Translation file won't create!

Further to my previous post:

I reverted back to earlier versions of the ecourse from a few days ago, and the translation function doesn't work on the two most recent versions. This suggests there's a bug in the more recent ones.

How do i figure out what the bug is? Please help -- the translator is waiting for these files.

Thank you!!!

Okay, so I solved the problem.

If you get this kind of message during translation, it means that part of your text is corrupted. Did you copy-and-paste anything into Storyline? Did you alter text in or near a website URL? Something got messed up in the text.

1. Make a copy of the course in a new folder.

2. Estimate how far into the course the problem likely is, based on how far along the translation got before aborting. Cut a large chunk of the course (I cut entire modules). Don't save.

3. Try the translate function. If it aborts again, then delete another chunk.  Keep repeating till the translate function works. The problem text is in the last chunk you removed before it started working.

4. Refine your search by removing sections of that chunk till you identify the problem slide.

Hi Nancy,

Thanks for coming back to update the thread and I'm happy to hear you were able to figure it out. It's also a good reminder that if your courses are behaving oddly you will want to check into the following items as well:

• Work on your local drive (your C: drive).Working on a network drive or a USB drive can cause erratic behavior, includingfile corruption, loss of audio, and other unexpected behavior. 
• You should also make sure the directory pathto your project files and your published output is less than 260 characters(for example C:\Articulate).
• Avoid using special characters, accents orsymbols in your file names.

Also, you could try importing the course into a new file to try and resolve any of the odd behavior. 

Ashley - thanks for the comment about the directory path and the number of characters! What I thought was going to take me hours to fix only took a few minutes!!

Happy this thread helped you out Jennifer! 

Filename length, save path, (save to Desktop usually works), and having Word open will in my experience all cause this error.