Forum Discussion

AbhishekMaur044's avatar
AbhishekMaur044
Community Member
2 days ago

Word/PPT files opening in two tabs, while PDF opens in one – Browser-specific behavior?

Hi Everyone,

I’m observing different behaviors when opening external files using the “Open URL/File” trigger in Storyline 360.

Here’s what I’ve noticed:

  • PDF files open in a single new tab.
  • Word (.docx), Excel (.xlsx), and PowerPoint (.pptx) files open in two tabs:
    • One blank/untitled tab
    • One tab where the file loads or downloads

Initially, I tested this in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, and later confirmed the same behavior in Microsoft Edge as well.

From what I understand:

  • Microsoft Edge has specific settings for handling PDF documents.
  • Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge are both Chromium-based browsers, but they may have different controls and capabilities when handling web-based interactions.
  • Unlike Edge (for PDFs), Google Chrome does not have a built-in option to open Microsoft Office files directly in the browser.
  • Chrome and Firefox do not natively support viewing Office documents unless a plugin or extension (like a Docs viewer extension) is installed.
  • Therefore, it seems this behavior is browser-specific and not directly controlled by Articulate Storyline.

Since Storyline cannot control how browsers handle specific file types, I assume the double-tab behavior may be related to how the browser processes unsupported file formats.

Has anyone else experienced this?
Is converting Office files to PDF the only reliable workaround?

Appreciate your insights!

And my personal opinion would be to bring some update in Storyline so that all external files can be treated as same?

advice
Articulate 360
articulate 360 teams
articulate 360 training
community
e-learning development
General E-Learning
other
Review 360
storyline 360

1 Reply

  • Nedim's avatar
    Nedim
    Community Member
    2 days ago

    Storyline’s Open URL/File trigger immediately opens a new tab when the user clicks. After that, the browser decides what to do with the file. It’s normal browser behavior, not something Storyline directly controls.

    PDF files open cleanly in one tab because browsers have a built-in PDF viewer. The tab that opens essentially becomes a PDF viewer, so the file renders directly inside it.

    Office files (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx) are different. Browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Vivaldi) don’t have built-in viewers for these formats. So:

    1. Storyline opens a new tab.
    2. The browser checks the file type.
    3. Since it can’t render it natively, it decides to download it instead.
    4. The originally opened tab remains blank because nothing is rendered there.

    So the blank tab appears because the browser opens the tab first, then decides the file should be downloaded rather than displayed.

    Edge is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 services.

    When you click to open the Office file:

    1. Storyline opens a blank tab.
    2. Edge detects it’s an Office file.
    3. Edge redirects to its built-in Microsoft/Office web viewer.
    4. That viewer opens in a new tab and displays the document inline.

    If you want consistent behavior across different browsers, converting the file to PDF or using a web-view link is the most reliable solution.

    For example, you can upload the original document to Google Drive (or another cloud platform) and share the view/preview link instead of linking directly to the raw .docx file.

    This way, the browser isn’t trying to open the actual Office file itself. Instead, it opens a web page that displays the document inside an online viewer similar to how a built-in PDF viewer works.