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. 👇Meet Your New Teammate: First Impressions of Articulate’s AI Assistant
Introduction: Why AI Built for eLearning Changes Everything AI is everywhere these days — from writing emails to generating images, creating videos, and more. We all know tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, DALL·E, Grammarly, Synthesia, and plenty more. They’ve quickly become part of our daily workflows — or at least, they have in mine! But if you’ve ever tried using these tools to help build an eLearning course, you’ve probably noticed something… They’re smart — but they don’t really get what we do. That’s why I was both excited and curious when I heard that Articulate was introducing an AI Assistant, built right into Storyline and Rise. Finally, an AI tool designed specifically for instructional designers and eLearning developers. I’ve been working with Articulate tools for over 14 years, and like many of you, I’m always looking for ways to speed up my workflow without sacrificing creativity or quality. So the big question was: Could this AI Assistant actually help me design or improve my courses — in a way that generic AI tools can’t? Spoiler alert: It can. And it did. This is the first post in a series where I’ll share how Articulate’s AI Assistant is changing the way I approach course development — making everyday tasks faster, smoother, and honestly, a bit more fun. So let’s take a closer look at why having AI built specifically for eLearning really makes a difference. Why Use Articulate’s AI Assistant Instead of Other AI Tools? Like many of you, I’ve used my fair share of AI tools — from ChatGPT for brainstorming to DALL·E for generating creative visuals. These tools are great, but they’re generalists. They don’t know (or care) that I’m building an eLearning course. That’s where Articulate’s AI Assistant stands out. It’s designed inside Articulate Storyline and Rise, for people like us — instructional designers, eLearning developers, and content creators. No copy-pasting between tools, no explaining to a chatbot what a "learning objective" is every single time. Here’s why I immediately saw the benefit of having AI built right into the tools I already use: It understands context. You’re not starting from scratch with every prompt. The AI Assistant knows you’re working within slides, quizzes, scenarios, and learning objectives. It fits seamlessly into your workflow. No need to bounce between apps or worry about formatting. You stay in Storyline or Rise, focused on creating — and the AI is right there when you need a boost. It’s tailored for eLearning tasks. Whether you’re drafting instructional text, generating quiz questions, or adjusting tone for different audiences, it’s built to support tasks we handle every day. Other AI tools are powerful, but they weren’t made for eLearning. Articulate’s AI Assistant feels like it was built by people who understand the little challenges that come with designing courses — and that makes all the difference. What Impressed Me Right Away I went in with low expectations — I mean, AI is cool, but it’s not magic, right? Well, after just a few prompts, I found myself genuinely impressed. Articulate’s AI Assistant is fast and simple. No manuals, no guesswork. You type, it helps. It felt less like learning a new feature and more like having a colleague nearby to bounce ideas off. Articulate’s AI Assistant gets you moving. The hardest part of creating content is often just getting started. The AI Assistant hands you a decent draft so you’re not stuck wondering how to begin. From there, it’s all about tweaking. Articulate’s AI Assistant understands eLearning. This isn’t some generic writing tool — it gets that you’re creating learning content. Whether it’s suggesting learning objectives or drafting quiz questions, it speaks the language of eLearning. By the end of my first session, I realized this tool isn’t just about saving time — it’s about keeping me in that productive flow state. Less overthinking, more doing. Wrapping Up — And What’s Next After just a short time using Articulate’s AI Assistant, I knew it was going to be part of my daily routine. It’s not here to replace creativity — it’s here to remove those little hurdles that can slow us down. No more blank slides. No more overthinking simple tasks. And the best part? I’m only scratching the surface. In my next post, I’ll show you how I’m using the AI Assistant to speed up writing — from slide content to quizzes and even branching scenarios. That’s where things get really interesting. Have you given the AI Assistant a try yet? I’d love to hear how it’s working for you — or if you're still wondering how to fit it into your workflow. Drop a comment below and let’s share ideas! Stay tuned — more AI-powered tips coming soon! About me: Paul Alders LinkedIn Profile The eLearning Brewery3D objects in Storyline
Hi Articulate Team, Are there any plans to bring support for 3D objects (such as .obj files) into Storyline? Essentially I'm referring to a 3D model viewer component function added to Storyline allowing for some basic manipulation of the 3D object itself such as rotate and move in X/Y/Z axis, exploded view, and part isolation. This would work wonders for so many learning projects and enhance the actual learning being achieved by the learner. Whilst Storyline has an insert web object feature, this requires additional overhead of the resource itself already being suitably hosted online or in a folder that can be hosted online (i.e. it contains HTML like files - index.html, etc. which is effectively asking for it to be web-ready). This isn't always suitable or practical for every company and their respective IP assets/resources. I have come across multiple threads asking for such a feature. Here's a few of them: 3D Models in Storyline | Articulate - Community Import 3d shapes into articulate storyline 360? | Articulate - Community How to put/import 3D moldels in Storyline | Articulate - Community In one of the threads I came across, there was a reply from Katie Riggo who stated "We're working on the ability to add 360° media assets to your courses". However, later on in the thread this turned out to be referring only to 360-degree images despite the thread being filled with people asking and requesting for 3D object support in terms of 3D models and being able to manipulate them like they can in PowerPoint. You can chalk this up as another +1 to the feature request for native 3D object support by way of being able to import and, to a basic level, manipulate them. Kind regards, SamStoryline not publishing to Review
Hello all, My team and I have been trying to publish some storyline files to review today, but we keep getting an error. I didn't see anything on the Articulate Status page, so I thought I would check in here to see if anyone else is having this issue today? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much!ChatGPT to translate ancient Articulate Xliff files in Rise
Hello all, First and foremost, Articulate Rise's xliff files aren't compatible with DeepL. That's really really, really, blocking us to do quick learning courses and to deliver them worldwide to our 10.000+ company's learners. Synthesia offers translation of courses within its services, no export needed. Now that Articulate has AI, maybe machine translation will be next? While waiting for this, here's how we managed to get Articulate xliff files translated by ChatGPT ... without the recommanded tools that we don't have a licence of (Smartcat, ...). 0. Have Notepad++ or a good alternative installed for code manipulations. Xliff is a kind of xml markup language. Duplicate the course and download the course_translation.xlf file and open it in Notepad++. Use Notepad++ to separate chunks 7000 chars of code in between transunit tags </trans-unit>CUT_HERE<trans-unit id=..."> Open ChatGPT, and give him first a context prompt : "Hello Copilot, I need you to translate text in German, that is in between xml tags. I would like you to keep the xml tags exactly as they are, without re-indenting, or deleting tags that have no opening or closing part. You need as well to keep some texts exactly as they are and not replace them by something else, eg. to keep as is the symbol "|", the character chains "<p>" and "</p>". Could you please confirm your instructions ?" Either paste the code or if it doesn't keep the xml tag structure while pasting, use a buffer "temp.xml" file where you paste your code chunks and then upload this file. Of course if you have a chatGPT licence, this gets easier ;) Copy/paste the resulting code to replace your code chunks with the translated one. In Notepad++, search for "source>" and replace with "target>" to tell Rise to load the translations, and save your file. Load the resulting translated_course.xlf in Rise Enjoy a coffee and to have spared yourself some 8+ hours of tedious work. This process might need some tweaking. You might need to upload the translated_course.xlf step by step if not all the course in translated in one go : if Rise detects any problem, it stops translating. Especially, ChatGPT translates the "|" into "\n" and "<p>" into "<p>" and that will make fail to load the translation. Check for any "\" (antislash) character left. ... Once you have some working process, doing other languages / modules is quite fast :) Hope it helps, hope Articulate adds translation into Rise soon! Cheers.🔨Storyline 360, Update 101 is live!
Earlier today, we released Update 101 of Storyline 360. This release focuses on under-the-hood improvements—mainly bug fixes and polish for features we recently introduced, like the Accessibility Checker. It’s all about refining the experience and making sure everything works just as it should. 🔧 Many of the bug fixes improve screen reader support in HTML5-published output, ensuring learners who rely on assistive technologies have a smoother, more consistent experience. While I love to announce big splashy new features, these behind-the-scenes updates are essential to keeping Storyline a key part of the powerful and inclusive Articulate 360 e-learning platform that empowers creators and supports learners. Of course we are still working on new features, and you can be among the first to experience them by joining our private beta program! To get started, simply email us at: beta@articulate.com Update 101 Release NotesIssue with the last Storyline 360 update
Hi E-learning Heroes, Since the last update, I encountered an issue with the storyline Triggers window. It doesn’t display the triggers after 5 to 10 minutes. The triggers only appear again once we close and reopen the file. Additionally, when you switch slides, it shows the triggers from the previously visited slide. Furthermore, if we choose to downgrade, the update files are not accessible in the old version.
