Course in Review 360 does not open links to Excel

Jun 17, 2021

I've published a course in Review 360 and noticed that links (either within the course 0r within the Resources folder) that are to open an Excel sheet do not work. If I publish the course for web and run from a server, they do work.  These are actual URLs, not a trigger to open a file. Is this expected behavior?

7 Replies
Lauren Connelly

Hi Heidi!

Sorry, you're running into this issue with links to Excel spreadsheets are not opening in Review 360! Are you finding that other links open correctly?

Also, have you tried using a different browser? If so, does the same behavior occur?

If you'd like me to test the Review link on my end, feel free to add the link to your reply.

Heidi Learn

Yes, other links are opening correctly. I tried testing with Edge as the browser and it appears to work correctly there, so apparently the issue is with Chrome.  I'm reluctant to give you the link since it contains confidential information. Let me check with my team and if needed, I can try to add some Excel links to a test course and give you that.

Heidi Learn

I've done more testing and it seems to be a problem with this particular URL. Unfortunately, I cannot move it to another location. I have found that I can force the link to open by entering microsoft-edge: in front of the URL and it seems to be working. However, I cannot do that in the Resources section of the player. Storyline keeps inserting another http:// in front of it and I cannot seem to remove it. Any workarounds for that?

Heidi Learn

Now finding more trouble with a different spreadsheet link in a different course. In Chrome, the link just refuses to open... no messages; the screen just blinks and nothing happens. (In Edge, I get an error message that the file is not safe to download.) If I take just the URL and enter it into Chrome, the spreadsheet opens fine. This seems to be only a problem within SL. This happens both with Review 360 and in the LMS.

Lauren Connelly

Hello Heidi!

It seems this continues to be a reoccurring issue! Sorry about that. To figure this out quickly, I'd like our Support Engineers to step in to test your file. I've opened a support case on your behalf, and you should've received an email with an upload link. Can you attach both the .story file and Review 360 link?

Once we receive your files, we'll begin testing!