Hello - I have created a course for a client. Now, they want to allow groups outside their organization (no LMS access) to make changes to the course to suit their needs.
What are my options? Course is created in Storyline2
How can I export the course and to what format so that others have the ability to alter it.
Hey, I should note that they don't have storyline. (My apologies, I should have said that). They want to distribute it to other groups outside the organization for editing. These groups also do not have storyline.
They can't edit a storyline file without storyline. So they will need to work with you to make the changes they desire. Then you'll need to publish it for them.
Yes, I know that you can't alter a story file without storyline. They want to know if I can export the story file into a medium that they can edit. A word document? A powerpoint?
If they're going to make edits in a document and then send it back to you to actually make the changes and publish the file, you could export the text for translation. That can be edited in Word. It's only the text though, none of the visuals, and it's helpful if they also look at the content in Review or the LMS at the same time for context. If they change the text in the "translate this column" area, you can import it back into Storyline. You're still part of the process, but at least they can make some text changes directly themselves.
You could also use Review as a way to gather feedback on the changes they want. You still have to make the changes, of course, but there's no real way around that.
If your client is looking for a way to give other people editing rights without including you (or someone else with a Storyline license) in their process, they're out of luck.
I think they want to make the course accessible to other groups to edit (logos, etc) after my contract is up. They just want access to a file containing the course information as it appears. I know I can export it to word, but can I also export a course into pptx? I realize I would be losing the voice over and interactivity.
First, I would say that you're under no moral obligation to help them here when they're trying to cheat the system. The real answer is that if they don't want to pay you, they should either get SL licenses (maybe with a team plan so they can share with their clients) or hire someone else to do it.
Second, if they wanted this kind of editing ability, that should have been part of the scope from the start of the project. That way, you could have steered them to an open source tool like Adapt or H5P that they could have edited for free. Those tools have other limitations, but if editing without paying for a license is a critical requirement, then you should be only looking at open source or free tools.
If you still feel like you need to give them an option, maybe you could publish to Word. There's no PPT option, as you've probably realized. The Publish to Word option only gives you screenshots and slide notes, but they could edit the images in Photoshop or another image editing tool. They will probably be unhappy with this option, but it's the best you can offer.
You could also offer to rebuild the course in PowerPoint. There's no fast way to do that, so you'd need a new contract for the hours it would take to rebuild it. I wouldn't recommend that option, but sometimes you have to offer clients a terrible option so they choose something less terrible (like editing screenshots in Word) instead.
Unless they're paying you to come up with a solution to not pay you, I'd just give them the Story file which lets them edit the content as they wish.
Then the decision for them is if it's cheaper to hire you to consolidate and make edits or buy the software themselves.
Here's a different solution that someone in London told me they do. I thought it was kind of clever. The consultant bought a 360 teams account. And for each client, she gave the option to buy into a license. As part of the project, the client paid for a license (prorated fee). She could assign them a license when on the project and take it away when they were done.
They had access to the license to make edits without her.
She used it as part of a annual maintenance program. They basically were paying for the license and she was able to stay connected. And when they felt they didn't need her, she could just turn off the license.
Not sure how well that works for her, but I thought it was pretty clever.
10 Replies
No need to export anything. Send the storyline file (.story) to the client.
Cheers,
Julie
Hey, I should note that they don't have storyline. (My apologies, I should have said that). They want to distribute it to other groups outside the organization for editing. These groups also do not have storyline.
Other than the option Julie described, there is no other way to edit a Storyline project.
They can't edit a storyline file without storyline. So they will need to work with you to make the changes they desire. Then you'll need to publish it for them.
Yes, I know that you can't alter a story file without storyline. They want to know if I can export the story file into a medium that they can edit. A word document? A powerpoint?
If they're going to make edits in a document and then send it back to you to actually make the changes and publish the file, you could export the text for translation. That can be edited in Word. It's only the text though, none of the visuals, and it's helpful if they also look at the content in Review or the LMS at the same time for context. If they change the text in the "translate this column" area, you can import it back into Storyline. You're still part of the process, but at least they can make some text changes directly themselves.
You could also use Review as a way to gather feedback on the changes they want. You still have to make the changes, of course, but there's no real way around that.
If your client is looking for a way to give other people editing rights without including you (or someone else with a Storyline license) in their process, they're out of luck.
Hi,
I think they want to make the course accessible to other groups to edit (logos, etc) after my contract is up. They just want access to a file containing the course information as it appears. I know I can export it to word, but can I also export a course into pptx? I realize I would be losing the voice over and interactivity.
First, I would say that you're under no moral obligation to help them here when they're trying to cheat the system. The real answer is that if they don't want to pay you, they should either get SL licenses (maybe with a team plan so they can share with their clients) or hire someone else to do it.
Second, if they wanted this kind of editing ability, that should have been part of the scope from the start of the project. That way, you could have steered them to an open source tool like Adapt or H5P that they could have edited for free. Those tools have other limitations, but if editing without paying for a license is a critical requirement, then you should be only looking at open source or free tools.
If you still feel like you need to give them an option, maybe you could publish to Word. There's no PPT option, as you've probably realized. The Publish to Word option only gives you screenshots and slide notes, but they could edit the images in Photoshop or another image editing tool. They will probably be unhappy with this option, but it's the best you can offer.
You could also offer to rebuild the course in PowerPoint. There's no fast way to do that, so you'd need a new contract for the hours it would take to rebuild it. I wouldn't recommend that option, but sometimes you have to offer clients a terrible option so they choose something less terrible (like editing screenshots in Word) instead.
Thanks so much everyone! This gives me alot to think about.
Unless they're paying you to come up with a solution to not pay you, I'd just give them the Story file which lets them edit the content as they wish.
Then the decision for them is if it's cheaper to hire you to consolidate and make edits or buy the software themselves.
Here's a different solution that someone in London told me they do. I thought it was kind of clever. The consultant bought a 360 teams account. And for each client, she gave the option to buy into a license. As part of the project, the client paid for a license (prorated fee). She could assign them a license when on the project and take it away when they were done.
They had access to the license to make edits without her.
She used it as part of a annual maintenance program. They basically were paying for the license and she was able to stay connected. And when they felt they didn't need her, she could just turn off the license.
Not sure how well that works for her, but I thought it was pretty clever.
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