Header Image - Top 5 Time-Saving Tips You Might Have Missed in 2019

I’m a huge fan of time-savers and shortcuts because, let’s face it, we all have way too much on our plates! But no matter how organized I try to be or how clever I think I am, I’ve learned there’s almost always a smarter solution, a terrific power tip, or a fabulous new feature that I’ve overlooked.

That’s why I love this time of year, when we’re simultaneously looking back at what we’ve learned—and looking forward to a more productive year ahead. In this article, I'm passing along a few of my favorite new features and time-savers that may have missed your radar in 2019. Here’s to hitting the ground running in 2020!

1. Learn When It’s Convenient for You with Articulate 360 Training

When I’m at conferences and trade shows chatting it up, the most frequent question I’m asked is “How do I develop my skills as an e-learning professional?” It seems that we’re all just looking for the same thing, trusted sources to help us learn and grow. 

That’s where Articulate 360 Training comes in. While you can attend live training webinars with Tom Kulhmann and David Anderson, it's also wonderful to watch recorded training webinars and tutorials when it's convenient for you. I think all of the searchable content and resources available on Articulate 360 Training make it easier than ever to find the time for building your e-learning skills.

2. Create Custom Interactions Even Faster by Inserting Pictures as States in Storyline 360

Storyline 360 is my go-to for creating custom interactivity, and one of its most powerful features is the ability to add different states to objects—hover states or visited states to buttons, for example.

Object states are powerful, but they’ve always required a little time to set up. But did you know you can now insert pictures as states to make that process a whole lot quicker? This means that when you’re working with an image that needs to have multiple states, you can quickly create a series of states and import them all at once—saving you quite a few clicks. 

Learn all about this helpful feature in this outtake from the Storyline 360 User Guide: How to Add and Edit States.

3. Use a Single Click to Add Images, Tables, and Lists to Rise 360 Blocks with Quick Insert 

Creating courses with Rise 360 has always been a piece of cake, but this year brought some awesome additions—like the scenario block, chart block, and table block—that really streamline course creation. 

But one of my favorite Rise 360 productivity boosters is Quick Insert. With Quick Insert, you can add tables and lists to quiz lessons and any blocks that support text. Read all about this handy feature in this announcement article, New in Rise 360: Quick Insert.

4. Streamline Course Development by Changing the Event/Object for Multiple Triggers at Once in Storyline 360

Don’t even get me started on how much I love the new trigger panel and wizard enhancements in Storyline 360. I already highlighted my love for the disable trigger feature in this rundown of my fave Storyline tips, but there’s another feature that’s also close to my heart: group.

Clicking the Group checkbox on the new trigger panel is a huge time-saver because it automatically groups multiple triggers together, organized by event. This puts them into one easy-to-parse list, which is not only handy for debugging but also lets you quickly change the event/object for multiple triggers in one fell swoop. Hooray for less clicking!

Learn more about this handy feature and all of the other helpful enhancements we’ve made to the trigger panel and wizard in this article, 10 Storyline 360 Enhancements That Will Completely Overhaul Your Trigger Workflow.

5. Find the Perfect Image for Your Studio 360 Projects with Content Library 360 Assets

Whether you’re refreshing a Studio 360 course to give it a new look and feel or creating something brand-new, searching for just the right stock images can be time-consuming. You’ve already been able to save design time with the beautiful Content Library 360 templates and characters in Studio 360, but now you also have access to millions of beautiful high-quality images, icons, and videos.

It's great to be able to stay in my authoring groove instead of leaving my slides and cranking up my web browser to hunt for stock images. Having the ability to search for just what I need, right in Studio 360, is so convenient—especially when I want to use PowerPoint’s drawing tools to modify an image, and then save it and use it in my Storyline 360 or Rise 360 projects.

Here’s a short announcement article and how-to video to walk you through what you need to know.

Keep Learning

If you’re a fan of time-savers, the E-Learning Heroes community is the place to be. It's chock-full of ideas, work-arounds, and power tips and you’ll find a bunch of them in the Building Better Courses and Storyline forums.

Want to try something you learned here, but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial, and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning. If you have any questions, please share them in the comments.

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