Why is the import of PowerPoint files is inconsistent?
May 23, 2014
Windows 7
PowerPoint 2010
Articulate Storyline 2012
I just spent a couple hours inserting the audio files into a PowerPoint presentation. Next, I a "recorded" slide timings without narration, so that the object with "click" animations display according to when I clicked my mouse button. After saving and closing the file, I launched Storyline so that I could import the file.
Upon reviewing the new story file, I checked out the timeline. None of my slides were imported properly. Almost without exception, the objects were positioned at 5 sec, 12 sec, 17 sec or 19 sec, depending on the number of objects were assigned an animation. Also, nearly every gold speaker icon was right in the middle of the slide, instead of repositioned to the bottom left corner off of the slide.
I closed the file and tried again, hoping that some sort of computation error occurred. Unfortunately, the import process repeated the same thing.
Returning the PowerPoint file, I tore it apart into its constituent XML files in order to determine where those values came from. After reviewing a few files, I noticed that the id number (5, 12, 17, 19) matched up with the shapes or objects. That is not good from my perspective.
One month ago, I imported a dozen files by following the same process described above. The gold speaker icons were repositioned off of the slide and about 85% of all slide timings were correct. I am trying to understand how two sets of similar files could produce such different results.
Before you ask for copies of the files, you are not getting them. They cannot be shared outside of my organization.
If someone has managed to figure out which file(s) contain slide timings in a PowerPoint presentation, then please tell me what to look for.
Any help to resolve this issue will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
5 Replies
Hi Michael,
I don't know if you've already reviewed the documentation on how importing Powerpoint into Storyline is not a one to one conversion, so I wanted to share a link to it here, and specifically in reference to animations here. The location of elements on your slides being adjusted once conducting the import would lead me to believe that your Powerpoint file and your Storyline file are of different slide sizes. Also, I'd check that you're using the most recent update of Storyline (we're currently on update 5.)
You mentioned not being able to share your files, but I was not clear if that was specific to the forums or overall. If you're able to share them with our Support engineers we're happy to take a look and the files will be kept confidential.
Hello Ashley,
I made a massive error while following my process. I neglected to save the file (PowerPoint) after making all of my changes and recording the slide timings. I discovered it at about 3:00 pm when I took another look at the file and realized that nothing that I had done had been saved. I am very frustrated with myself.
Once I figured out what went wrong, I re-did the whole process from the beginning. This time when I imported PowerPoint into Storyline, it worked like a charm. Only one object needed to be repositioned on the timeline so that it was displayed at the proper time.
What I know about Storyline
I am reading and viewing all of the tutorials, in order, from Getting Started. I have two more articles to read/view in Working with Variables. During lunch, I read or view a few articles. If I am lucky, then I might be able to finish my "education" by the end of the month. Also, I am about three chapters deep into the book that was published last year. And, less than 2 weeks ago, I completed some training with Storyline at a 3-day workshop. When I have a question, it means that I have exhausted all other avenues of troubleshooting locally.
When I return to the laptop with Storyline installed, I will check which update is installed. It was installed about 2 months ago, so I should be on top of things regarding the updates.
The files cannot be shared, ever. It is a privacy concern as well as an intellectual property issue. Whatever needs to be resolved, it has to be done without the files. (Again, part of the reason why I am reading and viewing all of the tutorials.)
My question about which XML files contain the slide timings was not answered. If I have time this weekend, I will tear apart to good PowerPoint file, in order to determine where the values are stored, so that if many slides decide to give me grief, I will be able to extract the values for manually keying in start and stop times on the timeline.
Thank you for the answer above.
The import of powerpoint is not a one to one conversion.I would not add audio or do timings in ppt and would do this in Storyline because of this.
As far as the files are concerned I am sure it would help to improve the programme if these could be shared with the developers., I am also sure that reticulate will work within an NDA if required.
Hi Michel,
Kudos to you for all the hard work you're putting into educating/training yourself on Storyline. We all know that this effort consumes a lot of time, and sometimes money.
Although I don't place myself at Phil's level of expertise, I, too, add audio and timings within Storyline, rather than PPT. I mostly use PPT to build graphics; also, to add "motion paths" (by saving a PPT slide with motion paths out as a video) since Storyline doesn't currently provide this feature.
I believe that Articulate respects confidentiality and that you/your company needn't worry about that. But, if they absolutely refuse to allow that, perhaps you can send along some slides with dummy information. Others have done so here.
Text can be replaced with lorem ipsum. You could swap out images.
Tom K shows how to do the lorem ipsum text in the video (about 3+ minutes in) on this page
Sometimes sharing just isn't an option, understood. But as Phil mentions, if you ARE able to share with Articulate, it could help not only you, but the community and the product in the long run.
Hi Michel,
It's great that you're going through all the tutorials and articles - a lot of information is available there, and then here in the forums. As Rebecca and Phil mentioned, if you are able to share with us you can first send an NDA if needed. Additionally, creating a dummy or mocked up course is always another option to share if you're having difficulty with a particular set up.
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