10 ways to simplify your work with Articulate Storyline 360 – Part 1

1. More space for the design stage

Are you working on a project with a large stage area? Double-click on a tab in the ribbon bar to reduce it and provide a little more working space:

2. Rename slides quickly

Slides can be named not only in the story or scene view. A double-click on a slide tab also makes it easy to rename the slide:

3. Set up a quick access

Frequently used menu functions can be added to the quick access bar so that they are always accessible. To do this, right-click on the media library button, for example, and add a new quick access with the corresponding entry in the context menu:

4. Exchange pictures globally / on each slide

If you want to exchange a picture that is placed on several slides, you can do this via the Media Library:

5. Apply barrier-free naming of images globally / on each slide

Articulate is constantly expanding the accessibility features of Storyline 360 to better support accessibility tools. In order for these to be able to recognise graphics as well as text, it is necessary to manually assign an alternative text (right-click on the relevant graphic, then select the Accessibility menu item, then tick the Visibility checkbox and store the alternative text).

However, images that are on several slides can also be provided with an alternative text globally in the media library to save time:

6. Moving several layers vertically in the timeline

To move several layers vertically, group them first (select layers + CTRL+G). Now the group can be moved (keep the SHIFT key pressed while moving so as not to slip to the left or right). The group can then be dissolved again (select group + CTRL+SHIFT+G).

7. Aligning several layers at the playhead

If you want to align several layers vertically flush in the timeline, proceed as follows:

1. Place the playhead at the desired position.
2. Select layers with the CTRL key pressed and click with the right mouse button.
3. In the context menu, select Align to playhead.

8. Importing your own vector graphics / SVGs without loss of quality

Update: This feature has been added with Storyline 360 version 3.57.26407.0. Now you can easily insert your own SVG files into your project via Image Insert. So you don't have to go through the following steps anymore.

Storyline 360 offers a practical source for video and graphic material with the linked online content library, but there is yet no import function for your own vector graphics. This is a pity, as scalable output is increasingly in demand and images can appear somewhat blurred in larger representations. With a simple trick, however, you can still import your own SVGs (Scalable Vector Graphics):

1. Open MS PowerPoint and create an empty slide.
2. Drag / import vector graphics into MS PowerPoint or paste them via copy & paste from the clipboard (this also works with vector graphics from Adobe Illustrator).
3. Copy the object pasted in MS PowerPoint to the clipboard with CTRL+C and switch to Storyline.
4. In Storyline, paste the object into the desired position with CTRL+V.
5. Done! The vector graphic is now scalable in size and can also be provided with effects such as a shadow.

9. Create dummy text “Lorem ipsum”

Sometimes the use of dummy text is required. To save copy & paste, a built-in function can be used to generate it with the help of a command:

Insert =Lorem() into a text frame and press the ENTER key (an optionally set number in brackets specifies the number of paragraphs to be generated: =Lorem(2) generates two dummy text paragraphs, for example).

10. Transfer text formatting to text fields on several slides

You may already know the format transfer from MS Word or MS Powerpoint. In Articulate Storyline, this function can also be used across slides:

1. Select the formatting of a text passage to be copied.
2. Double-click the Format transfer button in the ribbon bar.
3. Switch to the desired slide and text passage and mark them.
4. Done!

The most important keyboard shortcuts for Articulate Storyline 360 as a free download

Would you like to get a compact overview of the most important keyboard shortcuts for Articulate Storyline 360? We have created a free overview for you…

Hopefully you could discover one or the other method for yourself and use it in your future projects. You are welcome to contact us to better get to know our working methods. If you know any interesting tricks yourself, please feel free to add them in the comments.

Are you interested in receiving more helpful tips on working with Storyline 360? Please do contact us. And visit our blog again soon, because another article on this topic is already planned.