Storyline 360 Pros — What’s Your Favorite “Hidden Gem”? 💎
As someone who’s spent a lot of time working with (and on!) Storyline 360, I’ve come to appreciate the power in the little things — those lesser-known features that quietly make our lives easier. Here's one of my personal favorites: 🎧📽️ Cue Points with the “C” Key: I recently spoke with a customer who struggled to time trigger actions to audio and video media on their slides. They would preview the slide, make note of when a trigger should be fired, then return to slide authoring view to add a cue point to the timeline to tie into the trigger event. This would require a lot of manual back-and-forth between authoring and previewing. I often have to do the same thing, and there is an easier way. If you use stage preview (accessible via the "Play" icon" in the lower-left corner of the Timeline panel), Storyline will stay in the slide authoring view and play the timeline of the slide, including any audio or video media that's present. As it plays, you can press the "C" key on your keyboard to have cue points added to the current playback position. It’s a simple way to place cue points in real time, right where they’re needed — perfect for syncing trigger actions to specific moments in your media. cting Storyline 360's UI and using the "C" key to drop cue points on the timeline. Now I’m curious: What’s your favorite under-the-radar Storyline feature? Something small, subtle, maybe even a little obscure — but that you personally couldn’t live without. Drop it in the comments — I’d love to learn what little gems you rely on. 👇TIP: Controlling the NEXT Button 101
It's great to let users explore content on their own. But sometimes you need to ensure they view the full timelines on the slides and complete the interactions. For example, this might be required for compliance/regulatory reasons. In other words, sometimes you need to control when the Next button is disabled and enabled. The attached file demonstrates how to control the Next button in these situations: Force users to view the full timeline on all slides by using Restricted navigation Force users to complete an interaction by verifying that all of the buttons have been clicked Force users to view the full timelines on the slide layers by verifying that all of the timelines have been completed (2 methods) The demo also explains the programming. See it in action here: https://360.articulate.com/review/content/1139e0c0-7c9f-4a16-b943-cce2c5081bad/review Nothing new here for advanced users. But I hope newbies find this helpful. By the way, this is about controlling the Next button while the user remains on one slide. If the slide branches to other slides, well, that's a custom menu. You'll find details about those here: TIP: Create a Custom Menu Slide | Articulate - CommunityLess Is More Is Not Just About Content, but About Learning Experience
After working in instructional design for many years, I've come to realize that "less is more" is often misunderstood. It is usually associated with simplifying content, such as making courses shorter, reducing information, or avoiding overload. But in my experience, it goes beyond that. Even when we have correctly identified what learners need to know, do, or change in order to meet business goals, there is still another important question: How should we design the learning experience itself? The goal should be to help learners learn with the least unnecessary effort. Not by removing depth or rigor, but by removing friction that does not contribute to learning. Over the years, I've seen many different approaches to learning design. Some learning experiences feel under-designed, where the lack of structure or intention makes it difficult for learners to stay engaged or understand the purpose of the content. I've also seen cases where, in an effort to avoid being "too simple" or "boring," additional layers of interaction, visual elements, or gamification are introduced. Many of us have probably spent hours building advanced interactions in Storyline or carefully structuring a Rise course because we wanted the learning experience to feel more engaging. There is nothing wrong with using these features. The question is whether they genuinely support learning. Sometimes these additions are driven more by what the tool allows us to build than by what learners actually need. As a result, learners may end up spending more time completing interactions than understanding, retaining, or applying the knowledge that really matters. This is especially important in corporate learning. Learners are often balancing training with their daily responsibilities. Time is limited, and attention is limited. That is why I believe we should be intentional about where we add complexity. Interaction is not the problem. In fact, meaningful interaction is essential for learning. The key word is meaningful. The most valuable learning experiences are those that help learners understand concepts more deeply, retain what they have learned, and apply that knowledge in real work situations. This is where I choose to focus my design effort. Not on adding interaction for its own sake, but on identifying the moments in learning that truly matter. Instead of asking, "What cool Storyline feature can I use here?", I think we should be asking, "How does this interaction help learners understand, retain, or apply what they need to learn?" When we design with that intention, learning can often become simpler while also becoming more effective. That's the kind of learning experience I continue to strive for. I'd love to hear how you decide when an interaction is truly worth adding.Webinars, Primers, and Tips—Oh My!
This post compiles links to primers and tips I've posted in the community. Many of the Storyline-related posts include downloadable demo files. There are also links to the on-demand recordings of the webinars I've presented for Articulate. The links are grouped in these categories: Getting Started with Storyline Navigation Control in Storyline Quality Assurance / Troubleshooting Quizzes in Storyline Storyline Player & Masters Variables Xtra Storyline Tips Xtra Xtra: Rise Tips Note: If you have a question related to a topic covered by these posts, I suggest you start a new discussion in the community. That will increase your question's visibility and make it more likely to get responses from folks with different expertise and perspectives. Getting Started with Storyline recorded webinar: Top 10 Tips for New Storyline Users Unofficial Storyline Glossary Can't see the base from a layer? Or is it just dimmed? Here's how to control visibility... PRIMER: Take advantage of built-in states PRIMER: Hotspots vs. Transparent Shapes PRIMER: "Text styles defined" issue in accessibility checker TIP: Making icons easier to program and easier to click What's in a Name? Navigation Control in Storyline TIP: Controlling the NEXT Button 101 TIP: Create a Custom Menu Slide TIP: Let the user choose their path Quality Assurance / Troubleshooting recorded webinar: TIP: The Eightfold Path of Troubleshooting TIP: Quality-assurance (QA) testing is a vital step Top 3 Most Common Storyline Mistakes Quizzes & Surveys in Storyline PRIMER: Pretest in a Storyline Course PRIMER: Graded Questions that Allow Multiple Attempts TIP: Give Different "Try Again" Feedback After the 2nd Attempt TIP: Limit How Many Selections a User Can Make on a Multiple-Response (Pick-Many) Question TIP: Create a "Pick One" Question with Multiple Correct Answers TIP: Give Partial Credit on Multiple Response Questions TIP: Review and Retry Non-Adjacent Quiz Questions Without Seeing the Content Slides In Between TIP: Customizable Feedback Layers TIP: Using a slider to show Quiz progress Storyline Player & Masters Primer: Mastering the Slide Master TIP: Create Custom Player Tabs for Your Resources, Glossary, and More TIP: Master Toggling On and Off TIP: Track Progress with Master Badges Variables The Value of Variables PRIMER: Trigger calculations in Storyline Xtra Storyline Tips TIP: Acknowledgment statements for compliance TIP: Animate the change between character poses, photos, or other objects TIP: the Incredible Power of Invisible Layers TIP: Ranking-Order Interaction TIP: Track Responses to Custom Questions or Surveys Xtra Xtra: Rise Tips Notes on Rise (about using banners, notes in quotation blocks, and images) Primer: How to Branch in a Rise Course Primer: Storyline Block Completions in Rise Tip: Multi-Character Scenario Block Best wishes for success with your projects! 😁PRIMER: Pretest in a Storyline Course
Storyline 360 lets you include a Pre-Check quiz (that is, a pretest). If a user passes the Pre-Check, Storyline submits that score and marks the course as complete. If the user fails the Pre-Check, Storyline won't mark the course as complete until the user finishes another designated tracking option. For example, you could track completion with a Final Assessment or with a Complete Course trigger. If you include more than one additional tracking option, Storyline marks the course as complete based on the first tracking option that the user finishes. Even when the user fails the Pre-Check, Storyline submits the quiz data to the LMS/LRS. You have to work with your LMS/LRS team for how to extract that data. The attached file demonstrates and explains how to set up a Pre-Check in Storyline. Here are some additional resources: Storyline 360: Adding Result Slides | Articulate - Community (Choose a Quiz Type) Storyline 360: Changing the Resume Behavior | Articulate - Community Storyline 360: Publishing a Course for LMS/LRS Distribution | Articulate - Community (Choose Reporting & Tracking Options) Storyline 360: More Quizzing and Tracking Options Yukon Learning YouTube: How to ADD a Pretest in Storyline 360 Note: Rise 360 only allows tracking via one option. At this time, it doesn't include pretest functionality.Translation / localization
Hi, We currently have our course in English only, but more and more we get requests to translate the content. The content is mostly text and speech (generated with the text to speech feature). I know about the feature on how to export, translate and import again, but now with AI and LLM and translation tools like DeepL is there a smarter and easier way to do it than duplicating slides and courses in different languages? Anyone with ideas, experience or suggestions? I am happy to hear what you think.PRIMER: Take advantage of built-in states
Many problems posted in the Forum are related to triggers that do what’s already done automatically by the built-in states (Normal, Hover, Down, Visited, Selected, Disabled). This Review 360 project demonstrates how the built-in states work: https://360.articulate.com/review/content/eaccc037-929b-43b5-b636-5333181a9c70/review Overview of built-in states When you insert a button, it will have the Normal, Hover, Down, Visited, and Disabled states. When you add multiple-choice or multiple-response questions, the response buttons will have the Normal, Hover, Down, Selected, and Disabled states. You can add built-in states to other items, such as text boxes, shapes, and images. There are also states with automatic functions available for draggable objects in a drag-and-drop interaction. These include Drag Over, Drop Correct, and Drop Incorrect. How the basic built-in states work When an item has a Hover state, that state automatically displays when the user’s mouse is over the item. The Hover state goes away when the user’s mouse is no longer over the item. When an item has a Visited state, that state automatically displays when the user clicks the item. When an item has a Selected state, the first click automatically changes the state to Selected. The next click changes it back to Normal. Repeated clicking toggles between the two states. When an item has a Selected and a Visited state, the first clicks changes it from Normal to Selected. The next click changes it to Visited. From that point, clicking toggles the item between Selected and Visited. When multiple items with the Selected state are in a button set, clicking one of those items changes it to Selected and automatically changes the other items in the set to Normal. (Here’s more information: Storyline 360: Working with Button Sets | Articulate - Community) When multiple items with Selected and Visited states are in a button set, clicking an item changes it to Selected. Any item that has not been clicked remains Normal. Any item that was previously clicked changes to Visited. When an item is Disabled, it is no longer clickable. In other words, triggers that are set to run when the item is clicked will not run when the item is in the Disabled state. Hidden is a unique state. It doesn’t show in the States panel—and you should not create a state called Hidden. Instead, when a trigger changes an item to the Hidden state, Storyline automatically hides the item. As per a post by the staff: "The built-in states by design are treated as a layer on top of the normal state, which means if an object from the normal state is not completely covered when a built-in state is shown, the object will be visible in the built-in layer." See the "Combining States" slide in the Review 360 project (linked above) for an example of how states are layered. Triggers often cause problems if they duplicate the built-in actions described above. Instead, save time—and troubleshooting—by taking advantage of what the built-in states do automatically. How the drag-and-drop built-in states work An object being dragged changes to its Drag Over state when any part of the object intersects with any of the drop targets. An object changes to its Drop Correct state when it is dropped onto the correct target. An object changes to its Drop Incorrect state when it is dropped onto the incorrect target. Note: The Drag & Drop Options let you indicate whether to delay the item drop states until the interaction is submitted. Setting the Initial State You don’t need a trigger to change an item to a given state when the timeline starts. Instead, select the desired state in the Initial state dropdown. The dropdown will include all of the states in the States panel, plus Hidden.RISE- Automatic Certificate Creation
I've been playing around with how to create a custom certificate in a Rise course and I've finally found a workaround using an embedded form that creates and delivers a PDF. Check it out: https://share.articulate.com/IcrVo3X-PV5k7x9CMMFkx I've been struggling with this for a long time and I know a handful of you have been too. Hope it helps! ps. I used the AI Assistant to create this mini course based off of the video I recorded outlining the steps, which I also included as content within the course to follow along.Rise courses across US & EU: Why are we still unable to transfer courses between data centers?
Articulate users working with clients in different regions (US + EU), did you know that you may hit a serious limitation in Rise? You can’t transfer Rise courses between data centers. Here’s the situation Articulate introduced the EU data center. Good move. But in practice, this split European users into two groups: Long-time users → most likely still on the US data center (unless they explicitly switched) Newer users → most likely on the EU data center (the new default for Europe) The problem? Rise courses cannot be shared across data centers. And Articulate’s solution? There isn’t one. Yes, you can switch from the US to the EU data center, but then you’re stuck: No migration path No export-import for Rise courses Switching data centers = rebuilding everything from scratch (!!!) What this means in real life For anyone working across multiple clients, this creates a real headache: Established European clients often stay on the US data center. Not by choice, but because rebuilding everything isn’t realistic. Newer European clients are most likely on the EU data center. Freelancers and agencies working across both end up stuck in between. Articulate’s “solution”? Ask your client to pay for an extra seat so you can work in their environment. Pay for two licenses yourself (US + EU). I think both are unacceptable. For a tool so widely used across Europe, the inability to move content between data centers is a significant gap. And I genuinely don’t understand why Articulate doesn’t prioritise finding a solution (a real solution!) to this issue. What I’d like to hear from European users Are you staying on the US data center because switching isn’t realistic? Has anyone actually switched to the EU data center? How are you dealing with this in client projects where you are on different data centers? And how do you feel about how Articulate is handling this?
