Storyline 360; Will Storyline 360 files open in Storyline 3?

Dec 13, 2016

Hi Storyline folks,

Will Storyline 360 files open is Storyline 3, when it is eventually released?

Or will the compatibility be only one way from Storyline 3 to Storyline 360?

Has this bit been addressed somewhere? This may be important to a lot of people who don't want get caught into "I am stuck" kinda situation.

Thanks

37 Replies
Anne England

Hi all

I have a trial version of Storyline 3, and I'm able to open and edit a file created in a trial version of 360. This suggests there aren't any incompatible features. However, I'm unable either to do a preview of the entire project, or to publish it. I get an error message. Any ideas (because at this rate I'll have to recreate the whole thing, and it's a big project)?

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Anne,

What's the error message you're seeing when trying to open the file in SL360? It sounds like if you're seeing an error message even while trying to preview or publish anything from one of the products, that you may need to do a repair. Here are the steps for Storyline 3. 

If it's just this file that won't preview/publish - have you looked at importing it into a new file and double checking that you're following the guidelines here to prevent file corruption? 

Anne England

Hi Ashley

The error message was non-specific, unfortunately; just warned that Storyline might shut down. However, I have been able to identify the problem: it was a film, embedded in the 360 original file. By removing it and re-inserting it, I fixed the problem. That doesn't really tell me what the problem was in the first place, but I was just glad to have fixed it!

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Anne,

Okay, that's good to know - are you seeing it with any files you upgrade or just this particular file because of the video? Did you have it inserted from your local drive as well? We have seen individuals have difficulty with files if they were inserted from a non local drive too - so that's always a good first thing to check! 

Let me know if you run into any issues again! 

Anne England

Hi Ashley

I haven't tried it with any other files as we don't have many in 360 (because it was a trial). To be honest, we're currently on Storyline 2 (and probably upgrading to 3) and I had to amend this file quickly. It turned out to be not that quick, but at least I don't have a whole bunch of them to do!

The video was actually still in exactly the same C-drive folder as the 360 file and the new S3 file, so no issues with drives there.

Thank you, anyway, for your time and attention!

Melissa Bayly

Hi All,

I cannot find an answer to this anywhere but is along the same lines as the OP question.

If I utilise a content library template in 360 can I open and edit it in SL3??

Another internal department are looking at 360 as they need the templates for rapid authoring purposes and are comitted to one annual licence. They are concerned that after the licence expires we wont be able to edit them in SL3.

MARIA D TIZOL
Scott L

HI Ashley,

Thanks for filling in more responses and details to the fine details of 360 vs 3. The three scenarios above are particularly helpful.

For your scenario #1, “Can I open a Storyline 360 file that has Storyline 360-specific features in Storyline 3? No, you’ll see an error message. But not to worry, remove those features and then you can open in SL3”

Q1: I can understand the logic here; 360 vs 3 will clearly be two divergent versions. When a 360 file uses a new feature not available in 3, it won’t open in 3. Will the Storyline 3 error message tell the author what feature was used and is preventing it from being opened in 3?  I can image, at least for the interim where some teams have 3 and others have 360 (both working on the same project) things will work fine for a while. Eventually, things will shift, new features will be added to & used in 360, files sent to others using 3, and things will start to not open. Users of 3 are going to wonder, “Okay, I knew this day was coming… but what feature did Bob using 360 just add in that now results in me not being able to edit this using my license of 3?”

Q2: Would you be able to give us any examples of new 360 features that will not be compatible in 3 (resulting in this error message)? I’m sure you have to hold details close to the chest here until features are actually released, but eventually - like towards the end of2017 - there will be some post on ELH that asks or states, “360 features that prevent opening in 3”. So I’m just wondering about a snapshot into the future here.

Hi folks, 

I would like to know what is the update about opening Storyline 360 files in SL3. Is there a list of features that won't work? I have this issue with a client. They have SL3 and I use 360 so I need to know it there will be a problem upfront.

Paul Mansell

I am having issues with a simple screen recording.  I had my co-worker download the storyline 360 software to records the desired video then save it for me to go in and make the necessary modifications to the content but i am unable to open the file using the Storyline 3 installed on my computer.  As far as i know both Storyline 3 and 360 have the same screen records feature so i dont know why i keep getting the error message.  Anyone else experiencing this issue?

Alyssa Gomez

Hi there Paul, sorry to hear you're having trouble!

Are you seeing a particular error message when you try opening the file with Storyline 3? Do you know if the file contains anything else besides a screen recording?

If you're able to share your file with me, I can try and open it with Storyline 3 on my end. If you'd rather share it privately, click here!

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