Troubleshooting

iSpring

iSpring is known to be a bit finnicky. Sometimes it just won't cooperate. Below are some common issues that we have come across with iSpring and how you can work to fix them.

iSpring tab in PowerPoint won't work.

Before you use iSpring, always check and ensure you are signed in. iSpring will occasionally log you out of your account. You will still be able to use some functions, such as publishing, without actually being logged in; however, this will result in unwanted settings for published courses or issues saving your changes.

- Click the "Log In" button above the iSpring Space in PowerPoint.
- This will open a window in your browser. Type in hhtcontentdevelopment to the iSpring Space domain.
- This will bring you to another log-in page where you can enter your personal credentials.

iSpring audio is gone. 

There are a few reasons your audio might be gone.

You may have not saved the PowerPoint frequently enough. To decrease the chances of losing your original audio in the future, save frequently! Save your PowerPoint presentation often, and repeatedly save your audio as you insert it into iSpring's  "manage narration" function. If PowerPoint has been idle for a while, save the presentation, then close and reopen it before using any iSpring functions.   

To avoid issues with audio completely, before you start making edits, open and then close the Manage Narration tab every time you open an online course PowerPoint. This helps iSpring to re-establish the connection between the PowerPoint file and the project folder. 

Note: If you have published the PowerPoint file already, you can recover lost audio from the published folder. You can do this by following the steps below. 
- Open the published folder (it will be a zipped folder) and follow this path: res > data.

-This is an example of a file path that it will be 
-K:\1__Online\1 - Online Training\1-eLearning Courses\1 - OSHA\OSHA\Intro to OSHA.zip\res\data

- Scroll down until you start seeing mp3 files.
- Copy all of the mp3 files and paste them into a location on your computer that you can find later.
- Inside the Manage Narration tab in your PowerPoint file, you can choose to insert audio from a file. - - Select the audio files you just saved into that new location. If audio is lost on the original copy and you haven't published the file yet, there is no way to recover it.
-The connection between the project folder and PowerPoint copy broke. To restore the connection (and hopefully recover your audio) re-copy the PowerPoint into the new location and immediately open "manage narration." 

iSpring quiz is broken. 

If your quiz is broken, you lost connection between the PowerPoint and the project folder. You will need to delete the quiz slides (including the online case studies) and reinsert them into the presentation. Your original quiz file will likely be unaffected.

Slides do not display the correct hierarchy. 

Correct this issue in the "slide properties" tab in iSpring. Select the slides that are not appearing correctly and promote/demote as necessary. 

 

Note: Remember that you must select the slide under the one that will start the new branch.

 

Audio plays over the conclusion slide.

If you delete a PPT slide after you have already added the audio, the audio will not be automatically deleted as well. Instead, the audio is tacked onto the end of the last slide in the presentation. It's best practice to double-check the audio before publishing to look for any missing/extra narration slides or gaps between slides.

TTS pronounces a word wrong.

We use text-to-speech (TTS) to narrate our online trainings. The AI is known to mispronounce words. To correct this issue, try to spell out the word more phonetically.

Example:

- outrigger = out-rigger
- Failed= fayld
- Rather= reather 
- rebar= reebar
- key on= key ahn
- tears= tares
- carabiner= carabeaner
- on-going= on going
- deescalate= dee-escalate
- applicable= uh plicable

Quiz settings won't save.

If you have made changes to quiz settings but they aren't saving, there are a few possible reasons. 

-You may have edited the quiz copy that iSpring automatically generates. If you are editing a quiz, edit the original version, not the copy. Then, re-insert the quiz into the presentation.

-You have not selected the setting to "apply to all" in the properties tab. Check this setting, then "Save and Close."

Note: The iSpring quiz needs to follow specific settings to work correctly. The best way to make sure the settings are correct is to use the iSpring quiz template saved in the Assets folder. 

PowerPoint

PowerPoint is also likely to have a few problems when our training courses become large and take up a lot of space. Below are a few helpful tips and tricks to help when problems occur. 

PowerPoint deletes changes to the presentation.

There are a few reasons your presentation might not save changes that you have made.

- You accidentally made the changes to an old version of the training. To limit the chances of this mistake in the future, keep only one workable version of the presentation at all times. If you must have a copy, clearly label it as such, and delete it as soon as possible. Do not keep multiple copies of the same presentation; this wastes memory and quickly becomes confusing. 

- Your computer may be running out of memory. Talk to the web team to help you delete hidden files that may be taking up memory. 

- You aren't saving frequently enough. WiFi goes out, and computers crash. To spare yourself from losing hours of hard work, save your work frequently.

Font displays incorrectly in PowerPoint.

Sometimes a notification like this will pop up saying that the PowerPoint has restricted fonts. This just means that you do no have the correct font downloaded on your computer. There is a folder full of fonts that can be found at the file path below.
 K:\5__Writing\2-Templates\New HHT Template\URWDIN

If this does not correct the issue, you may need to embed the font in the presentation. Talk to the web department or post in the IT channel to get help with this if needed. 

 

Pictures appear stretched or squished.

Re-import the pictures or crop them until they look normal.

 

LMS

Currently we use Talent as our Learning Management System. With our large courses full of pictures and text, we are pushing its limits of storage and functionality, so you may run into a few issues like these listed below. 

Course won't upload to LMS.

The file size is too large. To solve this issue, compress all the images in the course and republish the course. For large courses, such as 8+ hour courses, you will need to create multiple modules.

 

Course does not close properly on LMS.

The "Exit the Course" button is set to complete the wrong action. Use the "Exit the Course" button from the "ENG Extra Slides" presentation in the Assets folder.

LMS will not track bookmarks.

Bookmarking for longer online courses may not work with SCORM 1.2. If bookmarking is not working or progress is not tracking on an LMS, this is because the file was published in the wrong format or version. SCORM 2004's bookmarking works most of the time and you may need to changed to this format.