Storyline Quits Unexpectedly - NEED AUTOSAVE

Jul 18, 2012

While I really love Storyline and all the great features and capabilities it offers, I am a little frustrated right now....

Anyone else having issues with Storyline quitting unexpectedly in the middle of creating a slide...This has happened to me on 4-5 occasions and I have lost what I was currently working on. Several hours one time.

Sure would be nice to have an Autosave feature.

Anyone else agree or experiencing the same issues.

31 Replies
Bret Deardorff

Russ Still said:

It does seem to vary considerably. SL crashes are extremely rare in my case. I would say that if an Autosave function was included, the user should have the ability to turn it off. On large projects, unexpected autosaves could turn into a huge nuisance.


Russ, that's a great point that I hadn't thought about. Perhaps one of the reasons it's not included. However, I agree with you that it ought to be an option configurable by the user...Turn on/off or even select the frequency of saves...every 10, 20, 30 minutes....

Gerry Wasiluk

Russ Still said:

It does seem to vary considerably. SL crashes are extremely rare in my case. I would say that if an Autosave function was included, the user should have the ability to turn it off. On large projects, unexpected autosaves could turn into a huge nuisance.


And I haven't had a crash since the beta.  And, yes, needs to be optional should Articulate ever decide to implement it. 

On the other hand, sometimes I'd hate to be doing something and autosave fires off in the middle of a huge project and I have to stop working until its done. 

Vicki Mihalyov

Autosave may be for "lazy programmers or buggy software".  If that is the case then SL is buggy software!  I have finally resorted to setting a kitchen timer next to me on my desk to remind me to save every 15 minutes!  In the last 3 days SL has frozen and lost my work SIX TIMES!  Out of habit I always save every 30 minutes or so, but multiplied by 6 crashes, that means I lost 3 hours of productivity--and a bunch of momentum each time!

I am using the 30-day trial, and if this continues I doubt I will be making the purchase at the end of my 30 days!

Gerry Wasiluk

The best way to express your need for this feature is to file a feature request  for Articulate's consideration and list the business reasons why.

Out of habit, I now save after doing anything significant on a slide or just before moving to the next slide.

That said, Storyline has been very stable for me in the last few months, save a sporadic, rare out of memory message. 

IMVHO, all software has bugs with major releases and so many different hardware/software configurations out there makes programming a daunting task.

If you find a pattern to the crashes, I'd file a support ticket.  The info you provide could help.

Bret Deardorff

Hey Vicki, since I was the original poster of this issue let my follow up with what I think is a very interesting phenomenon. Since my original post nearly 2 months ago I have gotten into the habit of saving after every slide or two or even several times with a complicated slide and the funny thing is that Storyline has not crashed once since I started saving all the time. So if you are considering purchasing go ahead and buy Storyline but just get in the habit of saving after every slide. I am sure that the folks at Articulate will address this issue and come up with a great solution that satisfies all of us. But Storyline really is an incredible program and I does work quite well. Your learners will love the content that you are able to create and it's shortcomings will be fixed as more and more people use the software. It's kind of like an Italian sports car...you have to do a few quirky things to keep it running but once you get the hang of it you would never want to drive anything else.

And who else has the kind of users support forums, tutorials, and blogs like Articulate. I get tons of answers and help from the other users which really makes my life easier.

Hope this helps!!

Bret

Per Norsten

Bret Deardorff said:

While I really love Storyline and all the great features and capabilities it offers, I am a little frustrated right now....

Anyone else having issues with Storyline quitting unexpectedly in the middle of creating a slide...This has happened to me on 4-5 occasions and I have lost what I was currently working on. Several hours one time.

Sure would be nice to have an Autosave feature.

Anyone else agree or experiencing the same issues.


I totally aggree - it is very annoying beeing concentrating about doing the story - having to remember to save. Really bad. I bought Storyteller 2 weeks ago, and have already missed several hours of work.

Bruce Graham

Just lost 10 minutes of work - SL just decided to stop and lock solid.

Been working quite happily for a couple of hours, obviously it got bored

Not a major issue - but who do I send the invoice to.....?

Not including an Autosave feature, for whatever reasons, is just getting to be an untenable philosophical position (IMHO). If the product did not fall over randomly - fair enough, but it does.

Bruc

Mike Enders

Hey guys...

I've been thinking about this recently too and have pondered the implementation of an "autosave" feature.  Do you have thoughts on how it would work best?  My personal concern is that if I've got a really large file with lots of media, it can take 20 seconds for all that data to be crunched during a save process.  Thus, if I'm on a roll and getting some great work done, I'd likely get frustrated if Storyline stopped my flow every now and then while it autosaved.   Are you thinking that there would be an optional setting where you control how often it saves?  For my part, I like controlling when I save...so I'm not sure I'd like Storyline doing it for me.

@Ashley, you mention the software crashing so frequently.  I honestly can't recall the last time Storyline has locked up or crashed on me so it sounds like something is askew.  Do you have a sense for when it happens most often? Any particular processes or actions (such as screen recording, inserting media, inserting 100 triggers, etc.) that you're working on?  Would love to try and figure this out as it must be frustrating for you!

Mike

Phil Mayor

If not autosave, then file recovery, or can we have a quicksave function like word or ppt it needs something even if you make storyline bullet proof (and believe me it isn't) this still does not stop your wife switching off the power "by accident"

Maybe I am asking too much, but I have got used to this sort of thing with Office products and my Mac even remembers what I had opened when it restarts

Phil

Bruce Graham

Mike,

Switched option - on or off, with some timing frequency options.

That way I too decide how often it it saved.

I would rather insure against loss rather than be at the mercy of the reboot-monsters.

I'd rather have a 20-second saving period than having to re-work content - any day.

For the record, it mostly happens to me when I have been manipulating images for a while - today was on a brand-new Win8 PC that is 3 days old - so should all be working fine.

Bruce

This discussion is closed. You can start a new discussion or contact Articulate Support.