the issues you're experiencing, and based on what we find out, report to our Quality Assurance team as necessary to get solutions or fixes in place. 

For example, you asked about error messages/crashes, and we do have a process in place to pull those error logs and share with our team. Other error messages that are reported and our team investigates are then documented such as the example here in regards to the "The project cannot be saved" error. 

If you want us to take a look at anything, please let us know. We're also happy to try test publishing one of your files  - and if they're as big as you say, it may be easier to send it along to us here.  If you do go that route, please let me know the case number so that I can follow along as you work with our Support engineers. 

Very helpful and informative.  Many thanks for this.  You might want to 'pin' it somewhere as a guide to others, as it is a good overview of potential issues/fixes when working with bigger projects.  As usual, the Articulate team comes through with help and support!  ; ) 

Thanks Bud and glad this was helpful to you and offered some assistance with your file. If you need anything else, please don't hesitate to let us know!