Viewing Articulate 360 Content in SharePoint Online
Enabling Custom Scripts in SharePoint Online
Custom scripts are now disabled in SharePoint Online for security reasons by default. As a result, Articulate content with the story.html file renamed to story.aspx in the published output that previously worked with SharePoint Online might not work anymore.
If you need to use SharePoint Online, your SharePoint admin may be able to resolve this issue by following the steps below, depending on whether or not you need access immediately. (Note that we don't provide support for either workaround.)
Enabling Custom Script via the SharePoint Admin Center
If you don't need instant access, follow these steps.
Go to the SharePoint admin center and sign in with your credentials.
In the sidebar to the left of the page, click Settings. (If you're using the Modern admin center, click the classic settings page hyperlink at the bottom of the Settings page.)
Scroll to the Custom Script section, then select the options to Allow users to run custom script on personal sites and Allow users to run custom script on self-service created sites.
Click OK to save your changes. Note that this change may take up to 24 hours to appear.
Enabling Custom Script in SharePoint Online via PowerShell
For instant access, follow these steps.
Open Windows PowerShell with admin privileges, then run Install-Module -Name PnP.PowerShell
Run this command: Connect-PnPOnline -Url <url> -PnPManagementShell (replace <url> with your SharePoint URL, which will then generate a code for you to insert in your SharePoint admin center.)
Your SharePoint site is almost ready to host HTML files! We just need to prepare the Articulate published output for upload. Here's how.
In SharePoint, choose where you will locate this project. You can create a new folder or use the Documents location created by default with all SharePoint sites.
Rename all the files with an .html extension in your unzipped published output folder to .aspx (keep the same file name). To do this, right-click the file and choose Rename and then replace .html with .aspx. (Most projects only need to have both the analytics-frame.html and story.html files renamed.)
Upload the published output to your SharePoint site, then click story.aspx to launch your Articulate course. This change should take effect immediately.
SharePoint: SharePoint.com “Modern and On-Premise “Classic” with ability to 1) create a library, and 2) upload files
Operating System: Windows 10/11, with ability to edit file extensions
High Level Steps
Publish to Web
Change .HTML file extensions to .ASPX
Upload to a SharePoint Document Library
Use the Story.ASPX file as the target file
Before You Begin
Verify the files will be at the top of a SharePoint library and not a folder in a library
Ensure Storyline is up to date and save before publishing
Ensure “clean” publishing and do not overwrite existing folders
Must change the file extensions before uploading to SharePoint
Actions for Storyline Author
Publish to Web (save project first, publish clean)
Change any .HTML file extensions to .ASPX from File Explorer window:
If file extensions are visible, slow double click and change the HTML to ASPX.
Alternatively, right click and select Properties and change in Properties window
Say yes to message, “If you change a file name extension, the file might become unusable. Are you sure you want to change it?”
Storyline web publish only has two HTML files: Story.HTML, analytics-frame.HTML
If attempting to use Rise or publishing for xAPI, search for all .HTML files
Deliver output folder to whomever can upload to SharePoint if you are unable to upload yourself.
Actions for SharePoint Communications Owner/Designer/Member
This will not work for a Teams site, only a communications site.
Create a document library just for the output
Must have it’s own library
Best practice: no spaces in library name (Pascal_Snake_Case for example)
Place the contents of the output folder into the new SharePoint Library
Upload as a group to avoid breaking connections
Do not load the folder itself into the library
Use Story.ASPX as the target file
Target file may vary for other products like Rise
xAPI target file may be Story.HTML or Index_lms.HTML
Important Considerations
How organizations manage computers images, permissions, cloud backup/storage, and SharePoint can vary far beyond what can be covered here. Contact your support teams for assistance if you have any issues at any point.
This works for a SharePoint Communications site, what most people think of as SharePoint, and not a Teams site. When testing on a Teams site, even opening up "in SharePoint" and getting to the Site Content level, creating a new library to put it in, it still won't work. It will only download the Story file, and not launch. My SharePoint Admin team, that manages our tenants and works with Microsoft directly, reached out to me to research this. We're not sure precisely why, even when we create a library, not a folder. For this to work, the Storyline output must be on a communications site, and output files must be uploaded into a Library, not in a folder.
We just got a new version and update for Teams in our organization (March 2024) and I attempted again to get web published Storyline output to work, and it still fails.
SharePoint.com generally sets up three SharePoint groups with new sites: Owners, Members, Visitors. Owners can create libraries (lists, etc.). Members can usually add, edit, delete items in the libraries, etc. Visitors can read. Everything SharePoint is highly configurable from the tenant level down to the hubs and sites, so exactly how this works in your organization may vary. But generally an Owner will create the library, and they or Members will add the files.
If a file downloads instead of running the WBT, then you are likely launching from a folder or a team site.
If you are still using Classic SharePoint, there may be other factors that are causing issues. Because SharePoint is so highly configurable, there are may places where things can create headaches.
Publish to web only; the output has less files and doesn't include the required files to send data elsewhere. This can impact whether or not it will work on your particular SharePoint tenant. Publishing for an LMS includes more files and ones that send data. If you opt to use an LMS publishing option, note there will be more HTML files that will need to have their extensions changed.
Files cannot to be ZIP'd up on SharePoint for this to work.
Storyline 360 has an option to publish to video which means a single file and may be a suitable option.
Windows File Explorer settings and what's available to you varies, depending on Windows version, edition, and your organization's settings/policies, etc. The variations are beyond scope of these steps, so you may need to consult with your IT support.
Changing file extensions should only be done when you know exactly what you're doing and why. So don't do this for fun for other circumstances. These are specific steps for specific circumstances and are known to work for using Storyline on SharePoint when published to web. Changing file extensions changes the default program to open it.
The file extensions must be changed prior to uploading to SharePoint.
Cloud backups and other settings may cause issues when trying to change; again, contact your support team for assistance.
General Best Practices and Steps to Save You Headaches
Always ensure latest version. Storyline 3.20 still works as of the date of this comment. If using S360 or any authoring tool, always use the latest version to ensure it works with current browser technology. What files get published, how they are structured, and where they go can change over time.
Always Publish Clean. I can't stress this enough; overwriting an output folder only updates the files that it's set to publish. Any other files remain, and they may include obsolete tech or cause issues with your output in general.
Restart your system if not daily, every other day. In the age of cloud storage, federation, and other single sign-on options, this can impact what you do as a Storyline user and as a SharePoint Admin.
Reset your browser. Both Edge and Chrome are Chromium based so they are similar. This is the new "clear cache" and "allow popups" for those of us who've been around longer than Storyline. It can resolve a wide range of seemingly random issues.
Ensure Browser(s) are current version. Just like Storyline, outdated browsers can impact the things associated with it.
All of these can not only help avoid issues, it helps with troubleshooting and isolating root causes of issues. For example, I spent a year trying to identify causes of issues with migrating an LMS from IE11 to Edge and the root cause was Storyline build versions were not verified, and the output folders had a lot of obsolete files that were blocked. It took going into hundreds of Storyline modules on our LMS to look at all the output to discover this after working with multiple teams including Articulate (thanks, Taylor, I still remember all your help).
About Me
Currently an LMS Admin and SharePoint Site Collection Owner. I've worked with Articulate Products since Articulate was a premium add-in for PowerPoint. My background includes system administration, technical support, technical documentation, Instructional design and Instructional development. I'm often a person pulled in when folks are experiencing the sticky issues. The SharePoint Administrators in my organization use me as a Subject Matter Expert for publishing this kind of content to SharePoint.
So my little input, as I also have 'download' problem.
First of all, you can discard entirely analytics-frame.html. If you rename it to .aspx nothing will happen, as sources INSIDE story.html refers to analytics-frame.html. If you change extension of the physical file, it won't magically replace the inside story.html reference to the new one. It will produce the same error in the console - file not found. And analytics-frame is not a necessary file to run the course.
And to the topic - I created library and uploaded files right into it. You can see it has library icon, and I have two documents libraries, which I one just created.
And yet when I click story.aspx it tries to download. And it probably will, always, unless you have some option(*) somewhere checked that @Jennifer Brown didn't include in the instruction - not her fault, as we are just learning guys, not neccessarly sharepoints superadmins ;)
I did however nailed things down a little. 1. You need admin privileges or be able to contact your sharepoint admin (and convince them to enabling option opening vulnerabilites in the sharepoint ;)).
2. You need to enable Custom Script, either on the admin level (permanent solution for all sites) or site level (temporary, 24h solution for just one site/site collection). You can read here.
3. Then you should view your site (communication or teams channel, doesn't matter at all) contents and navigate to the Styles Library. Inside, you can create new folder, for example TestCourse, and upload all Storyline published files (with of course ALREADT CHANGED story.html to story.aspx, because amount of people not getting that you need to do that beforehand is astonishing) into it. If you don't enable custom script, you won't be able to upload files here at all, that's why.
4. Now when you click the story.aspx you should indeed open a fully functional storyline course. You can embed it into any other site (at least within your space).
I've managed to do that on my 'test' sharepoint and now I will try to test it organization-wide ;) If someone might have an idea about (*), I mean why it is working from document library perspective for some, and for others not, I'd happy to hear. As enabling custom script and trying to run the course from another location than Styles Library produced "download" window instead of showing course, and trying to access direct link or embedding it, produced "File not found" notification.
Renaming had worked for me until very recently, and it works with historical files. I just created a new file. When I upload to SP and try to link it, the link refers to "download" instead of "story" (company related information is deleted from the beginning of the link): _layouts/15/download.aspx?UniqueId=6d2f67f637f94a0da02fbdc5292ba888&e=Lz7zPL. What may cause this issue?
So this is what my business IT infrastructure Engineer said to me...
Microsoft themselves have disabled the custom script feature on a SharePoint as a standard feature. ( he confirmed this with Microsoft). It can however be enabled for a specific site (your IT admin can do this if not you) but it will auto turn off after 24 hours.
Due to how long it take for my business to push through updates i get about 48 hours sometimes 72 before it resets.
Uploading the files itself they need to be converted to the ASPX file I also find that in the Story content folder and the Mobile folder once you have uploaded them to SharePoint you need to create the blank folders "notes" and "slides" in each as SharePoint wont upload these empty folders
As a result, Articulate content with the story.html file renamed to story.aspx in the published output that previously worke
Hi,
In our settings, custom scripts is already actived. But, despite that we follow the procedure, when we open an aspx file it is downloaded instead of being opened. An idea why it's not working for us?
Sure. It's very simple. Just needs it's own library, and the link so people can launch it.
Actions for Storyline Author
1. Publish to Web
2. Change Story.HTML to Story.ASPX in the output folder
3. Deliver output folder to whomever can upload to SharePoint
Actions for SharePoint side
1. Create a document library just for the output
2. Place the contents of the output into the new SharePoint Library
3. Use Story.ASPX as the target file
Sure. It's very simple. Just needs it's own library, and the link so people can launch it.
Actions for Storyline Author
1. Publish to Web 2. Change Story.HTML to Story.ASPX in the output folder 3. Deliver output folder to whomever can upload to SharePoint
Actions for SharePoint side
1. Create a document library just for the output 2. Place the contents of the output into the new SharePoint Library 3. Use Story.ASPX as the target file
Jennifer Brown
Hi Jennifer,
I am attempting the same with a web export from Articulate Rise. I follow the same steps, and it works fine. Problem is, I have embedded Storyline output within Rise, and renaming those to .aspx doesn't work. I think I need to change where those files are being called from, but I don't see where that is. Any ideas?
Would you please upload a video tutorial? I had followed the steps you mentioned and I got an error (file not found). I also I clicked on story.aspx and a file downloads
I just downloaded a trial of Storyline 360 to verify that the extension change hack works like it does in Storyline 3, on SharePoint.com.
I had no problems publishing, changing the two files' extensions, uploading and playing in SharePoint.com. I'm a SharePoint site owner and simply made a library, and added the files to the library. Maybe a total of 5 minutes work.
If you're having issues, then I recommend making sure you are not overwriting old copies of the output folder or it's contents (either on your local computer, or on SharePoint).
I had one of my team members who has no special access to the SharePoint site/library test it and confirmed they could play the Storyline demos.
Storyline 360 and Post-Publishing Steps
1. Publish to Web
2. Change Story.HTML to Story.ASPX in the output folder
SharePoint.com Steps
1. Create a document library just for the output
2. Drag and drop all the contents of the output folder into the new library
3. Copy link to the Story.ASPX file
4. Use that link where you need to play the material. Link on a page, share in email, etc. The only hitch is if you put it in a location that others don't have at least read access to.
Typically SharePoint is locked down and only a limited number of people can see site contents on a site and have the ability to create libraries. If you are able to see Site Contents, and do not see +New, then you don't have the permissions to create new lists, libraries, etc.
If you use Microsoft Teams, by default that integrates with a SharePoint Team Site (basically the M365 version of SharePoint and not the same as a conventional communications site. If you can create a Team, and you can see Files, you can probably upload a Story Output folder. But again, that might be locked down.
If you do not have the capability to create a library on your SharePoint.com communications site, that is something you will need to address internally in your organization (there's usually a SharePoint Admin team, but how you contact them is internal). If your organization is not using SharePoint.com (it will be in the site URL), then it's definitely an IT/SharePoint Admin consult required situation.
Probably best to change the name of that file prior to uploading to SharePoint. SharePoint usually doesn't let you change the extension name.
To do so on your computer, if you do not see extensions on your files, you can always open the story file in notepad, then do a save as, and change the name to story.aspx there, then upload that file.
