Forum Discussion
Imported tables scale poor!?
Hallo everyone,
today I tried to import a new project from Powerpoint to Storyline. Everything looks fine so far in the "creator area" of Storyline, even the imported tables. But if I switch to the preview, the tables change their appearance and the problem persists when I publish. The appearance keeps changing, when I play with zoom. It seems to be some scaling issue, but I have no idea how to solve it.
Can anyone help me?
Thanks
Elke
4 Replies
It might be one for Support. drop them a DM.
Thank you very much for your reply! I tried your suggestions out, but didn't find a solution yet.
1. I don't want to lose editability, so exchanging tables with pictures of them won't do the job.
2. Recreating the tables didn't fix the issue either... the missing/light grey lines just change.
3. Matching slide dimensions didn't make a difference either.
4. I use the tablet preview to get an idea about how it's going to look on the iPads I'm preparing the file for... unfortunately we use a local server/intranet for hosting and publishing and hosting a new version for every single preview is just way too much effort... plus in the end we might run it on different iPad models, so if I create one version, which runs perfectly on one of the iPad models, the same file version might show the issue with the tables on another iPad model. So just trying out and looking for a solution for one single device won't solve it either.5. I don't have large tables.
I'm looking forward to more suggestions! Hopefully there's a solution for the problem.
Hi Elke!
Great to see Gary has been helping you! Happy to jump in here!
When importing PowerPoint content into Storyline, tables are generally supported and should import as editable tables. However, there are some quirks to be aware of. Line widths and borders may appear slightly different after an import, due to PowerPoint and Storyline using different units of measurement (points vs. pixels). This can sometimes cause lines to look thinner, thicker, or even absent if the width is very small. Storyline tries to import PowerPoint slides as accurately as possible, but since they are separate applications, some manual adjustments are to be expected.
If you're comfortable sharing a copy of your PowerPoint file with us here, or privately through a support case, we'd be happy to take a closer look and test it on our end.
Try these:
- If you got tables convert them to Images before importing
In PowerPoint, group the table.
Right-click → Save as Picture → save it as PNG or EMF.
Import this image into Storyline.
This ensures perfect visual fidelity but loses editability.
- Or you can recreate the table directly in Storyline
Use Storyline's table tool (Insert → Table) to manually rebuild the table.
This maintains scalability and clean rendering across zoom levels.
- Try matching slide dimensions between PowerPoint and Storyline
Ensure that your PowerPoint slide size matches your Storyline slide dimensions before importing.
In Storyline: Design → Story Size.
In PowerPoint: Design → Slide Size → Custom.
- Try to avoid Zooming In Preview
Storyline’s zoom during preview can affect how objects are rendered.
Always test at 100% zoom and publish for final viewing to check real behavior.
- If you have large table use Scrolling Panels
Insert the table in a Scrolling Panel to control visibility and avoid distortion.
For any interactive elements you should remake them in Storyline using shapes and text boxes.
Let me know if this helps.
