Web object and PDF

A few notes on PDFs

1. You won't be able to view a PDF inside an iframe (scrollable window) on the iPad. It's been a problem for a while. 
2. If you've converted the PDF to an HTML file then you'll have an HTML file and a folder with the images. From there you can do one of two things. 
   1. Upload the files to a web server and point to the HTML file on that server when you add the web object. Or, 
   2. Create a folder in the same folder you have your Storyline file. Inside that folder put your HTML file and associated images. Then point to the folder you just created for your web object. When you publish, Storyline will bundle up the folder, html file and all images. 
3. Make sure you're testing in your environment (LMS, webserver, etc.) to ensure it's working as expected
4. All PDFs are not created equal. For a recent project we had to export the PDF as images then insert each image one at a time into the scrolling panel. Time consuming and resource intensive (SL slows to a crawl on that page in the activity). 

I am currently working on a course wherein a form is shown in PDF. There are portions of the form that are zoomed in when clicked. basically its an scrollable interactive pdf. 

the issue we are facing is that the PDF is not opening as part of the course in the final output. this sounds very similar to "not being able to view a PDF inside an iframe (scrollable window)"

What could be a resolution to this?

"the PDF is not opening as part of the course in the final output"

Are you embedding it as a part of the course? Are you adding it as a resource document? Not sure what you're asking. 

One thing you have to do is make sure the the computer that is publishing the course also has the files on the same drive as the storyline file when you link to them. If you've linked to documents from another drive it will break in the published version. If you've created the SL file on one computer and then opened it on a different one then all of the linked documents will not be in the published version. 

Hope this helps a little. 

Hi Martina, 

Are you embedding the PDF into your slides or linking to it and opening it in a new browser window/tab? You may also want to take a look at the steps here to link resources to your Storyline course if you're able to open in a new tab/window.

I did embed it but its not working after publishing it on server. The other alternatives I've found are for opening it in a browser tab, i.e. not as a part of the course but a standalone pdf

Hi Martina,

One option may be to test the course outside your server, to see if that's blocking access to it. For example, you could upload to Tempshare if you'd published for Web.

If you're still having trouble there, I'd be happy to take a look at it! 

I did an example a few days ago for a similar question. See here, the second slide that shows a pdf inside a webobject.

Hi Michael,

Would you mind sharing the Story file to illustrate how you were able to embed the PDF into Storyline? For some reason, when I embed mine and try to test the link, I receive an error message that says: The web address you entered cannot be displayed in a frame. In order to function properly, this web object must be set to open in a new browser window.

Thanks for any help you can offer. 

Thanks!

Lindsey

Hey Lindsey,

It could be that the web server where the PDF is hosted doesn't allow content to be displayed in a frame. Do you have access to the server where the PDF is hosted? If so, your IT team may be able to help you adjust those permissions.

Hi Michael,

Could you attach you sample file. I'm trying to do this also, but when I add my web object and try to link to the pdf, i get an error that it isn't an index.html file...

Hi Colleen,

Is your PDF file hosted on a server? Can you share the URL that points to the PDF file?

Here's a link to a PDF file I hosted on a server. You can use that link for testing, if you'd like.