Audio won't load

We had this exact same problem - i think - and it happened  multiple times on three different machines.

Here is what we found: After sitting open for an extended period of time - like overnight - a storyline file would encounter problems when returning to the file and starting to do something.  Apparently the file had become corrupted while sitting there.  If the file was saved, the corrupted state would get saved.  It appeared to us that the audio files were gone.  The slide still said that it existed, and that loading thing you see is the program trying to load something that isn't there anymore.  But the info was gone, and the evidence for that was that the file size was suddenly drastically smaller.  We had this happen with all recordings in a story along with many of the pictures in the story.  Other times it would only be some of the audio files and some of the pictures.

Luckily for us, we keep the files on DropBox and we can easily roll back to an older version.  I know that seems to be frowned upon, but it has saved our skins several times.  I don't think that is causing the problem, as we had the same problem with keeping files on our local drives before we started saving them in Dropbox.

We have learned, through hard experience, that with Storyline you MUST, MUST, MUST save often.  We also, make sure that storyline is shut down when we quit for the day.

I strongly suspect that your audio files are gone.  I fear that you are going to have to do exactly what you do not want to do.

But I'm not an expert.  I'm just relating what we have experienced.

Thanks Elizabeth for sharing here - and we recommend working exclusively in the Parallels or Windows environment when operating on a Mac. You'll also want to ensure you've disabled the Shared profiles and you can read more about the best practices of working in Parallels here. 

Hi Kathryn,

You'll want to confirm that you're working on local project files, as working off a network or USB drive could cause issues within your file. A lot of users do save to Dropbox as well, which is typically installed as a local drive so it seems to behave normally. If you haven't been working locally you could also try importing the existing file into a new Storyline file following the steps here.  

As Marco mentioned, Storyline doesn't have an Autosave option, so you'll want to regularly save your files, and then I'd also agree with his suggestion to close the file when you'll be leaving for the night. 

If you're still having difficulty with the file after confirming it was on a local drive or you're working on a new file on your local drive, please let us know and we'll be happy to take a look at your .story file. 

Thanks for the response. I am working locally and unfortunately had to walk away from my desk due to an emergency and left the file open over night. As Marco mentioned I'm sure that the audio files got corrupted. Lesson learned, thankfully the audio will be very easy to re-import.  I imagine it could be much worse!

Thanks for the update Kathryn and I'm glad everything is working normally again. 

Okay, I have been working on reloading the audio and there don't appear to be any problems with that at this point. However, my pictures (screenshots) are gone, the appear in the timeline, but not on the slide. Could they have also been corrupted as a result of leaving the program open for an extended period?  I did check to make sure I hadn't made any settings that would hide them. They are missing in multiple areas throughout the course, although not all of them are missing. Thoughts? Thanks again.

Hi Kathryn,

Yes, unfortunately if a file becomes corrupted it can impact all elements or a subset of elements - no way to know for certain which way it'll go. You could try conducting the import of the existing file into a new file as that can sometimes resolve corruption issues. Otherwise, you may need to do the same thing with the images and reinsert them. 

We're also happy to take a look to if you're unsure on the settings and if they could be hidden in some way. You can share your file here using the paper clip icon or I can send you directions on how to send it to me privately. 

@Kathryn: Yep that is completely and exactly consistent with our experience.  Some of the pictures would go away along with some, usually most, of the audio.  

I have found that copied pictures go away more than inserted pictures, but that isn't always true either.

I too am having a problem with my audio not loading. The problem started with my project not publishing... it kept on getting stuck. I wrote to Articulate and they didn't have a problem publishing and so was advised to uninstall and then reinstall Storyline, which I did. The project still wouldn't publish and after trying lots of things including importing into a new presentation, etc. This is a dedicated computer I use for Storyline which I don't network. Eventually, I systematically deleted slides until it did publish and so I knew it was one particular slide.

But then, I went to work on another project and all the audio wouldn't load! Following advice, I have uninstalled and reinstalled Flash and Storyline multiple times and it still won't work. I use a dedicated computer, but I do have Storyline installed on my main computer, and so when I saved the project the a USB and tried opening on my other computer, it does work. Although that is probably using an earlier version of Storyline.

Where am I going wrong? 

Hi Michelle,

You mentioned it worked on a different computer with an earlier version of Storyline? What updates are you using on each computer - that seems to indicate it's something with the individual computer and the installation of Storyline or other programs on that system, and not the file itself. To check what update you're using, please go to the Help tab -> About Articulate Storyline and you'll see the update number listed there: 

 We're currently on Update 6, and you can see all the release notes of fixes here.