Using the Mobile App

Upload your content to some server (or an alternative like TempShare or GoogleDrive). Then launch the browser on your mobile device and enter the URL of the uploaded content. The content will launch and automatically redirect to the player app.

Hi Peter,

There are a few options within this article that you could use for testing purposes:

• Tempshare: This is a free service provided by Articulate for testing Storyline content. Note: Uploaded files will be deleted after 10 days.
• Amazon S3: Amazon S3 offers free hosting with generous usage limits. If you go over your limit, you'll be charged a graduated fee.
• Dropbox: Place your published output in the Public folder in your Dropbox account to share it with others.
• Google Drive: Change the story.html file to index.html and set the sharing permissions to Public.Here's how.

Also, for more information on publishing for mobile devices, please review this tutorial. 

Thanks for your prompt response. I did that, put the files onto Google Drive, and sent myself the story.html file, but when I opened it in the phone's browser, it just showed the code as a preview and certainly did not open the Articulate App. So maybe sending the file creates the wrong URL? In which case, how does one find the correct URL for Google Drive?

@Peter, this I probably an issue with the sharing permissions on your content on GoogleDrive. You also need to rename the stoy.html to index.html.

Here is the link to a screenr that describes how to set up content for GoogleDrive: https://player.vimeo.com/video/149073275  and here is an interesting discussion thread in the Articulate community: https://community.articulate.com/discussions/articulate-storyline/can-i-see-an-articulate-demo-on-google-drive

I have done all that, but I'm afraid it doesn't work. When i followed the instructions of the screencast, the URL got changed from https://googledrive.com/host/0B-0gZu2kS5EQRWUxbm5nNUYyMGc/

to https://ab1d2196e1432edc8531a84104a529b67800ebeb.googledrive.com/host/0B-0gZu2kS5EQRWUxbm5nNUYyMGc/

and it just displayed a blank. So is it the hosting address of Google Drive that is perhaps wrong?

Ah-ha! Have just discovered that Google Drive no longer does hosting, which explains all my difficulties. There is a workround, but it requires a Google script and there seems to be no explanation as to how use that script.

So I would suggest that all the help files should be revised!

Incidentally, I think the swf version is the way to go, as flash players/viewers even on smart phones allow you to scale which is great if you're writing graphic-intensive content. And you only have to send the swf file and the content folder. I'm very impressed by this software and hope I can persuade my Faculty to invest in it!

Hi Peter,

Did you see documentation somewhere in regards to Google drive not hosting? I haven't heard that - and a quick search through their knowledge base still shows this article. 

Sorry for the delay ... I found out the hard way, when the URL got turned into nonsense, and then found a site which confirmed this (not Google's) and gave the workaround, but the workaround is a Catch-22: it needs a Google script to run from a site in the first place, so if you already have that site why would you need Google Drive? This from www.labnol.org: "if you have migrated to the new Google Drive, you’ll be disappointed to learn that Google has dropped the web hosting feature. You can still create public folders inside Drive but the option to publish that folder as a website is gone".

My main interest is to get the content to the Mobile App so that users can then access it offline: Many of our students do not have access to the internet at home, and so offline access is the answer, but it is a very cumbersome way of getting that into the Mobile App. If there's an easier way of doing this, I'd love to know. If there isn't, please develop one! :-)

Hi Peter,

I can't speak to the changes of Google drive, but if they haven't confirmed it yet - I'd be hesitant to say one way or another. 

To get content to open in the mobile app, you'd need to have a web server or LMS to host it - and Google drive has been one of the common, free ones we've referenced. There are a few others mentioned here. 

You can bulk import content into the mobile player, but it would still need to be hosted somewhere. 

Hi Ashley

Thanks, I'm finally getting there, but would like to suggest that the Help files be more specific in terms of what applies in different situations, as it has taken me a long time to fathom all this out, as the information is all over the place! Google Drive has an 'old' and a new version, the new version definitely does not support hosting, and the old one does funny things to the index.html file, so i would suggest taking it off the list. So I think it would be useful to tell users of the different options to suit different circumstances. For example:

If you have full and constant access to the internet, you have no problem, and your project can be hosted on any server you have access to, or your LMS, or on Articulate Online.

If you need to have offline use of the project because of intermittent internet access (as in developing countries such as mine),  then the easiest way is to download the content folder and the story.swf file and view it in a flash viewer on a laptop or desktop computer.

If you want mobile access, and have no server, you can host it on Tempshare or Articulate Online, view it in the Mobile App from there first to get it into the Mobile App library, and then download it for offline viewing. This will also work if you have an swf viewer.

If any of the above is wrong please let me know, otherwise please let others know!

Hi Peter, 

Just a few clarifications on the items you shared:

For offline viewing (in the mobile player), you could host in a web server and access through the mobile player, but the user will need wifi access to download the content initially - and currently Tin Can API and Articulate Online content don't support offline viewing, as there is no way to continue the communication between the mobile player and the LMS. 

If you need truly offline viewing, I'd recommend publishing for CD or another local source and sharing the published output with users that way - as sending them the web published content and asking them to view it locally could cause other issues as detailed here. 

In regards to mobile access - I would not recommend Tempshare as a long term solution, as it's a testing site only and content will be deleted after 10 days. If you don't have an LMS or web server to host your content in, than Articulate Online is a good option, although it does not allow for offline viewing. 

In regards to how content is organized here in the site, I'll share your feedback with our Community team who authors most of that content. You're also always welcome to share feedback on the ELH community or any Articulate products here in the form of a feature request. There is a lot of articles and references linked here in terms of publishing for mobile devices. 

Hi Ashleigh

I see that Peter noted: 

Google Drive has an 'old' and a new version, the new version definitely does not support hosting, and the old one does funny things to the index.html file, so i would suggest taking it off the list.

and given the trouble that people seem to be having with Storyline on Google Drive, can you confirm. one way or the other, that Google no longers allow storyline to be hosted on Drive, please?

I have have trouble and colleagues who have tried to host Storyline on Drive in Google Apps for Education  (GAFE) have not been successful.

Cheers

Mark

Hi Mark,

I haven't heard that Google drive stopped allowing hosting content overall - but I know lots of users still mention using it (so I'm unsure if they have the old or new version) and last time our team took a look at it, we were able to upload successfully. This article is a bit long, but you'll see a number of recent users who are accessing and hosting the courses on Google Drive - so you may need to follow along with some of the suggested steps there and reach out in that thread if you're having difficulty to see if others could share ideas/strategies to help you get it set up correctly.