Storyline is overwriting and corrupting projects when closing after recent updates

Hi everyone,

I’m running into a serious issue after the last couple of Storyline updates, and I’m wondering if anyone else has seen this or if Articulate can advise.

When I open an existing Storyline project, even just to review it without making any changes, Storyline appears to overwrite the project when I close it. This happens when I use the X button to close the project.

Sometimes I get the normal save prompt, and sometimes I do not. When I do not get the prompt, I see a black square/black box instead. But either way, the project still appears to overwrite the previous file when I close it.

After that happens, the file becomes corrupted and I can no longer open it. Storyline then says the project is invalid.

This is happening across multiple Storyline projects, so it does not seem tied to one specific file.

The pattern is:

1. Open an existing Storyline project.
2. Review it without making ANY changes.
3. Close the project using the X button.
4. Sometimes the normal save prompt appears, and sometimes a black square/black box appears instead.
5. Regardless of whether the prompt appears, the project appears to overwrite the previous file.

6. The file then becomes corrupted and can no longer be opened if I get the black square scenario. If I get the normal “Are you sure you want to save?” prompt, the file does not become corrupted. However, regardless of whether it becomes corrupted, Storyline is still overwriting the previous file, and I do not know why.

I’ve seen this happen in Storyline 360 versions 3.116 and 3.115. I have not tested earlier versions yet, but this was not happening before the recent updates. To help diagnose it I could test other versions to see where the break happened, but it would just be great to have a solution.

My main concerns are:

• Why is Storyline overwriting the project when I am only opening/reviewing it?
• Why does closing with the X sometimes show a black square instead of the expected prompt?
• Why does the file appear to save or overwrite even when I do not want to save any changes?
• Is there a known issue with closing, saving, autosave, or file handling in versions?
• What is the safest workaround to prevent more projects from being corrupted?

This is a critical issue because simply opening and closing a project can corrupt the file. Any guidance from Articulate support or anyone else who has experienced this would be greatly appreciated.

I checked other posts about corrupted files but they don't address this specifically. Below is what it looks like visually

Photo from right after I hit the X button

Photo after I try to open the same project that I made no changes to:

Photo of Date modified timestamps on my projects I did not make any changes to: