Storyline 360: Closed captions lose content when created, exported, and imported

May 17, 2018

I have roughly a gajillion closed captions to create in as many languages, and I'm consistently finding that when I create, export, and import a closed caption file in Storyline 360 that a certain amount of content goes missing.

Here's what I'm doing:

1. Insert Audio > Text to Speech (using "Copy from Slide Notes" to insert the text and checking "Created Closed Captions"). I can easily see my slide notes are brought in just fine at this point. When I check the resulting closed captions created for the new audio file, sometimes all of the content is there; sometimes not.

Even if it's all there at this point, there's still a good chance it will only partially be making it to step 3.

2. Export Captions: With the new audio file selected, I export the captions to a .vtt file.

3. Import Captions: With my target media file selected, I import the .vtt file. 

When it works as expected - it's fantastic! But I'm wasting a whooooooole lot of (unbudgeted!) time proofing every word in every language. I haven't even gotten to Arabic, Korean, Chinese, etc., - and clearly need to figure out what's wrong before I get there.

One thing that bothers me a bit is that when either exporting or importing there's no "export successful" or "import successful" message or progress bar or any other indication of what's up with the process. 

Nonetheless, even for very short amounts of text, and waiting for as long as I think could be reasonable to wait, content goes missing. It can be a few words in the middle of a paragraph, an entire paragraph at the end, a few words at the beginning... there's no rhyme or reason that I can discern. 

Is this a known issue?

Any words of wisdom (along with a really solid fix) would be wonderful.

Thank you!

16 Replies
Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Jackie, 

It's not an issue I've seen myself or have run across with other customers. The inconsistency is always a tricky one to pin down and replicate it, which I'm certain makes it all that more frustrating for you, but if you're able to narrow down a file or set of captions that you can see things go missing I'd love for our team to take a look. Can you share a copy of files or even a Peek recording with them here? 

Jackie Van Nice

Thank you so much for the info, Ashley! It’s incredible to me that I’m regularly seeing at least 10% of the CC text simply disappear in this process; yet no one else has ever experienced anything like it before. I’m blazing new trails. :)

I have to switch gears to a different project at the moment, but as soon as I return to this one I’ll work on capturing some nice examples for you.

Thank you again! :)

Jackie Van Nice

Haha! I’d feel more super if I could figure this out. :) 

Who knows. It’s a media-heavy file. Maybe it’s so big it’s having trouble processing and saving every tidbit of text through all of the steps in the CC process I’m using, or maybe I just need to try the repair process to see if something got snarled somewhere. 

Since this isn’t a known issue, I’ll definitely try the repair process before sending the team my silly Peek videos and giant Storyline files. 

(My sincerest) thanks again, Ashley! :)

Jackie Van Nice

Hi Danielle,

No, I’m afraid nothing ever improved. I had someone else test it independently and they consistently had the same experience I had. Occasionally one slide would have a CC that would come in with no errors, but that was extremely rare.

I’m definitely glad I built in some budgetary wiggle room, and if it turns out you end up having the same experience you’ll be glad you did too. And if you have no problems at all, you’ll come in happily under budget!

Best of luck with your bid! 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Sabrina,

I don't see any other reports of it nor an update from Jackie. 

If you'd like us to take a look and troubleshoot - we're here to help! We'd need to see a copy of your .story project file, and any Peek videos or screen recordings of what you're seeing. 

You can share those here in the public discussion or send along to our Support Team here. 

Jackie Van Nice

Hi Ashley and Sabrina!

Sabrina - I'm sorry you're having the same issues, but I feel better than I'm not alone. I'm hopeful that others who discover and report these problems will help expedite finding a solution since working through CCs like this is pretty miserable and adds a whole lot of unnecessary time to the process.

Ashley - My current client's open translation projects (though this issue is consistent for all clients and all translation projects) got backburnered as they my spun me off into a ton of other projects, but it looks like I'll be returning to their translation projects (including closed captioning) pretty soon. Once I'm back on it, I'll share whatever I can.

Jackie   

Jill Freeman

Hi Ashley and Jackie. I am experiencing this same issue of disappearing closed captions. I started the project by importing a PPT into SL 360. Then I type in Notes, or in some cases there are already Notes present that were imported with the PPT. I then Insert> Audio> Text to Speech> Copy from Slide Notes.  Generate Closed Captions is checked. I edit the text a bit before clicking  Insert. 

The TTS audio sounds as it should, but when I Preview OR view the Published file, words are missing throughout. SL also places breaks in the captions in odd places. 

This may also be related to the random spoken "dot" that will appear in the TTS, even when there is no dot or period present. I currently have a support ticket open for these issues: Case #01889699.   I am with Jackie---this issue is very time-consuming and not acceptable. We need to ensure our training is accessible to all. I will submit a ticket with my SL file. 

Ren Gomez

Hi Jill,

Thanks so much for opening a case and sharing more details regarding your issue.

It seems there may have been an issue with the Powerpoint file you uploaded and my teammate, Vevette, is requesting that you upload it again. Here's the upload link in case you need it. You're in good hands! I'll follow along as the case progresses. 

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