Video not playing during timeline preview?

Nov 26, 2019

Hi everyone, 

I noticed the my videos are not playing when previewing my timeline.  This happens from the latest SL360 update.  Thoughts?

34 Replies
Leslie McKerchie

Hi Ted, 

Thanks for reaching out and letting us know what you're running into. It looks like Wendy has asked a clarifying question as well.

You mention that the issue is since the latest update, so I assume it was working as expected previously.

With your permission, I'd like to take a look at your project file to investigate what's happening. You can share it publicly here, or send it to me privately by uploading it here. I'll delete it when I'm done troubleshooting.

Dale Baker

I am having the same issue, but opposite. I created an .mp4 in Camtasia and imported it into a blank slide. It previews fine in the timeline, but does not play in slide or scene preview.

Update. I had sent the mp4 out for review in an email. I went to that email and dragged the file to my desktop and re-imported that one. Worked fine. Thoughts?

Dale Baker

Thanks for touching base. That may have been the problem. Our company “highly suggests” that our project folders be kept in our “Documents” folder as it is backed up onto a server. Even though it resides here on my computer, as does the Articulate folder, the server has it’s hooks into it.

What I hear you leading to is that 360 prefers not to embed the videos from a network location?

Leslie McKerchie

You got it, Dale!

We recommend working on your local hard drive (typically your C: drive) when creating, editing, and publishing Storyline courses (software and assets). Working on a network drive or a USB drive can cause erratic behavior, such as file corruption or an inability to save changes. See this article for more information and tips. 

It looks like your email signature came through when you replied via email. You can remove that if needed by clicking ‘Edit’ beneath your response. Here’s a quick Peek video if you need help.

Jeffrey Riley

I am having the same problem with previewing the video on the timeline. I only work on my hard drive so it is not a network issue. When I play the video it runs but if I pause the video and then try to play from there the video stops. The timeline continues but the video only plays from the beginning. This makes setting up timing for interactivity very difficult.

I am attaching an example file. From what I can tell, this is an issue with any of the video examples I have used.

Ted Nguyen

Jerry Riley,  

I removed all the "When clicked" option and set it to automatic from your video. When previewing from the timeline. It pause and play from where I paused. You might want to do this to set your markers interaction and then change it back to "When clicked" afterwards.

Lauren Connelly

Hi Graham!

I'd love to help investigate why the video doesn't consistently play! This type of snag is usually specific to the file and not easy to replicate on my end. Would you mind sharing the affected file with us? I'll test the video and then share my findings!

There is two way to share your file:

  • Attach it to this discussion by using the Add Attachment button. This also gives community members a chance to chime in if they're noticing the same snag or have a fix!
  • Or you can share it privately by using this upload link. This will generate a case and we'll continue communicating there!

Either way, we'll find a fix! 

PSS Learning

I am having a similar issue.  I have created a training video and needed to cut dead time from the videos so I did this by cutting the videos into smaller segments and aligning them back to back.  When I first did this, it worked fine, now it is only playing the first video in the sequence.  Is there something that I need to adjust to get it to play all the videos back to back as designated in the timeline?

Lauren Connelly

Hello Donyale!

I'm happy to help! Are you only seeing this behavior in Preview, or is this happening in the published output as well?

It's difficult to understand why only the first video in the sequence is playing without actually testing the project. Do you mind sharing your project with our team? You can upload the .story file privately in a support case. We'll make sure to delete the project after troubleshooting.