Is there a maximum time limit to how long a slide can be? I'm trying to troubleshoot a project and it seems that whenever I try to insert an audio file longer than 10 minutes Storyline throws up an error message about needing to quit and a big red X appears in the timeline area. If I split the audio into files shorter than 10 minutes everything seems to work fine.
Is there a time limit for a slide? And if so, what would that be?
I don't believe I've seen a limit to the overall timeline length, but I've certainly seen videos or audio files that exceeded 10 minutes, so I wouldn't suspect that is the problem. Have you tried adding that audio file to a new, blank presentation to help you determine if it's the audio file or your Storyline file? If it's the latter, I'd suggest importing it into a new project.
I did an interesting thing by manually dragging out the timeline longer than the length of the audio(timeline =12 minutes, audio = 11.5 minutes) and then imported the same audio file and it worked. Not quite sure what to make of that.
The audio files that crash SL play fine in Quicktime, Windows Media Player and Sony Sound Forge. I've also tried changing the audio files in Sony Sound Forge from MP3 to WAV (which also plays fine in QT, WMP) and that crashes SL as well. Note that this happens on a colleagues PC/SL as well. I don't know if this matters but the audio was extracted from a video using Adobe Media Encoder.
I'm glad you found a workaround - are you then able to drag the timeline length back towards the end of the audio? Even though it seems to be working now, I'd still be happy to take a look. Any chance you can share the audio file with me and I'll test in SL as well? I also assume you're using Update 5 of Storyline?
I'm wondering if this issue has been resolved? I am having the same issue that Brett describes, only the workaround of extending the timeline doesn't work in my case. I can't hear any of the audio files I import when I scrub, preview the slide or publish. I can only hear the audio when I'm in the articulate audio editor. This is with an mp3 and aif. SL won't let me import a wav file, it just crashes. I updated to the latest version of SL and have the same issue.
I'm sorry to hear about the odd behavior you're experiencing, and based on Brett's original posting we were not able to determine if it was a specific issue or something within his own files. First I'd want to check that you're working with local project files and importing an audio file from your local drive as well. If you're still having difficulty while working on your local drive, are you able to determine if it's every audio file that is causing an issue or only particular ones? If it's every file, I'd next try to conduct a repair of Storyline in the event that something occurred during the installation. If it's only particular audio files, any chance you could share one with us here so that I could test it out in my own Storyline files?
Thanks for getting back to me. I am working with local project files on my c drive. I tried a variety of audio files, with the specs recommended (16 bit, 44 kz, etc), and none work. My colleague installed SL on his computer and attempted to add sound (hoping it is an issue in SL on my machine that needs to be repaired) and he has the exact same issue. His is able to import wav files at least, but you can't hear them when previewed or published. (Again, he can hear them in the audio editor, only) I found a project from another forum here where someone assisted with an audio project and supplied a working file to download. I downloaded it, and still cannot get sound. If I import video, I can hear the audio within that video. The issue is just with audio files on their own. Since I can't get any of my audio files to work, do you think you could supply me with one you have that works on your end? Is it possible that we both my colleague and I need to conduct a repair of SL? Thanks for you help!
Sure - here is a sample file that has an mp3 audio file inserted into the slide. It plays as expected for me during preview.
You mentioned your colleague is able to import the WAV files, but could neither of your import the mp3s? Also as a reminder - the list of supported audio formats is here.
Could you send me a link to the other file you tried so I could take a look at that one and confirm there isn't anything weird there?
It's possible you both need to conduct the repair, although it doesn't sound probable. Can you share a bit more about your set up (ie. windows version, etc.)? You'll want to make sure you're up to date with the system requirements detailed here.
I tried your file, and the sound does not work in preview. (Again, I can hear it in the audio editor) My colleague exported a project to test audio, and discovered that when exported to HTML5, SL converted his wav file into an mp3 file with 0 bytes. We are wondering if this is a javascript permissions issue? He can't get audio to work on a swf file either, so we think SL is converting our audio files within SL or upon import. I find this strange since the supported audio files specifically recommends wav files.
We both meet the system requirements, since my next question was going to be if the problem was our 64 bit windows system. (We run heavy duty software such as adobe creative suite.)
I can't import wav files into SL, but my colleague can on his machine. I can import mp3's, aif, etc. but cannot get sound, as I'm guessing SL is converting everything to MP3's with no info. Is this a bug? Thanks again!
I recall having a similar problem and it turned out to be a known conflict with pre-installed software on an IBM laptop - I believe it was the COREL utilities that are part of their CD/DVD suite.
Thanks for testing my file. Since I'm not able to replicate the issue with the audio not playing at all (it all played normally for me) I'm going to ask you to go through the repair steps to help isolate the issue further. Please follow these repair directions, which are a bit more involved than the ones I previously linked to.
Also, out of curiousity - could you share one of the .story files which you've inserted audio into, but that doesn't play while previewing?
We are going to attempt the repair directions and will let you know how it goes. We have created multiple test projects on different machines and get the same result (no audio). Now my colleague is now unable to import wav files, like on my machine. Do you know of conflicting software that would cause this issue (as Paul mentioned above). We have a lot of software on our machines. Here is a link to your site of a project we downloaded. We still cannot hear the audio or get it to work in any way on our end:
It looks like that project is created for Presenter - but I was able to copy out a few of the wav files and place them into a .story file that previewed normally. In regards to other software that could be causing issues, I don't know of anything specifically that would cause these issues. You do want to make sure that the Storyline software is installed by an administrator and then activated by the end users.
We ended up working with the Senior Articulate Support Engineer, and it turns out that a group policy in our work environment prevented an audio conversion. Something to do an executable file that had to be removed from our software restriction policy. We have removed the policy from all machines, and Articulate SL is now working correctly, playing sound. Thanks again for your assistance.
15 Replies
Hi Brett,
I don't believe I've seen a limit to the overall timeline length, but I've certainly seen videos or audio files that exceeded 10 minutes, so I wouldn't suspect that is the problem. Have you tried adding that audio file to a new, blank presentation to help you determine if it's the audio file or your Storyline file? If it's the latter, I'd suggest importing it into a new project.
Hi Ashley,
I have tried that and it still crashes SL.
I did an interesting thing by manually dragging out the timeline longer than the length of the audio(timeline =12 minutes, audio = 11.5 minutes) and then imported the same audio file and it worked. Not quite sure what to make of that.
The audio files that crash SL play fine in Quicktime, Windows Media Player and Sony Sound Forge. I've also tried changing the audio files in Sony Sound Forge from MP3 to WAV (which also plays fine in QT, WMP) and that crashes SL as well. Note that this happens on a colleagues PC/SL as well. I don't know if this matters but the audio was extracted from a video using Adobe Media Encoder.
Hi Brett,
I'm glad you found a workaround - are you then able to drag the timeline length back towards the end of the audio? Even though it seems to be working now, I'd still be happy to take a look. Any chance you can share the audio file with me and I'll test in SL as well? I also assume you're using Update 5 of Storyline?
Hello,
I'm wondering if this issue has been resolved? I am having the same issue that Brett describes, only the workaround of extending the timeline doesn't work in my case. I can't hear any of the audio files I import when I scrub, preview the slide or publish. I can only hear the audio when I'm in the articulate audio editor. This is with an mp3 and aif. SL won't let me import a wav file, it just crashes. I updated to the latest version of SL and have the same issue.
Hi Jill and welcome to Heroes!
I'm sorry to hear about the odd behavior you're experiencing, and based on Brett's original posting we were not able to determine if it was a specific issue or something within his own files. First I'd want to check that you're working with local project files and importing an audio file from your local drive as well. If you're still having difficulty while working on your local drive, are you able to determine if it's every audio file that is causing an issue or only particular ones? If it's every file, I'd next try to conduct a repair of Storyline in the event that something occurred during the installation. If it's only particular audio files, any chance you could share one with us here so that I could test it out in my own Storyline files?
Hi Ashley,
Thanks for getting back to me. I am working with local project files on my c drive. I tried a variety of audio files, with the specs recommended (16 bit, 44 kz, etc), and none work. My colleague installed SL on his computer and attempted to add sound (hoping it is an issue in SL on my machine that needs to be repaired) and he has the exact same issue. His is able to import wav files at least, but you can't hear them when previewed or published. (Again, he can hear them in the audio editor, only) I found a project from another forum here where someone assisted with an audio project and supplied a working file to download. I downloaded it, and still cannot get sound. If I import video, I can hear the audio within that video. The issue is just with audio files on their own. Since I can't get any of my audio files to work, do you think you could supply me with one you have that works on your end? Is it possible that we both my colleague and I need to conduct a repair of SL? Thanks for you help!
Hi Jill,
Sure - here is a sample file that has an mp3 audio file inserted into the slide. It plays as expected for me during preview.
You mentioned your colleague is able to import the WAV files, but could neither of your import the mp3s? Also as a reminder - the list of supported audio formats is here.
Could you send me a link to the other file you tried so I could take a look at that one and confirm there isn't anything weird there?
It's possible you both need to conduct the repair, although it doesn't sound probable. Can you share a bit more about your set up (ie. windows version, etc.)? You'll want to make sure you're up to date with the system requirements detailed here.
Hi Ashley,
I tried your file, and the sound does not work in preview. (Again, I can hear it in the audio editor) My colleague exported a project to test audio, and discovered that when exported to HTML5, SL converted his wav file into an mp3 file with 0 bytes. We are wondering if this is a javascript permissions issue? He can't get audio to work on a swf file either, so we think SL is converting our audio files within SL or upon import. I find this strange since the supported audio files specifically recommends wav files.
We both meet the system requirements, since my next question was going to be if the problem was our 64 bit windows system. (We run heavy duty software such as adobe creative suite.)
I can't import wav files into SL, but my colleague can on his machine. I can import mp3's, aif, etc. but cannot get sound, as I'm guessing SL is converting everything to MP3's with no info. Is this a bug? Thanks again!
I recall having a similar problem and it turned out to be a known conflict with pre-installed software on an IBM laptop - I believe it was the COREL utilities that are part of their CD/DVD suite.
Sorry to be clear, this was the issue of not being able to scrub audio in the timeline, not the length of audio/video clips.
Hi Jill,
Thanks for testing my file. Since I'm not able to replicate the issue with the audio not playing at all (it all played normally for me) I'm going to ask you to go through the repair steps to help isolate the issue further. Please follow these repair directions, which are a bit more involved than the ones I previously linked to.
Also, out of curiousity - could you share one of the .story files which you've inserted audio into, but that doesn't play while previewing?
Hi Ashley,
We are going to attempt the repair directions and will let you know how it goes. We have created multiple test projects on different machines and get the same result (no audio). Now my colleague is now unable to import wav files, like on my machine. Do you know of conflicting software that would cause this issue (as Paul mentioned above). We have a lot of software on our machines. Here is a link to your site of a project we downloaded. We still cannot hear the audio or get it to work in any way on our end:
http://community.articulate.com/downloads/p/1608.aspx
We attempted the projects "Part2: How Do I get the Right Look and Feel?" zipped folder and have no audio.
I will let you know how the repair directions work out for us. Thanks again for your help!
Hi Jill,
It looks like that project is created for Presenter - but I was able to copy out a few of the wav files and place them into a .story file that previewed normally. In regards to other software that could be causing issues, I don't know of anything specifically that would cause these issues. You do want to make sure that the Storyline software is installed by an administrator and then activated by the end users.
Keep us posted on the repair!
Hi Ashley,
We ended up working with the Senior Articulate Support Engineer, and it turns out that a group policy in our work environment prevented an audio conversion. Something to do an executable file that had to be removed from our software restriction policy. We have removed the policy from all machines, and Articulate SL is now working correctly, playing sound. Thanks again for your assistance.
Thanks,
Jill
Thanks Jill for the update and I'm glad one of our senior support engineers were able to assist you!
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