This project is invalid or corrupt and cannot be opened...

Thanks, that's what I figured. Would the .zip file have anything in it that I might be able to extract, or is that a separate content item altogether?

You can change the storyline file to .zip and open that up, also your published files would have any audio or video in as well as images just named in random ways.

Here is a copy of the .zip that I created prior to it bugging up. Don't know if that makes a difference but just in case...

Hey Adam, sorry you've run into this! I know that can cause quite a panic.

Have you checked your Temp Files yet? There may still be a working version of your project there:

1. Open this folder in Windows Explorer: %appdata%\Articulate\Storyline
2. Scan the contents of this folder for a file that starts with the name of your project. If you find one, copy it to your desktop. If you find more than one, copy the latest version to your desktop.
3. Change the file extension of the copy on your desktop from *.tmp to *.story.
4. Double-click the file to open it in Storyline. 

File corruption can happen, even if you’re following all the recommended best practices. Here are some things you can do to prevent this from happening again. 

That worked!!!! Thank you so much!!!!!

Saved me two days of work :)

Woot woot!! Happy news for a Friday. 😁

Glad you're back up and running again. Reach out if you need any more help!

Hi I need help, I have completed writing an e-learning course via Articulate, and once I published I used the zip file to upload onto our Moodle platform.  However this did not work, it comes up with an error message Archive (ZIP) filetype cannot be accepted.  I contacted our support desk and they stated:

The file which you have sent me is has file type of .story which suggests that this file is a SCORM package. I have attempted to upload this file as a SCORM activity within moodle, however it has been unsuccessful due to the file missing imsmanifest.xml or AICC structure. I have also attempted to upload the file as other activities/resources and have been unsuccessful.

I suggest contacting your SCORM provider as the file seems to be packaged incorrectly

Sorry you're having trouble, Lisa!

Are you publishing for LMS and clicking ZIP in the Publish Successful window?

I'd also recommend testing the output in SCORM Cloud to see if you are able to replicate the issue, or if the problem is only happening in Moodle.

Finally, check out the tips Dan shared here. Hopefully that'll sort things out!

You are a lifesaver, Alyssa.

OMG Alyssa - this just saved a morning's work, you are brilliant!

Whew, so happy that helped you, Sam! And I can't take the credit for those helpful troubleshooting steps written by our Support team...I'm just the messenger! 😆

OMG!  I know this is a 2 year old post, but this information just saved me from losing 6 days of work!!!  Lesson learned...gonna backup DAILY.  

Glad it helped you, Lena! Also, keep these other best practices in mind. 

I just lost 2 weeks of work because of this same problem. I cannot find any .tmp files. Can you help?

Hi Tess,

I'm sorry your in a bind, and I know how frustrating it is to lose work like that. If you're unable to find anything in the Temp folder using the steps outlined by Alyssa, I'd suggest asking your IT team for help searching your computer for other files.

The same thing has happened to me 2x in 2 weeks now.  I spent several days re-creating the work.  I saved the story file 2x a day so that I would have a clean backup.

Now it appears that my working file and each of the backups are giving me the same "This project is invalid or corrupt and cannot be opened. It may have been created in an earlier version of Storyline."

I don't really require an expression of sympathy, a heartfelt "Yeah, that's too bad!"  as much as a root cause analysis of why this keeps happening and a way to prevent it from happening again.

It may be that I haven't been updating the program every time I get a message that updates are available:  I would rather not write tickets to IT every other day.

I followed the tips from Nicole by backing up the files:  for those in a similar situation, it only seems to work if I back the project up to Team Slides rather than my local laptop.  The problem with that is that I'm not sure if I can work from home if I do that.

Hi Dan,

Thanks for reaching out and letting us know that you are running into an error message as well.

It sounds like you are aware of Nicole's tips shared here on preventing file corruption.

• Were you able to find a temp file as Alyssa shared above?
• Is this happening with one file or multiple project files?

You mentioned that you don't do all of the updates, but do you know what version of Storyline you're using?

You can check by going to:
Help > About Articulate Storyline

We are currently on Build 3.28.18944.0 of Storyline 360. You can read all of the details here.

We don't want you to run into problems continually either, so if you'd like to work directly with one of our support engineers, you can certainly do so here.

Thanks for getting back to me.

The tmp renaming worked the second time I tried it, so I only lost a few hours work this time.

I'm still saving to my local c:, my network h: and publishing to team slides several times per day.

This is the 2nd time in 2 weeks, different files.

I had 360 updated by IT, but the file still wouldn't open.

[cid:image001.png@01D5251E.A2861340]

I will continue to be very careful.

It would be nice if this were no longer an issue.

Thank you again.

Dan

I'm unable to see the image that you've shared here, Dan. Perhaps you replied via e-mail, which would be the reason. Be sure to click 'View' vs. 'Reply' and you'll be brought to our conversation here in the forums where you can share any attachments needed.

You originally ran into the issues while working locally or while saving on your H: Drive? Please be sure that your software, any assets (pics, videos, etc), and your files are all saved locally on your C: Drive.

I was just showing the About screen: I actually have the numbered version mentioned.

Everything had been saved on the c:.

Hi all,

In our continued efforts to help prevent and recover from file corruption, we've added a new recovery feature to Storyline 360, build 3.29.19305.0. If a project becomes corrupt, Storyline lets you know if there's a working version in your temp files and makes it easy for you to recover. Details here.

Let us know how this feature is working for you and if you have any other questions on the latest update! You can reach out in E-Learning Heroes or connect with our Support Team. 

Thank you.

I'll try this if I have another problem.

I was wondering if corrupt images or the wrong fonts can cause a project to not open?

I can find corrupt images by publishing each slide as a project separately until I find the problem. (I've done this with Captivate.)

Is there a way to determine if it's a font issue?

Dan

Hi Dan,

When you open an existing project, Storyline 360 will let you know if any fonts are missing from your computer. See this article for details.