What is "External component has thrown an exception?"

Hi there, Jennifer.  I've only seen one other mention of that error message in our discussion forums, and it was supposed to have been caused by a corrupted element.

Would you be able to share the PowerPoint file you're importing?  Does it have its own audio, or was the audio added with Presenter?  If it was added, you would likely have a folder containing both the .ppt and the .ppta files, an Articulate Package.  I'll take the whole thing, if that's the case!

You can also share your files with our support team privately here.

Hi Crystal, Thanks so much for responding. I can't share it, unfortunately, it is a deck our CEO did and is confidential. He recorded using the PPT recording to slide functionality. I have turned over a few of his modules done in this way and not had an issue. I was thinking something got corrupted, but most of the time it lets me know what slide it occurs on or at least crashes at a certain point that leads me to believe which slide is the troubled one. The PPT ended up making it into Storyline on another attempt but the audio didn't come with it. :(. 

Hi Jennifer,

If you think the Powerpoint is corrupt, you may be able to resolve PowerPoint file corruption using these steps:

1. Open a new, blank presentation in PowerPoint.
2. Go to the Home tab, click the drop-down arrow beside New Slide, and choose Reuse Slides.
3. In the Reuse Slides panel, click the Browse button and choose Browse File.
4. Browse to your original PowerPoint file and click Open.
5. At the bottom of the Reuse Slides panel, mark the box to Keep source formatting.
6. Right-click the first slide in the Reuse Slides panel and select Insert All Slides.
7. Save the new presentation and republish.

I'd also check that you're following the guidelines here to prevent any corruption in your Storyline file and Powerpoint files.