Top Storyline Time-Saving Tips and Techniques New and experienced Storyline users can power-up their productivity with these simple (but frequently overlooked) time savers. Pacific Blue Solutions 55 Newhall Street BIRMINGHAM B3 3RB
Copyright 2013 Pacific Blue Solutions Ltd No parts of the contents of this guide may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the copyright holder. Articulate, Articulate Storyline and Storyline are registered trademarks or trademarks of Articulate Global and its subsidiaries. 2
Part 1: Basic Time-saving Tips and Techniques In this first part, discover 10 simple time-saving tips and techniques. In writing these tips and techniques, we ve assumed you ll already be familiar with Storyline s interface and main features even if you haven t used them much yet. Although these 10 tips and techniques will be of most use to less experienced Storyline users, it s very likely that even experienced users won t know every single one of these... 3
4
1: Expand and collapse individual scenes One of the least satisfactory aspects of Storyline is how little control you have over the placement of scenes in Story View. We re looking forward to the day when you will be able to drag scenes around and place them wherever you like. Until then, this tip (and number 2 below) highlight a couple of ways you can have some control over scenes within Story View. Usually, by default, scenes in Story View are collapsed (or minimised), as shown below: What a lot of people often overlook is that in the top right hand corner of each scene there is a small square with a + sign inside: Click on this + sign and the scene expands Click on the sign to collapse it again. 5
2: Use the Fit to Window button Another way to gain some control over your Story View canvas is to use the tiny Fit to Window button buried away in the bottom right corner of your Storyline window. If you are working in Story View and you click this button (or use the Zoom control to the left of it), this will re-size the scenes in your project, so you can see all of them within the Story View canvas, without the need for scrolling. The Fit to Window button and Zoom controls are highlighted in red below. Notice how all the scenes in this project fit within Story View: 6
3: Highlight all the slides in a scene (or scenes) If you want to highlight all the slides in a scene, first make the scene is expanded (as just described in 1 above). Then manually select one slide in the scene it can be any slide it doesn't need to be the first slide. Finally, use CTRL + A. to select all the other slides in the scene. If any other scenes in Story View are expanded, it's possible to multiple select all the slides in those scenes, too, by using CTRL + A a second time. If you have the scenes left pane open (as shown below) CTRL + A will also work to select all the slides in the scene. 7
4: Remove previous and next buttons from multiple or all slides By default, Storyline adds a PREVIOUS and NEXT button to a slide whenever you create a new one. If you are using the default navigation, this is immensely helpful and a great time saver. However, if you are creating your own custom navigation, you ll need a way to remove the default navigation buttons. The good news is, there s an easy way to do this. Below we explain how to remove these buttons from an individual slide, from multiple slides and from all slides: In all three cases make sure you must be in Story View and you must make sure the scene or scenes where you want to remove the buttons are expanded. (see tip number 1 above). Then use the steps below for individual, multiple or all slides To remove the previous and next buttons from an INDIVIDUAL slide 1. Click on the slide you want to remove the buttons from In the bottom right corner of the screen you will see the slide properties window 2. Uncheck the Previous and Next buttons in that window To remove the previous and next buttons on MULTIPLE slides 1. Click on any slide within the expanded scene where you want to remove the navigation buttons 2. Use CTRL+A to highlight all the slides in that scene In the bottom right corner of the screen you will see the multiple slide properties window 3. Uncheck the Previous and Next buttons in that window To remove the previous and next buttons from ALL slides 1. Make sure all scenes in the project are expanded 2. Click on any slide within one of the expanded scenes 3. Use CTRL +A to highlight all the slides in that scene 4. Use CTRL +A a second time to highlight all the slides in all the other scenes In the bottom right corner of the Story view screen you will see the multiple slide properties window 5. Uncheck the Previous and Next buttons in that window 8
5: Re-arrange slides within a scene Although you can t drag scenes around within the Story View canvas, you can at least drag individual slides around within a scene. This enables you to quickly re-order the sequence of slides within a scene. 1. Make sure the scene you want to do the re-sequencing in is expanded (see time-saver 1 above). 2. Click on the slide you want to move and simply drag it to its new position. Note: as you re-order the slides, the slide number is automatically revised to reflect its new position in the sequence. Re-arrange slides within the scenes panel You can also drag slides within a scene in the Scenes Panel. The scenes panel appears on the left side of your Storyline window when you are working on an individual slide it is highlighted in red below: 9
6: Duplicate any kind of object formatting using copy and paste Want to copy an object on one slide and paste and identical version on another slide, but are worried about whether states and triggers will be carried across? Well don t be. One great time-saving feature in Storyline is that any kind of formatting you have applied to an object will be picked up and carried across if you copy that object and paste it elsewhere this includes any triggers or states you may have applied to the object. Remember to save yourself even more time when copying and pasting by using the keyboard shortcuts: CTRL+C to copy, and CTRL+V to paste Note: if you are using a Mac and working in Storyline in a virtual windows environment, the CMD+C and CMD+V keyboard shortcuts on your Mac keyboard will achieve the same results. If you want to copy and paste multiple objects and their formatting, you can use the keyboard shortcut explained in time-saver 7 below. You can also read more about copying and pasting default button states to custom objects in Part 2 of this guide. 10
7: Select all objects on a slide with this keyboard shortcut This is another really simple but often overlooked time-saver. If you need to select all the objects on a slide you are working on then you can simply use the keyboard shortcut CTRL+ A. Important note: You don t need to have an object selected first before you use this shortcut. Even if you only need some of the objects on the slide selected, sometimes it s more efficient to select all objects using the CTRL+A shortcut first and then just deselect the ones you don t need by clicking on them with your mouse while holding down the SHIFT key. And by the way, if you are using a Mac and working in Storyline in a virtual windows environment, the CMD+A keyboard shortcut will achieve the same result as using CTRL+A. 11
8: Add frequently used colours to the Custom Colours palette 1. Make sure you are in the Home menu with the object or objects you want to fill with a custom colour selected on your slide. 2. Locate the Drawing tab in the Home menu highlighted in red below: 3. Click on Shape Fill and choose More Fill Colors as shown below: This will reveal the Colors dialogue box. 4. Use the Colors dialogue box (shown below) to: Select your custom colour from the colour palette Click on the Add to Custom Colors button The custom colour will appear in the Custom Colors area on the left. Click the OK button. This colour is now saved and will always be available to you in this project. 12
9: Right click on a Theme thumbnail to apply a Theme If you are using Themes and you want to quickly apply a theme to slides, this next tip can be a huge help. In the Design menu, do a right mouse-click over the thumbnail of the Theme you are using. This reveals the following options shown below: As you can see this floating menu quickly gives you the option to apply your chosen Theme to: matching slides all slides, or slides you have specifically selected 13
10: Lock and hide slide objects on the Timeline The timeline may not be the most intuitive place to look for these final two time-savers, but they are really worth remembering because they can save you loads of time and frustration when you are working on a slide with lots of objects. A: Lock an object on a slide You know how it goes, you ve carefully placed an object on your slide and you accidentally move it when trying to work on another object. While you can use the undo button to immediately restore things back to normal, wouldn t it be better if you d never accidentally moved that other object in the first place? The good news, you can lock any object on your slide to stop yourself from moving it accidentally. Here s how: 1. On the slide, select the object you want to lock: 2. Go to the timeline for that slide and find the object - it will be highlighted in yellow, as shown below: On the left you will see a checkbox: 14
3.Check the box to lock the object. When the object is locked, a padlock icon appears inside the checkbox: 4. Uncheck the box to unlock it the padlock icon disappears. B: Hide an object on a slide Next to the Lock/Unlock checkbox, there is another icon. It may not be entirely obvious what this icon is, but in fact it s an eye and an eyebrow this is the Show/Hide button. Using this feature is really useful when you want to de-clutter your slide and make it easier to work on just one or two specific objects. Here s how you hide an object: 1. Make sure the object is selected on the slide, then click once on the Hide/Show button (highlighted in red) to hide the object: 15
The button icon changes when selected and the selected object disappears from the slide - as show below: 2. Click again on the Hide/Show button (highlighted in red) to get the object back on the slide the button icon changes back to the eye: Important note: when you hide an object it disappears completely. It will not show up in your previews of the slide nor in your published project. So always make sure the objects you have hidden are set to SHOW again once you are done with needing to hide them. 16
Part 2: More Advanced Time-saving Tips and Techniques In this second part, learn a couple of great time-saving features that will help you when you are working with formatting objects in Storyline and working with an object s States. 17
18
1: Use Format Painter to quickly create custom buttons We ve already mentioned how easy it is to copy an object and all its formatting and paste it elsewhere. But what about if you want to take the formatting from one object and apply it to another object that is slightly different in some way? Again, Storyline has a great time saving solution called Format Painter. Here s an example of how you might use this time-saving feature. You ve created a rectangular built in button which is coloured orange. Now you want exactly the same button (same colour and same states) except it needs to be oval a shape not available with the built in buttons. This is surely going to be a major production, taking up valuable minutes of development time. Not so. Here s how easy it is to do this using Format Painter: 1. Create the new button shape you want to use. 2. Select the button whose formatting you want to copy. 3. Go to the Home menu and on the Clipboard tab, double click the Format Painter (shown below): Your cursor will change to the Format Painter icon 4.Click once on the new button shape with your cursor All the formatting from the existing button (colour and states) is instantly applied to the new button. It s that easy! 19
2: Copy button states to other objects One of Storyline s great features is built in buttons just mentioned in the previous tip. They have default states and triggers built into them, which saves you loads of development time. If you are an experienced Storyline user, you will already know how useful and powerful states can be. You will almost certainly have created a few custom states of your own. And you will be familiar with the New States dialogue box which always prompts you to create a new state with a custom name. This is great, if that s what you actually need to do. But in many cases, people are manually re-creating Storyline s default states, adding them to their object and then adding a trigger. Quite a bit of work. What they may not realise is that Storyline s default button states (with their built-in triggers) are not restricted to built in buttons - they are readily available for you to apply to any object. Here s how: 1. Create the object you want to add a state or states to and make sure the object is highlighted. By default, whenever you create an object in Storyline, the object has a Normal state added to it. 2. Navigate to the States tab in the Timeline and click the Edit States button 3. Click the New State button and when the New State dialogue box appears, click on the down arrow to the right of the State name field. 20
This will reveal a drop down list of Storyline s default states: 4. Select the state you want from the drop down list and click the Add button. The selected state is now added to your object. 5. Add more states from the drop down list as required. Note that once you have added a state to your object, it disappears from the drop down list. 6. Click the Done Editing States button when you are finished. The default Storyline states you selected are now added to the object and visible in the States tab. 21
22
A. Just getting started or only dabbled a bit with Storyline? Are you just getting started with Storyline? Or have you been using Storyline for a while, but only dabbled with it? If yes, and you would like to get more serious and productive, we have a 1-day training course which will really super-charge your Storyline skills. Storyline Productivity Fast Track offers you the smart approach to Storyline training. We don t try to teach you every single thing about Storyline. Instead, we focus on the highly significant, most effective 30-40% of it's features, so you'll be producing more effective results more quickly - with less effort and less frustration. In a single day of training, Storyline Productivity Fast Track focuses you on the most essential features you need to build an effective e-learning course. And we don t teach you how to build some mickey-mouse, pie-in-the sky case study example. This is an actual course we've designed and built for a paying client. We'll show you how to use the most beneficial features of this immensely powerful authoring tool to create a highly effective, customised piece of e-learning. The course will show you how to: Apply the most effective features of Storyline from the word go. Super-charge your development time and productivity. Power-up your Storyline skills to rapidly become your organisation s or your client s e-learning development hero. Storyline Productivity Fast Track is ideal for: anyone new to using Articulate Storyline. instructional designers, who also need to develop e-learning courses. existing users, with limited experience of using Storyline who know they are not getting the most out of their authoring tool. Public and in-house options available You can attend this course as a 1-day scheduled public course. Courses run approximately every 4-5 weeks through the year. Or if you prefer, we can deliver the course on your premises at a time convenient to you. We can run the standard version of the course or provide you with a more customised version, specific to the needs of your team. See our website for more details of both the public and in-house options: http:///articulate-storyline-training 23
B. Been using Storyline for a while? If you are comfortable and familiar with what we cover on the Productivity Fast Track course, and you want to maximize your Storyline expertise, Storyline: The Expert Masterclass goes deep into some of Storyline's most powerful features, enabling you to move your focus beyond speed, productivity and effectiveness to a higher level of expertise and excellence. Discover how to add even more functionality to your Storyline courses, through a mix of structured practice and individually focused workshop time. This 1-day Expert Masterclass will take your Storyline development skills to a much higher level, enabling you to provide a richer, more interactive e-learning experience for your learners. The result? Even more effective learning and even greater improvements in individual and organisational performance. By the end of the day, you'll be able to add complex interactive elements to your Storyline course, as standard. Elements your average developer doesn't even know are possible: Apply expert-level control and interactivity to your courses with actions and variables. Create, customise and control quizzes, assessments and scenarios in ways that were previously only possible using coding and programming skills Develop compelling interactive video interactions which quickly enable your learners to get hands-on practice with systems, applications and procedures. Storyline: The Expert Masterclass is ideal for: anyone who has attended the Storyline Productivity Fast Track. experienced Storyline users, familiar with the features covered in the Fast Track course who want to extend and sharpen their Storyline skills. The Expert Masterclass is scheduled to run as a public course through the year. We also run it as an in-house course. Please see our website for up-to-date details of both options: http:///articulate-storyline-training Frequently asked questions These are the questions people typically ask when thinking about taking the 1-day Storyline Expert Masterclass: Must I attend the Fast Track course before I can attend the Expert Masterclass? Not at all. If you are already familiar with the features covered in the Fast Track course, you are welcome to attend just the Expert Masterclass. If I want to attend both public courses, do I have to attend on consecutive days? Only if you want to. If you prefer, you can attend the Fast Track course on one date and then the Expert Masterclass at some point later. As all our public courses are guaranteed to run, you can be confident of booking on whichever dates are most suitable for you. If I want to attend both public courses, can I get a discount? You get a discount if you attend both courses on consecutive dates, but not if you attend on separate dates. As a 'thank you' for attending both courses consecutively, you also get a special bonus: free access to the Productivity Fast Track videos for 6 months. Please see our website for the most up-to-date information on this discounted rate. http:///articulate-storyline-training 24