Forum Discussion
This project is invalid or corrupt......
I updated Storyline due to the latest release. I then attempted to open a file I had been working on just previous to this release and now I receive the error message - "This project is invalid or corrupt and cannot be opened. It may have been created in an earlier version of Storyline."
Please let me know if there is a fix here, I'm under a time constraint and don't need this headache with this course.
138 Replies
I just had this issue happen to me and none of the options proposed by Storyline staff worked for me.
Instead, I used a third party application called ShadowExplorer to recover a version of the file before it was corrupted. It worked like a charm.
Hi Jordan,
Thanks for sharing that here and I'm happy to hear it worked for you.
Hi,
I have a course which I had created in Storyline 2, so for me there is no migration issue from SL1 to 2. But I still get similar error that the file is corrupt and so on. And I asked my company IT guy to do whatever possible to recover that 1 hr long e-learning module which was supposed to be updated on our LMS the earliest. Now, it's certainly a pain to redo everything from scratch.
I believe this bug needs to be resolved the earliest. Or going by the old formula which is certainly relevant - to keep multiple copies of the file at different location before we update anything in the original. :(Hi Deepak,
I'm sorry to hear you ran into a corruption issue with your .story file.
However, there may still be a working version of your project in your temp files. Here's how to check:1) Open this folder in Windows Explorer:%appdata%\Articulate\Storyline2) Scan the contents of this folder for a file that starts with the name of your project. If you find one, copy it to your desktop. If you find more than one, copy the latest version to your desktop.3) Change the file extension of the copy on your desktop from *.tmp to *.story.4) Double-click the file to open it in Storyline.File corruption is unpredictable, and there's no straightforward way to determine what causes it. Common causes are environmental (disk errors, power outages, improper shutdowns), viruses, failed Windows updates, and even file size (i.e., very large files have a higher risk of corrupting).Consider these preventative measures to protect your project files:1) Save and publish projects on your local hard drive. Working on a network drive or external USB drive can cause erratic behavior.2) Save incrementally. If your app has an AutoRecovery feature, take advantage of it. If not, save a new version of your project every hour or so with a new file name each time. If a file becomes corrupt, you'll still have a working version available.3) Install Dropbox. Snapshots of changes in your local Dropbox folder are kept for 30 days. If a file is damaged or deleted, you can restore a previous snapshot: https://www.dropbox.com/help/11/en.4) Don't leave the app open and unattended for long periods of time. Some users have reported file corruption after leaving their apps open overnight. It's possible that a malware scan or disk backup could run because the machine is idle, making your app vulnerable to crashing.I spoke too soon! Thanks so much for the temp file solution. This worked for me. Did a search for the beginning of my project on the C: drive and a temp file showed up in appdata. You saved me 5 hours of work and a lot of frustration!!
Hi Ashley, Thanks for sharing the best practice.
However, for some reason I did not locate the latest project file in that temp location. So, I kind of worked on that from scratch.Hi Deepak,
I'm sorry to hear that - it's not a guarantee that they're located there, but I know it's worked for a lot of users so it is definitely worth checking. Please let us know if you need anything else.
Hi Sri,
No apologies necessary - you're welcome to pop into old threads. If you're using Storyline 2 you may want to try the steps here to follow and see if there is another copy of your file in the temp folders:
1) Open this folder in Windows Explorer:%appdata%\Articulate\Storyline2) Scan the contents of this folder for a file that starts with the name of your project. If you find one, copy it to your desktop. If you find more than one, copy the latest version to your desktop.3) Change the file extension of the copy on your desktop from *.tmp to *.story.4) Double-click the file to open it in Storyline.Additionally you could look at importing the existing file into a new project file as described here. Sometimes I find that is effective when receiving odd error messages or opening an instance of Storyline first and then trying to open the file from within there.Thanks Ashely. This solution worked for me. Hereafter, I'm gonna keep backup of the file every hour.
How you are going to face this challenge, meaning, when can we expect a permanent solution update for this issue.
Glad to hear that you were able to recover your file Sri!
Unless we get down to the bottom of what caused your corruption, it would be difficult to say what the long-term solution would be.
I would advise that if you run into any difficulty again that you work directly with our support team so that we can try to identify the root cause of the issue.
At the same time, I'm sure we all hope it does not happen again to warrant this need.
Hi Muhammad
Thank for sharing your experience. I also nearly lost 2 days of my work!
