I know that others have blogged about the amazing button sets feature in Articulate Storyline, but they are such a handy feature that I just had to bring them up again! I think it’s worth it in case someone out there hasn’t heard about them, or isn’t using them to their full potential.

What Does a Button Set Do?

A button set makes it so learners can select only one of multiple objects. Say you have two shapes and each has a “Selected” state, but you only want the learners to be able to select one shape at a time. Add a button set to your two shapes and—voila!—only one can be selected at a time. Button sets are a huge time-saver as compared to triggers.

Button Sets Can Be Applied to Any Object

Button sets don’t apply to buttons only. You can apply a button set to almost any object on your slide: text boxes, shapes, images, characters, captions, and such. When you include an object in a button set, you’ll see that a Selected state is created automatically for that object. The Selected state shows learners visually which option is selected out of the button set. You can leave the default Selected state, or modify its look any way you want.

How Do I Create a Button Set?

Creating a button set is a simple process. Start by selecting all of the items that you want to include in the set. You can do this by holding the CTRL key and clicking on the objects. When you’ve selected all the desired objects, right-click on an object and from that menu select “Button Set.” From the drop-down menu that appears, click “New set.” From here, you’ll name your button set and click OK. Done! To remove a button set, simply re-select all of the items included in the set, right-click, select “Button Set” and click “(none).” This will remove the button set.

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There you have it, folks! The Storyline button set is easy to use and will save you lots of time you would have spent creating all those triggers. Do you have any fun or original uses for the button set? If you do, please leave a comment below!

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4 Comments
Tracy Parish

Here's one thing to remember about button sets....and I get caught doing this all the time. I have often used button sets for creating various slides, questions, interactions. Then to make life easier, as we all do, I copy that slide and use it multiple times. I tinker with the slide as needed for the next question/interaction, but then I forget to ensure the button set is set propperly for the next interaction. Example: The first one I create might be a "pick one of 5". I design it all up, pick the right answer of the five and I'm done. The overall set-up of this first slide is exactly what I want for the next one so I copy the full slide. The next slide is a "pick many of 5". I change up the wording, the answer choices, I pick the right 2-3 answers.....and I forget to turn ... Expand