Storyline 3: Customizing the Menu

Storyline 3 lets you control how the course menu looks, and in this user guide, we'll explore the menu formatting options.

In order for the menu to show in your course, it needs to be enabled in your player. Learn more about choosing player features.

• Customizing the Menu
• Renaming Scenes and Slides in the Menu
• Rearranging Menu Items
• Changing the Indent Level of Menu Items
• Controlling the Collapse and Expand Behavior of Levels
• Adding New Items to the Menu
• Inserting Titles from the Project File
• Removing Items from the Menu
• Resetting the Menu to Its Default State
• Including Slide Titles from Question Banks
• Wrapping Long Titles or Adding Tooltips
• Adding or Removing Automatic Numbering
• Restricting Navigation
• Showing or Hiding the Menu on a Slide-by-Slide Basis
• Changing the Name of the Menu Tab
• Saving Player Changes

Customizing the Menu

To customize your menu, go to the Home tab on the ribbon and click Player.

When the Player Properties window appears, click Menu on the ribbon. As you make changes on the left side of the window, the preview area on the right will update to reflect your choices.

Renaming Scenes and Slides in the Menu

The titles you see in the menu default to the scene and slide titles from your project. You can change the titles in the menu without affecting the actual scene and slide content in your course.

To rename a scene or slide in the menu, double-click it, type a new title, and press Enter on your keyboard.

Rearranging Menu Items

To change the order of items in the menu, just drag them to a new location in the list, or use the up and down arrows below the menu.

Tip: Rearranging menu items doesn't change the order in which slides are viewed; it only changes the sequence of items in the menu. To change the actual viewing order, you'll need to modify the navigation button triggers in your course.

Changing the Indent Level of Menu Items

Organize your menu by adding levels. Here's how:

1. Select a slide in the menu editor.
2. Click the right arrow to increase the indent (i.e., demote) or the left arrow to decrease the indent (i.e., promote).

When you publish, a small triangle will appear next to any slide that has sublevels beneath it. Learners can click the triangles to collapse and expand levels.

Controlling the Collapse and Expand Behavior of Levels

You can make levels automatically collapse as learners complete each section. Here's how:

1. Click the Additional Options button (the gear icon) below the menu.
2. In the window that appears, mark the box to Auto-collapse menu as learner progresses.
3. Click OK.

By default, all levels will be expanded when learners launch your course. If you want a level to start in a collapsed state, click the small triangle next to the title in the menu editor.

Note: Levels don’t expand or collapse in the responsive player.

Adding New Items to the Menu

There might be times when you need to add titles into your menu to help organize it. For example, you might want to add section titles.

Click the New heading icon (looks like a blank piece of paper), enter a title, and press Enter on your keyboard.

Drag the new title where you want it in the menu, or use the up and down arrows below the menu to move it.

Inserting Titles from the Project File

Click the Insert from project icon (looks like an open folder) to insert scene or slide titles from your course into the menu. This is helpful when you need to restore titles you previously removed from the menu.

Removing Items from the Menu

Sometimes it’s helpful to remove a title from the menu. Just select the scene or slide title and click the Delete heading icon below the menu.

Scenes and slides you remove from the menu will still be part of your published course; they just won’t show in the menu.

If you remove a title that has indented slides below it, Storyline will give you the option to keep or remove them.

Resetting the Menu to Its Default State

If you make changes to your menu and then decide you want to reset the menu back to its original state, click the Reset from story icon below the menu.

Resetting the menu does the following:

• Scene and slide titles revert back to the way they appear in your project.
• Indent levels are removed.
• New titles that were added get removed.
• Scenes and slides that were removed get added back to the menu.

Including Slide Titles from Question Banks

If your course includes question draws, they'll appear in the menu as a single title—for example, Draw from Question Bank 1. You can edit, move, or delete the slide title just like any other menu item.

If you'd prefer to show each slide from the question draw as an individual title in the menu, click the gear icon next to the question draw and mark the box to Show Slide Draw Contents.

The menu editor will always show a single title for question draws, but if you show slide draw contents, each slide title from the question draw will appear as a separate item when you publish.

Wrapping Long Titles or Adding Tooltips

If some of your slide titles are too long to display in the width of the menu, you can wrap the text or show tooltips when learners hover over them. Here's how:

1. Click the Additional Options button (the gear icon) below the menu.
2. To wrap titles, mark the box to Wrap long menu item titles.
3. To show a tooltip when learners hover over long titles, mark the box to Show tooltip on hover.
4. Click OK when you're done.

Adding or Removing Automatic Numbering

To automatically number scenes and slides in your menu (as they appear in Story View), do this:

1. Click the Additional Options button (the gear icon) below the menu.
2. Mark the box to Number entries in the menu automatically.
3. Click OK.

Restricting Navigation

The default navigation method is free, meaning learners can view slides in any order they choose.

If you're building a linear course and want learners to move through it in order, switch to restricted or locked navigation instead. This prevents learners from skipping slides.

1. Click the Additional Options button (the gear icon) below the menu.
2. Use the Navigation Restrictions drop-down list to choose one of these options:
   • Free: This lets learners navigate to any part of the course at any time. They can view slides in any order.
   • Restricted: This means learners can view the current slide and any slide they previously viewed, but they can't use the menu or the Next button to jump ahead or skip over slides.
     
     If you also want to restrict the player navigation buttons, mark the corresponding box to Restrict Next/Previous buttons.
   • Locked: This means learners can only view slides in the order you've designed. They can't use the menu or the Previous/Next buttons to jump ahead or skip over slides, nor can they go back to any previously viewed slides.
     
     If you also want to lock the player navigation buttons, mark the corresponding box to Lock Next/Previous buttons.
3. Click OK when you're done to close the menu options.

Tip: You can use triggers to override restricted or locked navigation for individual slides. See this article for details.

Showing or Hiding the Menu on a Slide-by-Slide Basis

By default, built-in player tabs, such as the Menu tab, display for all slides in a course, but you can hide them for some slides. See this user guide for details.

Changing the Name of the Menu Tab

Want to change the title of the Menu tab? Just edit the name in your player text labels. If you need help editing text labels, see this user guide.

Saving Player Changes

When you click OK to close the Player Properties window, Storyline saves your player customizations in your project file.

If you'd like to use the same customizations in other projects, click Current Player on the ribbon and choose Save. Enter a name for your custom player if you're prompted and click OK.

To learn more about the Current Player options, see this user guide.

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