Forum Discussion
Storyline is locked by another process
I need some help. I was trying to publish the file to LMS and it crashed and closed by itself partway through. I though I would try again, but I keep getting a message "The project "Storyline" is locked by another process" when I try an open my Storyline 2 file.
I have rebooted my laptop and successfully opened different storyline files.
Any ideas on how to fix this without re-creating the whole project?
79 Replies
Hi David - Thanks for your reply.
I could do that, but it kind of negates the benefit of having real-time backups. Dropbox has saved me hours of time on more than one occasion and I prefer to have it running all the time. I only have this problem with Storyline files. Nothing else causes this error (Photoshop, Illustrator, Word, Excel and many other programmes are in regular use on my PC)
Once again, Storyline has a major bug that has persisted for years without a solution. The poor people who monitor this forum are left to suggest workarounds while Articulate rakes in the cash.
I'm having the same problem all of a sudden with multiple files. This thread is over 3 years old.
How does Articulate continue to perpetuate this awful application?
Possibly because it's a fantastic environment for building interactive courses that work consistently well on all devices, and while this is a PITA when it bights us, it's one we can deal with.
I was in the situation that my employer supplies a laptop with limited space so they got me a 3TB external drive for my multimedia and I moved my entire Documents folder, and I worked on it for 2 years before I found out they don't advise it. Moving it all back to C: made zero difference, besides, but I did it, and at the end of every day I simply close Storyline, and copy the file to D:. This bizarre problem occurs from time to time despite having closed the file and app! But I simply browse to D, open the copied version and immediately save it do C. It took me more time to type this message.
There's definitely some mystery why they're still 32-bit and the only Windows program I've ever seen with this particular annoyance. Both the results and the support I've obtained from Articulate have outshone my many years previously with Captivate by gigawatts. I'm not losing sleep over this bug.
All the best!
-Richard
This problem doesn't seem to end. It is so frustrating.
Hello Azeez, and welcome to E-Learning Heroes. 😊
Thank you for reaching out and sharing that you're experiencing a similar problem.
We recommend working locally, typically your C: Drive, with your software, project files, and all assets to prevent any file corruption.
Follow These Tips to Reduce Your Risk of Corrupting or Losing Project Files
If you'd like to work directly with our support engineers to investigate what's happening with your permission, you can share your .story file privately by uploading it here. It will be deleted when troubleshooting is complete.
Hi Leslie
Thanks for help. I followed your instructions and it worked.
This should suffice for now.
Best
-Azeez
I'm glad to hear it, Azeez. I appreciate you chiming in with an update.
Just for the record, I've noticed a change in this behaviour and I just confirmed it when it happened again this morning — as of several updates ago it seems I can skip the copy/rename step entirely... just browse, even to the very same file that just threw the error, and it now opens just fine.
It's still a very curious problem, apparently unique to Storyline. I closed the file from file menu, exited last night, and installed the September 21 update before receiving the message yet again.
Life's just too short. 😉
Richard
This happened to me today too when my laptop died while I was working in my Storyline file. Luckily I ran across this thread, and the renaming solution worked, but it was jarring to think all could be lost!
I have encountered the same issue and all recommendations in the above thread do not work. I need a solution
Hi, H LO!
I'm sorry to hear you've hit this snag!
I've opened a support case on your behalf and just sent an email your way. We can continue troubleshooting there!
Hello Kelly
Do assist
