This project is invalid or corrupt......

Nov 20, 2013

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.

137 Replies
Benjamin Strohmeyer

Hello. This thread is super old so I'm trying to figure out what the fix currently is. I have a file that gives me this delightful error, "The project is invalid or corrupt and cannot be opened. It may have been created in an earlier version of storyline."  I'm sure that is the case but Storyline is constantly getting updates. Why would a file be corrupt from updates?  Someone please help. This is a 4 module project and it make money for my company. The first two there were no issue. The third module and I get the same message. I download the file from one drive and place it on my desktop. Normally I open it, but I got this message. I tried opening a new project and then opening the project. I get the same message every time. Can someone please help?

Jürgen Schoenemeyer

you can test your .story file with 7-zip

https://www.7-zip.org/download.html

install 7-zip and mouse right-click on the .story file => Test archive

if you get an error message like

your file is damaged and I hope you have a backup

sometimes the .story can be recovered with winrar

if this not helped you should open a support case

RCPsych eLearning

I keep getting the same error message ('This project is invalid or corrupt and cannot be opened. It may have been created in an earlier version of Storyline.') after uploading to our shared drive.

The file had been fine while I was working on it. When I try to reopen from shared drive, I also get the error message. But after uploading again, sometimes twice, it opens without any problems.

I updated Articulate a couple of weeks ago.

Any help/advice would be much appreciated.

Gayle

Benjamin Strohmeyer

Thanks. I'll give that a shot. What's odd is that my coworker has no issues downloading the same file and opening it, and I do. We have the same version of articulate. Worse case he can open it up, but it does not make any sense. Truly an annoying bug if there ever was one.

John Morgan

Hi Benjamin,

I'm sorry you are having an issue with a corrupted file! I see you've opened a support case and are working with Carlo. It also looks like he found the source of the issue! Please check your email for our latest support emails. If you have any questions about the case, please respond within the case via email.

Thanks for reaching out!

John Morgan

Hi RCPsych eLearning,

I'm sorry you are going through this! File corruption is so frustrating! Just so I'm understanding, are you working from your shared drive after you create the course and upload it? Working from a shared drive is one of the most common reasons users see file corruption. To avoid this issue always work on your files from your local hard drive.

Thanks for reaching out!

Benjamin Strohmeyer

Nope. Like most companies, we store all of our files on a shared drive in the cloud. We download the files to our desktop when we work on them. What makes this case unique is that my coworker can download and work on the file, and I cannot. We both keep our Articulate up to date, but apparently one slide is corrupt for whatever reason. Supposedly, the issue is because my version is more up-to-date than his version is but I don't see how that's possible since we both download Articulate's updates as they come. Maybe he hasn't though. Either way, I wouldn't expect updates to create corruption but in this case it did.

Jose Tansengco

Hi Nikita, 

I'm really sorry to hear about your project file. 

There isn't a way to restore a file that's corrupted, but there may still be some content that can be recovered from the project file. Would you be willing to share a copy of your project file here or in private by opening a support case so we can take a look? We'll delete it when we're done troubleshooting!

You can check out this article which explains common causes of file corruption as well as how to avoid them to safeguard your files moving forward.