Invalid or corrupt project - HELP!

Karen,

Can you import/copy any portion of it into a new file?  I had this happen once, and I was able to salvage part of it.  Keep working with support; if they can't solve it, they should escalate it.

Sorry Karen ... I guess that's another reason to invest in some backup?  

I also get through a lot of "version saves", e.g. project_name_v1_1 ... v1_2 ... v3_4 etc and probably make a new one every hour or two.  This became a habit when using PowerPoint but even more so given the instability of SL's undo (still a major gripe).  So having access to versions that are maybe 1, 3, 4, 6 etc hours old is always handy, but then so is backing up your data!

Karen, have you tried opening the project on a different computer, may sound daft but it was switching from working onto a different computer that highlighted my project corruption issues.

Thanks for the suggestion, Karen M. Unfortunately, it didn't work - when I tried to use the Import feature, I got a "Could not open Project" message.

Jeff C., I don't have access to another computer with Storyline.

Here's the message I got from the Support Team. Not too helpful since I was already working locally.

Hi Karen,

Thanks for contacting Articulate Support!

Really sorry to hear about your Storyline file. Unfortunately, once a .STORY file becomes unusable, it's no longer recoverable.

When creating, editing, or publishing a Storyline project, we recommend working from your local hard drive (typically your C: drive). Working from a network drive or a USB drive can cause erratic behavior, such as file corruption, an inability to save changes you've made to your project, and loss of resources. Here's a helpful article for you:

http://articulate.com/support/kb_article.php?product=st1&id=cw6rhkr2xpxr

Just reply to this email if you need more help.

Regards,

Miker Ang

Customer Support Engineer

Articulate Support - http://www.articulate.com/support/

If you're okay with posting it, we can test it on our comps.  Not sure if it will make a difference, but worth a try.

Hi Karen,

I am sorry to hear about your file. Matthew Graham has made some good suggestions on why you can get a corrupt file. Unfortunately, sometimes corrupt files are never recoverable whether they are Storyline or Microsoft Word. That's where having a backup and versioning system comes in handy.

Sometimes you can import the file into a new project and will be able to recover a portion of the file as Karen Mixon mentioned.

Karen, when working remotely, are you connected to your company's network? I know you said you were working on the file locally, but the best we can do is diagnose what may have caused the file to become corrupt and help keep you from having the issue again down the road.

Always Happy to Help,

Adrian

Sure. It's actually intended as an internal course on how to use Storyline, not all that long, probably 30 slides or so. Thanks for the offer, Matthew.

Hmm, I tried to upload the file, and it appeared to work, but I don't see it attached. I'll post this message and see if it shows up...

Thanks Adrian. I was not connected to the corporate VPN while working on the course, since I didn't need to be.

You could also right click the file and check if windows has another version of it.

I save everything on dropbox this is because dropbox has automatic version control

Sorry, Karen.  It says corrupt for me too.