Publishing issues / Locked by application

Hi Julia.

What version of Studio are you working with? When there are publishing issues or adding quizzes into a Presenter presentation, my first suggestion would be to make sure that you are working on your local C: drive and not a network drive. You would need to copy your PowerPoint file, your PPTA file and any .QUIZ files you are working with. That would be my first suggestion.

Also, what version of PowerPoint are you using? Does this issue occur with any presentation or a specific one?

I am using studio 13 and powerpoint 07.  The specs line up to be compatible and I've been working in it day in and day out for the past couple of weeks doing similar things with no issues.  Now it happens when I'm not even doing anything with quiz maker.  I do have all the files (quizzes and presenter pp's) saved to an external drive I keep plugged into my laptop because I don't have enough storage to keep them on the C drive.  Do you think that makes a difference?  I wouldn't think so because it is always connected and both power points, engage and quizmaker activities are all in the same files located on my external. 

It is happening with all presentations right now.

Thanks!

Hi Julia,

While working on your files, it's best to work on your local drive as Justin mentioned. If you need to backup to a network drive due to space issues you'll want to follow these directions on creating a Presenter package.  Are you able to try working with a set of new files locally to see if this resolves the issues you're experiencing? This will help us confirm that the issue is associated with the network drive.

Hi Ashley,

I just moved some of the files to a local drive and tried but am still getting an error message that something has happened to Presenter 13 and it might close.  I even did a reset on my computer and tried to reinstall.   I'm able to insert videos but not use the publish or player.  Any other suggestions?

Ashley,

Thanks for the link.  I did go through the instructions on creating a package, but I am still not able to open publish or player to change the settings.  Is there a reason for going through the 'send' step vs. using the publish option?

Hi Julia,

Were you able to try with new files on your local drive? The ones that you were working off of on a network drive may already have some corruption associated with them, and therefore could continue to cause you problems. 

The packaging steps are a way for you to share the Presenter files or back them up, pre-publishing. Once you publish you won't be able to make any changes within that version, you'd have to open the Presenter file again (.pptx or .ppt) file and make changes and republish. 

Hi Ashley.

I did try with the new files, but with no success. I also created new packages by following the 'reuse slides' direction but the narration didn't come over with the slides which would be too much work to start over with (over 24 hours of narration between modules).  I was able to make changes in publishing and player without the errors.  Is there a way to do this so that the narration transfers with the slides?  

Hi Julia,

When creating a Presenter package, the narration should be included. If you're reusing slides, the audio is actually saved within the .ppta file, not the .ppt file so copying over the slides will lose the narration. You could export the narration, and then import into this new project. If the slide numbers stay the same, it should be a fairly quick process. 

All of my presentations are doing this now.  I opened three without reusing the slides and once they 'upgraded' to 13 to narration went missing.  How do I recover them from the ppta file?  Also, how do I export narration when I can't find it?

Thank you!

Hi Julia.,

I've gone ahead and opened a case on your behalf. One of our Senior Support Engineers will be getting in touch with you to set up a complimentary web conference to determine what's happening. 

Thank you for sending me support, Ashley

No problem Julia, and I see your web conference has been scheduled for this morning and I'll check in on your case later today. 

Hi Julia,

I see that Justin was able to help you out during the web conference, and shared the following which I've included here for anyone else who runs across this thread:

When creating, editing, and publishing Articulate Presenter '13 courses, be sure you're working on your local hard drive (typically your C: drive). Working on a network drive or a USB drive can cause erratic behavior, such as file corruption, an inability to save changes, and loss of resources. See this article for more information: 
http://www.articulate.com/support/kb_article.php?product=ap13&id=adudnsy7h9aw 

And that if you needed to keep files on a network or USB drive, to copy files to local C: drive to work, then back to the D: drive for storage.