Forum Discussion
Make Your PDF Pop in Rise 360
Feeling a little limited by using attachment blocks to share all your PDFs? Here are a couple of alternatives to freshen up your resources list! Both of these methods are perfect to use when you don’t have another easy hosting option to store your PDFs on the web.
First, create a new Rise 360 course to serve as a holding place for your PDF files. Upload your PDFs to a lesson in this course using attachment blocks. Hover over the the attachment block, and right click to copy the attachment URL. We’ll use this URL as a link to your PDF file in your actual course.
In your actual course, you can use the link to your PDF file in two ways:
- Insert a button block, and edit the button to point to your attachment URL that you just copied:
- Or, insert an embed block, and embed your PDF right into the lesson by pasting the URL:
Now you try! You can even embed your PDFs into other interactive blocks using this method. Let me know how it goes!
This is nice, but since if you update the pdf on the attachment the URL changes, each of these create a management nightmare. Everytime you update a document, you have to go through and update all the linked locations.
A nice workaround if you host your own courses and they don't go on an LMS. It would be great if you could upload docs or pdfs to your RISE media library and they would stay with the courses. Otherwise many of us are stuck with the unattractive attachment option :(.
Hi Mira! Just to add, the course containing the PDF will not need to be published and uploaded to the LMS.
That's because the PDF attachment is actually stored on our servers -- you'll notice the URL begins with
https://articulateusercontent.com/.Anyone who has access to that link can view the PDF! Let me know if that helps!
Hi Alyssa, how can you get rid of the pop-out box? I don't want others to have the ability to download or print the PDF I am trying to embed. I don't see a way to make the pop-out box optional.
Hi Joshua,
I shared a possible solution in your other post here. I hope it helps with your situation!
This a good workaround but there seems to be issues with continuity of the PDF showing reliably every time. Sometimes the embedded area is blank, but I can return to the homepage of the course then come back to the lesson to see the PDF, other times it just won't show up at all.
I upload a file as an attachment, then use the embed feature to link it, then delete the original file attachment block, the embed feature still shows it. I thought I deleted my attachment.
Does this mean that everything I've ever uploaded, whether or not I ended up using it in a course, is still stored on Articulate servers somewhere?
Hello Tim,
You are correct. What you upload in a Rise attachment block is stored on our servers.
This prevents broken links in your courses when the original file is removed from its location. Your content remains private unless you choose to share it with others, so in your case you can remove the attachment block if you do not wish to share the content in your course.
You can rest easy knowing we use bank-grade encryption to store your content and transfer it between your computer and our servers. Please check out the article below for details on how we keep your data safe.
Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have additional questions.
Hi Brian, thanks so much for your feedback. If you expect that your attachments will need to be updated regularly, it would be a good idea to host your files on a web server that will allow you to keep the URL for your attachments. I hope this helps!
Thank you so much for the workaround. I agree a smoother solution within Rise is needed. Thanks for listening to us about our needs!
Thanks Crystal, but how does this work if you're hosting the course on an LMS? Do we have to upload the course containing the pdf to the LMS too?
Hi Mira, when you export for LMS, the SCORM file will include everything you need for the course including attachments. You won't need to upload the PDF separately to the LMS.
Hi, Does this mean that the actual pdf file is includedin as a file (not just a link) within the scormpackage?
What is the file limit on attaching files like this?
Any deeper article on this ( using attachments in separate rise course) topic?
I see this as a possible work around for size limitations in LMS regarding the scorm package.
but i need to know more.
You say anyone with the link can see the attachment. What does that actually mean?
If the link to the attachment is shared, all that get the link can see the file?
The embed bypasses the need to share heavy content links? Such as massive amounts of video etc..If using a second Rise course as embed source should it not work with adding the PDF ( or any type content) into a page and take the link of the actual rise page and use that as embed in the main course, thereby having not to change the link ever again in the main course, just changing the content in the embed /second course page? That way the content could also be password protected..?
I have not tested this, im just thinking out loud here..
