How to get the most out of the Media Library in Articulate Storyline

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Did you know that you can save a lot of time creating an e-learning module by managing all  your project assets in one place in Storyline with the Media library? In this video I show you the most important features of the Media  Library and I share some tips to use the Media library to save time when developing e-learning in Storyline.

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Manage your projects

The Storyline Media library lets you manage all your project assets such as  images ,stock characters, audio, and video files in one place in Storyline. You can find the Media  libray  via the View tab > Media  library

“Now the Media Library opens. Here you will see an overview of all the assets used in this module. The Media library  has four  different  tabs: – Images, Storyline characters,Audio files and Videos

The tabs also include a number of asset properties with the different types of assets.

Images show the name of the file, the original  dimensions of the image. The size in  kb’s. How often an image occurs in your module and when the image was last changed.

You can sort  the columns by clicking the column title at the top. For example the assets that are most used in your e-learning module.

On the characters  tab, you’ll see if it’s a drawn image or a photo of a person. How many different poses you use and when the character for the  last  has changed. As a rule of a character, click the triangle, the rule folds out and you will see the different poses of the character among each other.

On the audio tab  you can also see the name of the file, the duration of the audio file, the size of the audio file, how often it was used and when it was last changed.

Here on the right you can also listen directly to the audio file

On the tab  video you can also see the name of the video, the duration of the video, the size of the file, how often it is used and when it was last changed.

Here on the right you can also watch the video directly.

If you are looking for a specific asset, you can search in the upper right  corner. If you know the name of the asset, you can search by name. But you can also search your entire project or within a particular scene or on a specific slide.

Now back to the Images tab. At the bottom right of the screen you have a number of options per asset.

If you click on the magnifying glass icon, jump directly to the slide or slidelayer  where the image in your module is used. If an image occurs several times, you can switch the left and right arrows between the images used.

Below you have the option to replace an image. But note, if you replace an image in the Media Library, the image will be changed in all places in the module. If you want to replace an image only in one location, you can do so on a slide to select the image and choose Change picture via the Format tab. Then you all replace that specific image.

Edit button

The in edit button allows you to edit your asset directly from Storyline in an external editing program  such as Photoshop or  Gimp.

If you click on the folder icon, open the folder on your PC where the original of the image is located. This button is only available for images that you have inserted yourself. And not for images from articulate’s Content Library.

The green arrow button lets you export the asset from Storyline and save it locally.

The last button with the trash can is the button to remove assets from Articulate Storyline. This can only be done if you don’t use an asset anywhere in your module.

If you click the large blue insert  image button, Storyline adds the image to the slide or slidelayer of the module you have in the background.

How can you make the most of the Media Library?

If you have already created a lot of assets for your project before you build your module, you can load them in to the Media library  in Articulate Storyline at once. You will have all your images in Storyline and do not have to load every asset separately. Which of course saves you time again.

The media library  does not have a hot key at this time. Therefore, add the Media Library to the Quick Access menu in Articulate Storyline to quickly open the Media library

Now click Alt and then 4 opens the Media library

You can use the Media library  assets to replace the entire module at once. Useful for example if a logo of your client changes.

If an asset is outside Storyline to update then you see a yellow dot for the asset in Storyline. You can now choose whether to import this updated version into Storyline. The updated  version will then be carried out directly throughout your module.

Finally, you can export all assets used in your Storyline module at once. To do this, select all assets, and then click the Export button. Select a folder on your PC and Storyline places all the assets in it.


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