Why can't I have two storylines open at the same time?
Jul 25, 2013
I'm creating training modules for multiple levels of employees, which use a lot of the same information. I was hoping to save myself some time by simply copying and pasting the information from one storyline to the next like I would in any other Microsoft program like PowerPoint or Word... but I found I can't have two storylines open simultaneously, so I have to open one, copy the information, close it, open the other one, then paste. And I have to do this one scene at a time. It's incredibly time-consuming and taking literally hours because of all the information. There has to be an easier way... I have deadlines to meet, here!
34 Replies
Agreed. I wonder if anyone has submitted this as a "Feature Request"...???
you can, just open a new instance
You cannot do it from the file menu, but you can from the icon or start menu
I often have two instances open in StoryLine - especially easy to work in that environment since I have two large monitors and can move content very quickly back/forth.
Hi Chrisanna! I wanted to welcome you to E-Learning Heroes
As you can see, our community is very helpful.
Hope this helps you and that you are having a great day!
Guess that is what I get for "short cutting"... doh
It happens to the best of us Owen
@Phil: you just made my day. When I first started using Storyline a few months ago, one of the first things I tried to do was open a second Storyline file from the File menu so that I could quickly copy and paste slides across two projects. This didn't work, so I just assumed it wasn't possible to open two instances at the same time (which is obviously a huge disadvantage). I just tried out your suggestion and now I have two instances up and running. This will save me *so* much time going forward.
If Chrisanna and I didn't realize this was a possibility, there must be others who aren't aware of this, so this should definitely be submitted as a Feature Request.
You can also use the File>Import>Storyline option if you want to import select slides from another .story file.
Wow! Thanks for all the great responses, everyone! I found that I was in fact using the network drive, instead of the C-drive, and that's what was causing so many issues (taking forever to open, save, and multiple crashes when trying to have more than one module open).
My learning modules are now running much more smoothly, and I can have more than one module open at once. Yay! Thanks again, everyone! This is a wonderful resource!
Awesome! Thanks Chrisanna for the update and glad that you have things working better!
Hi All,
I routinely have seven SLs open; not for cutting and pasting, though, but for going from Lesson 1 to Lesson 2, 3, etc to assure that pages are properly and uniform;y formatted. We build lessons ( seven per session) and it's a great way to catch the small chneges from week to week...
Hi, I am new to Storyline.
Can someone please tell me specifically how to open a second storyline project from "the icon or start menu" as posted above here? When I click the A circle, or icon, I then click Open. Once I do that, it wants to save the project I have open so it can close before opening the second project.
Also, someone else posted "open a new instance." I don't know how to open a new instance.
Thanks so much in advance for you help!
Okay, I figured it out...
To open a second instance of Storyline, double-click the .story file from outside of Storyline. Do not go to File > Open.
What confused me was the use of "click the icon." I wasn't sure what "icon" the poster was referring to.
I hope this helps others
Sorry. I still can't figure this one out. I double clicked on the .story file and it still closed the one I had opened.
You must be doing file open, if you double click two separate files by double clicking then it should open two separate courses
Aha. I got it now. Thanks
Hello!
I'm having difficulty too - When I click on the 'A' icon at the top, my only options are: Move, Size, Minimize, Maximize & Close.
I am clearly missing something! Help!
Hi Chantal!
You would want to open your second instance outside of your current instance. By 'icon', they mean your desktop shortcut.
I am able to open two instances, but have had one crash on a couple of occasions. I wonder if this is related. I'll have to pay more attention to when it does crash. (Actually just freezes. Task Manager shows it as still active, but if you kill the app, it says it's waiting on a response. Go to the response panel, and it won't accept input. Then the TM will show as not responding allowing you to kill the app.) This may be totally unrelated but I'm going to see if this happens when I only have one instance going. Anyone else have this happen when multi-instancing?
Thanks for letting us know what's going on, Jim. I haven't seen this happen on my end, but I'm interested to hear more specifics about your experience and if anyone else has experienced this. Also, what Windows operating system are you using? Are you on a PC or a virtual machine on a Mac?
I'll subscribe to this thread to keep up with any information you add here!
Hi, Alyssa; thanks for your reply. We are Windows 7 Enterprise, sp1 on laptops wired into our network, sometimes VPNd. This has happened twice, but not for a couple of days now. I'll keep you posted if it does again, and thanks:)
Jim
Jim,
I've had it happen just as you describe, but not with multi-instances. Generally, there are two causes.
1. Memory hogging. While this thread involves SL 360 and Windows 7, the problem is certainly inherited from at least SL 2. I have the same problem with SL2 on both Win 8 and 10. As the old computer adage says, - "CTRL-S (save); use it in place of ENTER." I just replace save with save and shut down about once every hour or two.
2. Trying to duplicate certain built-in objects, such as radio buttons and checkboxes has a high incidence of triggering the behavior you describe.
Hi, Walt, and thanks. I have noticed that SL is pretty good about presenting a recover file. But your advice is well taken! I do a lot of copy/pasting of objects.
Further info, should it apply: I'm 64 bit with 8 gig memory on on i5 machine. Also, should have mentioned that we're v3.5.11153.0.
Thanks for keeping me posted if this happens again, Jim! I'll keep my eye on this thread. :)