I updated Storyline due to the latest release. I then attempted to open a file I had been working on just previous to this release and now I receive the error message - "This project is invalid or corrupt and cannot be opened. It may have been created in an earlier version of Storyline."
Please let me know if there is a fix here, I'm under a time constraint and don't need this headache with this course.
Got the same error today after 5 hours solid work. None of the suggestions work and project was opening fine. I thought that Storyline 2 took a backup when it crashed but clearly not always. It means saving your project every 15 minutes or so under a new name to avoid losing all your work.
I spoke too soon! Thanks so much for the temp file solution. This worked for me. Did a search for the beginning of my project on the C: drive and a temp file showed up in appdata. You saved me 5 hours of work and a lot of frustration!!
Thanks for that update Dave and glad that worked for you as well! Storyline 2 does allow for automatically creating a back up file, but you have to turn that feature on.
I'm having the same problem repeatedly. My file is crashing and I get the "invalid/corrupted" message, even though the file was saved and opened only hours ago without prior problem. I can't keep saving my files repeatedly with new names. Is there a permanent fix being put inplace? I am sending the most recent invalid/corrupted .story file via the help line, but it is incredibly frustrating to find that I am expected to pay to access help via chat now and can only leave messages with uncertain response time when the software keeps crashing my files. This software is too expensive to be functioning this way, particularly without a direct contact system to address the problem.
Hi Ashley, I checked and this was already set to backup every ten minutes. Maybe this is set up this way by default. I never had issues with earlier versions of Storyline 2 so it may be something with the latest updates.
Despite saving my project yesterday in multiple versions with different file names every 10 minutes, and despite verifying each version as functional by opening and being able to use the files before again saving the newest file version, today I went to work on my project and found that NONE of the version copies on my hard disc would open. Yet again each copy is now called invalid/corrupted, despite being able to open the files yesterday. I was able to go online to DropBox and download their cloud copy of one earlier to my desktop and then open that .story copy, but the more recent fie versions held on DropBox also will not open after being copied to my hard disc. This again means hours of work lost - with no clear reason. This problem seems to be universal and reported for months. Is there a fix in the works?
The 10 min save is the default setting, but you can change it depending on your needs. To have the auto recover work you would need to have saved the .story file once already. Are you on the latest version of Storyline 2, update 7? If you're continuing seeing crashing that are contributing to loss of files I'd advise to first take some time to go through the repair steps and then if it continues pull the crash logs as detailed here so our team can take a look at what else could be causing this.
I'm really sorry to hear that you're continually experiencing this issue. I did want to share a few reminders in regards to causes of file corruption and you mentioned you sent along a file to our team so they'll continue to investigate. If you'd like to share the case number here with us I'm happy to follow along.
File corruption is unpredictable, and there's no straightforward way to determine what causes it. Common causes are environmental (disk errors, power outages, improper shutdowns), viruses, failed Windows updates, and even file size (i.e., very large files have a higher risk of corrupting).
Consider these preventative measures to protect your project files:
1) Save and publish projects on your local hard drive. Working on a network drive or external USB drive can cause erratic behavior due to latency.
2) Save incrementally. If your app has an AutoRecovery feature, take advantage of it. If not, save a new version of your project every hour or so with a new file name each time. If a file becomes corrupt, you'll still have a working version available.
3) Install Dropbox. Snapshots of changes in your local Dropbox folder are kept for 30 days. If a file is damaged or deleted, you can restore a previous snapshot: https://www.dropbox.com/help/11/en.
4) Don't leave the app open and unattended for long periods of time. Some users have reported file corruption after leaving their apps open overnight. It's possible that a malware scan or disk backup could run because the machine is idle, making your app vulnerable to crashing.
I have not been having any issues since I last had the problem last month. But not being able to recover a project had never happened to me in Storyline 2 before (one of the great advantages of Storyline 2 over Storyline 1) and since I see others are having similar issues, it would suggest that there might be something in the latest update of Storyline (or Windows??) that is causing the problem. Or maybe I was just unlucky.
Yes, I am and was using the latest version of Storyline 2, and yes, I had saved the .story file previously (many times in fact). Unfortunately, I was using the same file name and so the crash caused me to lose all the previous saves.
Very fortunately, I was able to locate the .temp file and save myself 5 or 6 hours of work redoing the module.
However, best practices is now dictating that I save a newer version of my work under a different name relatively frequently (every hour or so). Fortunately, I am not having Davoren's problems.
Thanks for that update Dave - and it's good to know you've only been experiencing this with the latest update. I haven't seen similar reports of that (this thread is a bit older, so previous updates ago) but something we'll keep our eyes peeled for.
This is not really going to help recover your material but this seems to be a fix for it happening again in Storyline2 (not sure about Storyline). Well it is for me anyway. I was creating content on one machine and then transferring to a laptop. Each time I did this (it did not matter on which machine I created the content) I would try to open the file on the other machine and I would get the "Corrupt" error message.
I was transferring between machines via the cloud. I started to check with other colleagues and sometimes they could open the files and sometimes they could not.
What I have discovered is that I can save the storyline file anywhere on either machine, then whenever I want I can upload them to the cloud. However if I did this and the story file was still open in Storyline2 the file would then be corrupt. If I try to move the file to a USB key I get a message saying that the Storyline file is still open and so this task cannot be completed. I don't get this message when I am uploading into Google Drive and so have been inadvertently uploading material while the story file was still in use. Google drive even puts a different icon on the storyline file if you upload while its still open in Storyline.
When working on an Articulate Storyline 2 project in a collaborative environment with other developers, or even moving projects for your use, use this workflow to avoid loss of resources, file corruption, and other erratic behavior that can occur due to network latency.
That is the workflow that we use. However when copying story files to a networked drive we need to ensure that the file is closed in the Storyline application as now for some cloud applications there is no longer a warning message explaining that the transfer cannot take place until the file is closed.
I have the same problem as above and tried the solutions offered here and nothing worked. I also tried Muhammed's solution but the Properties box tells me there are 'no previous versions'
Please see the screenshots from when I tried to import my project into another new project. I am pressed for a deadline, can someone PLEASE help? I am willing to share the file with an Articulate guru.
It looks like from that image you're file was located on your G drive, which is likely not a local drive. We always recommend saving the files and working on a local copy as described here as working off a network or shared drive is known to cause corruption. File corruption can be difficult to track down and often once a file has become corrupt there is no way to reverse it. However, there may still be a working version of your project in your temp files. Here's how to check:
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.
please keep us posted if that assists, and although we cannot fix a corrupt file, we're happy to double check that our team is also unable to open it. You can share it here in the forum thread using the "Add attachment" button at the bottom of a reply and that will be public to the community or you can send it along to our Support Engineers here.
after trying to copy and paste in another location this is what am getting.This happened after installing camtasia so the team may try working around compatibility maybe.Still trying to figure out how to resolve issue of corruption.None of the ideas given works
I'm not sure what you mean by copy and paste in another location, but I want to share with your our documentation on working collaboratively in a network environment.
If you are just having difficulty with one project, have you imported into a new file to see if this alleviates the issue?
Yes i have tried all the methods discussed in the thread none works.I have
to recover a saved version on my portable disk and it works.I have lose
some work but i think moving on from here i will try work on C have a back
up and restore points till we have a solution for the same.Thanks.
There may still be a working version of your project in your temp files. Here's how to check:
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 is unpredictable, and there's no straightforward way to determine what causes it. Common causes are environmental (disk errors, power outages, improper shutdowns), viruses, failed Windows updates, and even file size (i.e., very large files have a higher risk of corrupting). Consider using the preventative measures described in this article to protect your project files.
Hi Leslie, please help. Can you open this file of mine? I'm still working out how I want to use storyline and its quite frustrating losing this all of a sudden.
So sorry this happened! I'm not able to open your file either. Did you have any luck checking your temp files? Here's a quick Peek at how to find them.
File corruption can happen, even in the best software, and even if you’re following all the recommended best practices. To be ready if it happens, follow these tips.
137 Replies
Got the same error today after 5 hours solid work. None of the suggestions work and project was opening fine. I thought that Storyline 2 took a backup when it crashed but clearly not always. It means saving your project every 15 minutes or so under a new name to avoid losing all your work.
I spoke too soon! Thanks so much for the temp file solution. This worked for me. Did a search for the beginning of my project on the C: drive and a temp file showed up in appdata. You saved me 5 hours of work and a lot of frustration!!
Thanks for that update Dave and glad that worked for you as well! Storyline 2 does allow for automatically creating a back up file, but you have to turn that feature on.
You saved me some serious re-build time Muhammad! Thanks for sharing!!
I'm having the same problem repeatedly. My file is crashing and I get the "invalid/corrupted" message, even though the file was saved and opened only hours ago without prior problem. I can't keep saving my files repeatedly with new names. Is there a permanent fix being put inplace? I am sending the most recent invalid/corrupted .story file via the help line, but it is incredibly frustrating to find that I am expected to pay to access help via chat now and can only leave messages with uncertain response time when the software keeps crashing my files. This software is too expensive to be functioning this way, particularly without a direct contact system to address the problem.
Hi Ashley, I checked and this was already set to backup every ten minutes. Maybe this is set up this way by default. I never had issues with earlier versions of Storyline 2 so it may be something with the latest updates.
Despite saving my project yesterday in multiple versions with different file names every 10 minutes, and despite verifying each version as functional by opening and being able to use the files before again saving the newest file version, today I went to work on my project and found that NONE of the version copies on my hard disc would open. Yet again each copy is now called invalid/corrupted, despite being able to open the files yesterday. I was able to go online to DropBox and download their cloud copy of one earlier to my desktop and then open that .story copy, but the more recent fie versions held on DropBox also will not open after being copied to my hard disc. This again means hours of work lost - with no clear reason. This problem seems to be universal and reported for months. Is there a fix in the works?
Hi Dave,
The 10 min save is the default setting, but you can change it depending on your needs. To have the auto recover work you would need to have saved the .story file once already. Are you on the latest version of Storyline 2, update 7? If you're continuing seeing crashing that are contributing to loss of files I'd advise to first take some time to go through the repair steps and then if it continues pull the crash logs as detailed here so our team can take a look at what else could be causing this.
Hi Davoren,
I'm really sorry to hear that you're continually experiencing this issue. I did want to share a few reminders in regards to causes of file corruption and you mentioned you sent along a file to our team so they'll continue to investigate. If you'd like to share the case number here with us I'm happy to follow along.
Hi Ashley,
I have not been having any issues since I last had the problem last month. But not being able to recover a project had never happened to me in Storyline 2 before (one of the great advantages of Storyline 2 over Storyline 1) and since I see others are having similar issues, it would suggest that there might be something in the latest update of Storyline (or Windows??) that is causing the problem. Or maybe I was just unlucky.
Yes, I am and was using the latest version of Storyline 2, and yes, I had saved the .story file previously (many times in fact). Unfortunately, I was using the same file name and so the crash caused me to lose all the previous saves.
Very fortunately, I was able to locate the .temp file and save myself 5 or 6 hours of work redoing the module.
However, best practices is now dictating that I save a newer version of my work under a different name relatively frequently (every hour or so). Fortunately, I am not having Davoren's problems.
Thanks!
Thanks for that update Dave - and it's good to know you've only been experiencing this with the latest update. I haven't seen similar reports of that (this thread is a bit older, so previous updates ago) but something we'll keep our eyes peeled for.
Ok,
This is not really going to help recover your material but this seems to be a fix for it happening again in Storyline2 (not sure about Storyline). Well it is for me anyway. I was creating content on one machine and then transferring to a laptop. Each time I did this (it did not matter on which machine I created the content) I would try to open the file on the other machine and I would get the "Corrupt" error message.
I was transferring between machines via the cloud. I started to check with other colleagues and sometimes they could open the files and sometimes they could not.
What I have discovered is that I can save the storyline file anywhere on either machine, then whenever I want I can upload them to the cloud. However if I did this and the story file was still open in Storyline2 the file would then be corrupt. If I try to move the file to a USB key I get a message saying that the Storyline file is still open and so this task cannot be completed. I don't get this message when I am uploading into Google Drive and so have been inadvertently uploading material while the story file was still in use. Google drive even puts a different icon on the storyline file if you upload while its still open in Storyline.
Hope this helps someone.
Thanks for popping in to share Adam.
When working on an Articulate Storyline 2 project in a collaborative environment with other developers, or even moving projects for your use, use this workflow to avoid loss of resources, file corruption, and other erratic behavior that can occur due to network latency.
Hi Leslie.
That is the workflow that we use. However when copying story files to a networked drive we need to ensure that the file is closed in the Storyline application as now for some cloud applications there is no longer a warning message explaining that the transfer cannot take place until the file is closed.
Madam
Ah, thanks for popping in to share and clarify.
I have the same problem as above and tried the solutions offered here and nothing worked. I also tried Muhammed's solution but the Properties box tells me there are 'no previous versions'
Please see the screenshots from when I tried to import my project into another new project. I am pressed for a deadline, can someone PLEASE help? I am willing to share the file with an Articulate guru.
Hi Jake,
It looks like from that image you're file was located on your G drive, which is likely not a local drive. We always recommend saving the files and working on a local copy as described here as working off a network or shared drive is known to cause corruption. File corruption can be difficult to track down and often once a file has become corrupt there is no way to reverse it. However, there may still be a working version of your project in your temp files. Here's how to check:
after trying to copy and paste in another location this is what am getting.This happened after installing camtasia so the team may try working around compatibility maybe.Still trying to figure out how to resolve issue of corruption.None of the ideas given works
Hi Dennis!
I'm not sure what you mean by copy and paste in another location, but I want to share with your our documentation on working collaboratively in a network environment.
If you are just having difficulty with one project, have you imported into a new file to see if this alleviates the issue?
Yes i have tried all the methods discussed in the thread none works.I have
to recover a saved version on my portable disk and it works.I have lose
some work but i think moving on from here i will try work on C have a back
up and restore points till we have a solution for the same.Thanks.
Hi Dennis! Thanks for the additional details.
Hi Leslie, please help. Can you open this file of mine? I'm still working out how I want to use storyline and its quite frustrating losing this all of a sudden.
Hi Lesego,
So sorry this happened! I'm not able to open your file either. Did you have any luck checking your temp files? Here's a quick Peek at how to find them.
File corruption can happen, even in the best software, and even if you’re following all the recommended best practices. To be ready if it happens, follow these tips.
I am having the exact same problem as David. Was his ever resolved?
I am having the exact same problem as David. Was this ever resolved?