Storyline 360: Publishing a Course to a Video File

Publish a Storyline 360 project as a single MP4 video file when you want to insert it into another project or upload it to a video hosting site, such as YouTube.

Note: The maximum duration for a published video is two hours, and the published frame rate is 30 fps.

1. Prepare Your Course for Video Publishing
2. Enter a Title and Publish Location
3. Choose Size and Quality Settings for Your Video
4. Choose to Publish a Slide, a Scene, or the Entire Course
5. Decide How Storyline 360 Navigates Your Course as It’s Converted to Video
6. Publish

Step 1: Prepare Your Course for Video Publishing

Since videos aren’t interactive, you’ll need to build your Storyline 360 course with this in mind if you plan to publish to video. You can’t use triggers that require learners to click, hover, drag, type, or interact with the content in any way. Interactive triggers simply won’t work when publishing a course to a video file.

If you’ve already built an interactive course and you want to publish it as a video, duplicate the project file so you have a backup copy, then adjust interactive triggers so they execute automatically when the timeline reaches a certain point, when an animation completes, or when media completes. (You don’t have to change triggers for the "next" buttons in your course. Storyline 360 will automatically advance slides when you publish to video.)

For example, if you have an interactive slide that requires learners to click buttons that show different layers, adjust the existing triggers or create new triggers that execute when the timeline of each layer ends (in other words, when one layer ends, the next layer automatically displays).

Make sure there aren’t any triggers that create a loop. For example, don’t add a trigger to the last slide of your course that automatically loops back to the beginning of the course. In this scenario, the publishing process would never end.

Since the video output’s frame rate is 30 fps, object animations and transitions might not be as smooth as other publishing formats where the browser controls the frame rate. More details.

As of February 2023, captions for audio tracks and videos automatically get included in the published output. Learn more.

Note that some course elements aren’t supported in the video output, including:

• Custom colors and placement of captions
• Background audio volume variable
• Website videos
• Web objects
• Engage interactions (only the first step will display)
• Course player (there won’t be a frame around your slides)

Step 2: Enter a Title and Publish Location

1. Go to the Home tab on the ribbon and click Publish.
2. When the Publish window appears, select the Video tab on the left side of the window.
   
   
3. Enter a Title for your video. The title won’t appear in the published video; it’ll just be the name of the video file. (If you have a title placeholder on the first slide, the title defaults to the text entered in that title placeholder. If you don’t have a title placeholder on the first slide, the title defaults to the name of your project file. You can change the title of your published video here without affecting the name of your project file or the title placeholder on the first slide.) The maximum length for a project title is 80 characters; the maximum length for each output folder name is eight words.
4. Click the ellipsis button (...) beside the title field to define additional project information, such as the author, duration, and version number. Currently, this information is for your reference only. It won’t be visible in your published video.
5. Use the Folder field to indicate where you want to publish your course—for example, your computer desktop. Click the ellipsis button (...) to browse to a location. Storyline 360 will create a new folder in that spot with your published video.
   
   Important: Always publish to your local hard drive. Publishing to a network drive or a USB drive can cause problems with your published output due to latency. After publishing to your local hard drive, you can upload the video to a server or network drive.

Step 3: Choose Size and Quality Settings for Your Video

In the Size and Quality section, configure these settings for your video:

Dimensions	Choose any of these dimensions for your video from the drop-down list: 1080p HD is full high-definition video that’s 1,080 pixels in height. 720p HD is high-definition video that’s 720 pixels in height. 540p SD is standard-definition video that’s 540 pixels in height. Story Size uses the exact slide dimensions you defined in Storyline 360. For example, if your slides are 720 pixels wide and 540 pixels high, your published video will also be 720 x 540.
Video Quality	Use the slider to choose a quality level for your published video: Low, Medium, High, or Very High. The higher the quality, the larger your published video file will be.
Audio Quality	Use the slider to choose a quality level for the audio in your course: Low, Medium, High, or Very High. The higher the quality, the larger your published video file will be.
Set the same volume level for all audio	Mark this box to normalize audio throughout your course for consistent volume across all slides. If your course audio already has consistent volume, you can speed up the publishing process by unchecking this option.

 

Step 4: Choose to Publish a Slide, a Scene, or the Entire Course

By default, Storyline 360 will publish your entire course. However, you can choose to publish a specific scene from your course or even just a single slide.

Click the Publish property, then choose the entire project, a single scene, or a single slide.

Step 5: Decide How Storyline 360 Navigates Your Course as It's Converted to Video

Since the published video won’t be interactive, Storyline 360 will automatically navigate through your course from slide to slide, either following the “next” actions in your course or progressing through the slides sequentially (1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, and so on).

Choose the option that makes the most sense for the course you created, either Follow “Next” Actions or Follow Slide Numbering.

If your course is linear, you can follow slide numbering. If your course isn’t linear (the slides appear in a custom order), it’s best to follow "next" actions.

If your course has a jump-to trigger based on a timeline event, use the Follow "Next" Actions option. (Make sure that the jump-to trigger doesn’t create a loop.)

Step 6: Publish

When you’re finished making selections, click the Publish button. When the publishing process is complete, you’ll see the Publish Successful window with several follow-up options (below).

Note: Publishing videos, especially high-quality videos, can be a slow process. The maximum duration for a published video is two hours, and the published frame rate is 30 fps.

View Project	This launches the published video in your default video app.
Email	This opens a new email message with a zipped copy of your video attached.
FTP	This opens a window where you can enter your FTP credentials and transfer your video to a server.
Zip	This creates a zipped version of your video in the same location where your course was published.
Open	This opens a file viewer where you can see the video that Storyline 360 just created.

 

Embed your published videos in your e-learning projects or share them via social media, video-hosting services, or your own website. Learners can easily view them on computers, tablets, and smartphones.

If you copy your published videos to a DVD, be sure to view them on a computer with a DVD drive. Televisions tend to crop the edges of content, which means learners could miss important information.