Using CTRL in "user presses a key" trigger on a mac

Hello Christina!

Good question! The Control Key on a Mac keyboard is used for right-clicking. The Command button on a Mac is the equivalent of the Control button on a Windows keyboard. Confusing, right?

I have a (possibly) related question: What if I have a Storyline interaction that asks the learner to press the Ctrl key on a Windows machine, but I want to accommodate the same action for a learner using a Mac (which would be to press the Command key)? I haven't figured out how to set the expected keystroke for an action to Command, since my Windows keyboard does not include that key.

In the attached image, you can see the dilemma for a Mac user.

Thanks in advance!

Hi, Jay.

I just tested this on my end: I created a project that used the combination Ctrl+A to trigger an action. On my Mac, I could use both Command+A and Ctrl+A without any issues.

If you have a project ready that you can share, I'm happy to test it on a Mac to see if it works as expected. 

Hi, Maria. I do not have a project to share, but I'd love to see how you set up the Ctrl+A. As an added challenge, I'm looking to do Ctrl+left click (to select two items). Any suggestions on how to do that, if it is different? Thanks! 

Hi, Jay.

I did some additional testing, so I need to retract/add to what I said above:

• When previewing the course on a Mac (Storyline 360 through Parallels):
  • The PC keyboard works as expected (Ctrl+A)
  • The Mac keyboard works as expected (Ctrl+A AND Cmd+A)
• When publishing the project:
  • On the Windows side, Ctrl+A works.
  • On the Mac side, Ctrl+A works, but Cmd+A doesn't. 

I'm attaching the .story file so you can take a look at my triggers.

As for Ctrl+left click, I am not aware of a way of using this combination in Storyline. My knowledge in Javascript is very basic, and not something we offer support on, but you might be able to achieve that through coding. 

Thanks, Maria.

It seems that I've reached a functional dead-end. While I wish that weren't the case, I don't feel so bad that I couldn't make this work. :-) 

I'll stick with my work-around, which is to include a text box that says, "We've pressed Ctrl / Command for you." in between the two click selections.

Jay

Hi all,

I know that this is an older thread, but I'm currently experience the exact same issue in my project. I want the student to press Ctrl+A for Windows, but one of our testers reported that he was not able to perform the step in the published version in Review on his Mac. Has anything been implemented to fix this discrepancy between Windows and Mac users? 

Thanks,

Peter

A Mac user would/should know to use cmd. But if you are tracking key combos then you would need two triggers

Hi Phil,

Thanks for your response. The trouble is that the tester tried using Cmd+A when he reached this step, but it did not work (and I've verified that Ctrl+A does work for Windows). It sounds like the only way to be sure would be to edit the Storyline file on a Mac and program new keystroke triggers there?

Thanks very much for your help, Phil!