Using Presenter on a network drive issue

Jan 26, 2012

JT Gunter
By JT Gunter

Hello,

I work in a environment where multiple people may need to work on the same Articulate project using a maped network drive.  Here are the issues we are having:

1. The Engage/Quizmaker file links get broken and we have to relink them. Every time the file is open on another computer.

2. The Presenter Theme does not stick most of the time.

Here are some solutions we thought to try and some have worked.

1. We decide to work on Articulate projects on our local drives. However we come across issue #1 still.

2. We decide to copy the theme file from the Articulate program folder and keep it with the source files and we reloaded if we need too.

I'm not if we are handling this correctly or not. I'm basically wonder if there is another way to do this error free.

Thank you

JT

6 Replies
Peter Anderson
12 years ago01/26/12 at 9:14 am (UTC)

Hey JT!

As you've already discovered, unexpected issues can occur when working on a network drive. When working on an Articulate Presenter presentation in a collaborative environment with other developers, I recommend that you use the following workflow: 


1. Use the Send to Articulate Presenter Package feature to make an exact copy of the project and the included Engage interactions and Quizmaker quizzes per the method in the article below: 

  • If the project files are already located on a network drive, proceed to Step 2.
  • If the project files are currently located on your local hard drive, skip to Step 6.
2. When you need to edit or publish the presentation, copy the ZIP file (the Articulate Presenter Package) from your network drive to your local hard drive.
3. Extract (unzip) the project files onto your local hard drive. 
4. Edit and / or publish the presentation as necessary.
5. Use the Send to Articulate Presenter Package feature (from Step 1) to make an exact copy of the updated project files.
6. Copy the resulting ZIP file to your network drive for storage and sharing.
7. Repeat Steps 2 through 6 whenever you need to edit or publish the presentation in the future.

By working on the main project files on your local hard drive, you prevent any corruption or erratic behavior of the files that might have occurred by working on a network drive (ie: random backups). Also, this method ensures that all of your Engage interactions and Quizmaker quizzes stay properly linked together.
Peter Anderson
12 years ago01/26/12 at 11:36 am (UTC)

Thanks for adding that, Phil. 

If your presentation includes Engage interactions and / or Quizmaker quizzes, you may find that the interaction (.INTR) files and quiz (.QUIZ) files are not included in the zip file when creating an Articulate Presenter Package in the following scenario:

  1. You successfully create an Articulate Presenter Package on one computer that includes the .INTR and .QUIZ files.
  2. You transfer the resulting zip file to another computer.
  3. You extract the zip file, and launch the PowerPoint presentation.
  4. You then create another Articulate Presenter Package of this same presentation on the new computer.

When the “second generation” Articulate Presenter Package is created, you may find that the .INTR and .QUIZ files do not get included in the zip file.  This is a known issue.  You can correct it.  Here’s how:

  1. When you are ready to create a second Articulate Presenter Package, open the presentation in PowerPoint.
  2. Navigate to each interaction and quiz slide.
  3. Click the Edit in Engage or Edit in Quizmaker button.
  4. When Engage / Quizmaker launches, click the Save and Return to Presenter button.
  5. Then generate a new Articulate Presenter Package.

Note:  For a quick, automatic way to re-establish broken Engage and Quizmaker links in Presenter ’09 presentations, see Project Beacon for Articulate Presenter ’09.  This method pertains to PowerPoint 2007 and PowerPoint 2010.  Please note that Project Beacon has not been tested by Articulate and is not officially supported.

This discussion is closed. You can start a new discussion or contact Articulate Support.