Viewing Articulate 360 Content in SharePoint Online

Here's most of what you need to know to publish Storyline to SharePoint.

Publishing Storyline for SharePoint

• Authoring Tools: Storyline 3, Storyline 360, likely Rise
• 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

1. Publish to Web
2. Change .HTML file extensions to .ASPX
3. Upload to a SharePoint Document Library
4. 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

1. Publish to Web (save project first, publish clean)
2. Change any .HTML file extensions to .ASPX from File Explorer window:
   1. If file extensions are visible, slow double click and change the HTML to ASPX.
   2. Alternatively, right click and select Properties and change in Properties window
   3. Say yes to message, “If you change a file name extension, the file might become unusable. Are you sure you want to change it?”
      1. Storyline web publish only has two HTML files: Story.HTML, analytics-frame.HTML
      2. If attempting to use Rise or publishing for xAPI, search for all .HTML files
   4. 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.

1. Create a document library just for the output
   1. Must have it’s own library
   2. Best practice: no spaces in library name (Pascal_Snake_Case for example)
2. Place the contents of the output folder into the new SharePoint Library
   1. Upload as a group to avoid breaking connections
   2. Do not load the folder itself into the library
3. Use Story.ASPX as the target file
   1. Target file may vary for other products like Rise
   2. 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.