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- David,
I am looking to go this route with Parallels so I don't have to work off my Dell for Storyline 2. My MacBook Pro is 256MB and an 8GB for memory. Is that enough to be able to run Parallels, Windows, and Articulate or could I have these files located on an external hard drive to make sure I am not exceeding the memory in my Mac?
Thanks! - Doug, I hope you mean 256 GB not MB of storage as 256 MB will not be enough. Otherwise I think you will be okay. I use a MacBook Pro. I have 16 gigs of RAM and Parallels runs lightening fast...faster than on a PC and faster than the Mac side. Yours might be a tad slow, but should work.
For setting up Parallels I recommend David Cox's Techtalk America video on Parallels 9 (he hasn't done an update, but 9 gives you the most important things to think about for the safety of your Mac). - Do you have an article about best practices for using Articulate Storyline on a Mac with VMware Fusion?
- Hi Stephanie,
Our general recommendations for using Storyline on Parallels Desktop is similar to VMware fusion - since both virtualization programs have identical features.
1. Keep VMware tools updated on your virtual machine. VMware tools is similar to device drivers on a native Windows PC to keep your peripherals working. Whenever you update VMware Fusion, you'll also need to update VMware tools.
https://kb.vmware.com/kb/1003417
2. Don't use Unity Mode. Unity mode is a feature in VMware that allows a user to display applications from virtual machines (VMs) on the host system desktop (Similar to Coherence mode in Parallels). While this is a nifty feature that works best for lightweight applications, Unity mode is graphic intensive and could impact the overall performance of your virtual machine. I'd personally recommend using Use Full Screen Mode when working with Storyline. Here's how:
a. Click the Enter Full Screen button in the toolbar at the top of the virtual machine window.
b. From the View menu, select Full Screen.
c. Use the Command key+Control+F keyboard shortcut to switch to Full Screen view.
3. Disable folder sharing for a virtual machine: This to ensure that your project files exclusively resides on Windows environment.
a. Select the virtual machine and select VM > Settings.
b. On the Options tab, select Shared Folders.
c. Select Disabled to disable folder sharing.
d. Click OK to save your changes.
Hope these info helps!- Thank you, Victor. I appreciate your Fusion-specific tips. I will employ them for Storyline success on my Mac!
- Hello! I'm about to purchase Parallels and I'm not sure which edition I should get (Standard, Pro, or Business)! Does any one have any recommendations?
- Hi Ash,
I'd personally go for standard Parallels Desktop for Mac. It has features that'll allow you to run Storyline (and other windows applications) on your vm.
Pro edition includes more features such as "Advanced networking tools, Microsoft Visual Studio Plug-in, etc which may not be significant for you. You may want to take a look at this comparison chart for more info:
http://bit.ly/1rVb3gu
Business edition on the other hand offers mass deployment tools for managing virtual machines - which works best for IT Admins. See this link for more info:
http://www.parallels.com/products/business/ - Hi Ash, I have the normal version and it works perfect. Just had problems when the MAC update to Captain. And also be careful with the screen settings because everything will turn very little size in the screen.
- How can I get the resolution correct on an iMac (O.S. El Capitan version 10.11.4)? I am having difficulty figuring out how to change the display without right clicking and going to screen resolution. All of the shapes, text boxes, markers, etc. I add in Storyline 2 are not filling in with color completely, and when I click on another part of the screen to work, my added objects disappear on my screen until I click on them again. I don't know if this is because I've right clicked and set the display for higher than 100% and it's messing with the images in Storyline 2, or if something else is going wrong.
**UPDATE** In case someone else has this issue. My screen resolution (on the Mac side) was set to "auto" so I changed it to "keep ratio". Then I went Parallels desktop and reset the screen resolution and restarted Windows. That seemed to clear up the issue. - You can also run Storyline (and Presenter) on your Mac by using VNC software. Works great, no Mac slowdown or config issues. Read on:
https://community.articulate.com/discussions/articulate-presenter/articulate-for-mac-please?page=4#reply-341882 - I'm not sure why all the Mac users in this community are content with the status quo. As cosumers we should have access to a product that allows us to use it without having to buy or install additional software!
- I don't think we're content at all, but we are patient while the techs work their magic. They are just focusing on highest demanded features :).
- Hi Ivan :), the market is the "requested features" that Articulate has for the community to request. According to what they write, they work on features based on the most requested via their "request a feature" link. I'm guessing we don't have it yet for at least two reasons, there aren't enough of us requesting it and/or it takes more of their tech resources to accomplish the task than they have to allocate to that project, at least for now for now. I'm looking forward greatly to having it, but I do like that it works way faster in parallels than any program I'm running on the Mac side, so not complaining too loudly yet. It is frustrating at times for sure. I'm just thankful that I don't have to carry around two computers to be able to have it.
- Storyline will never run on a Mac natively as it clearly leverages the Windows/PPT APIs heavily. Unless they rewrit from the ground up (ain't gonna happen), then I wouldn't get your hopes up waiting.
- Hi Sylvia,
Which version of windows do you use? I just tried to run SL2 on a PC with Windows 10 and can't correct the tiny fonts problem. So I'm thinking of using my mac air (8 GB ram). Would I do better with an earlier version of Windows (7 or 8)?- John on the Mac you have to adjust the display so that it is not on Retina and you have to change the resolution down a bit. Your DPI needs to be 96 or smaller on Mac and/or PC
Here is the Storyline link for info on this and how to change the DPI: https://www.articulate.com/support/storyline-2/articulate-storyline-dpi-support-sl2
