Hello, I find it extremely hard to create straight lines/arrows is there an easier way to do this? i.e. holding shift like other programs does not work. Thanks!

Crystal, I can understand your team wanting to know how and why people use SL, and used correctly, that knowledge can help guide future development. On the other hand, JC is correct, why he uses the tool should not have a lot of bearing on whether it works correctly or not. It's not really a question that he is trying to use a hammer to dig a hole, and can be shown a better way; it is that he's using a shovel, but it only digs holes that are 6' wide, and won't dig an 8" hole. Don't ask why he wants an 8" hole; that line of inquiry is the path to the dark side. You run the risk of falling into Microsoft's arrogant thought that "If we can train the user to use the tools the way we know is best for them, then we won't have to fix them." Mind you, I'm not saying you did that, just passing along a friendly warning to be careful not to.

Mike, Not sure what is happening but holding down the shift key to draw a straight line works like a charm for me in Storyline. Paul

I know what you mean. I've found it finicky using the pie shape where I want to have one of the inside lines be perfectly horizontal or vertical. I don't have a solution and have just trying zooming in really close or making the object really large to allow more control and then shrinking it down. This happens even if you have the snap to grid turned off. Just seems finicky.

I use the Freeform tool when none of the other tools will do what I need: for example an irregular shape with straight lines and right angles. But the reason why I'm using this tool is totally irrelevant. The problem is the tool has no built-in functionality to help with drawing straight lines. All I am really asking is to force the tool to draw straight lines (vertical and horizontal) and 90 and 45 degree angles when the shift key is held down. Same kind of functionality you get with the rectangle tool that lets you create a perfect square when you hold down the shift key. That's it! I have made a feature request. Thank you.

I guess what I meant to say is after you draw a line, when moving it I am used to it snapping to a grid or only moving 45 degrees at a time, was just wondering if that was an option? Many times the line is just off by a little and you can notice a slight angle on it. Thanks

Straight Lines | Articulate

BenKanspedos
Community Member
9 years ago
I agree. Its so annoying. Here is a video showing issue: http://screencast.com/t/wS9Rz5X1DXjQ
AshleyT-Pollard
Staff
9 years ago
Thanks Ben for reaching out here - and there hasn't been a change to the behavior in terms of the line functionality so at this point it would need to be a feature request.
JohnMorley-b701
Community Member
8 years ago
Following the advice to hold down Shift while adjusting the end of a line or arrow (as with other programs) in Storyline 3, I get a strange mirror image jump (a line extending to the left of the cursor jumps over to extend from the right): definitely not what I want; especially since the line is still at an angle.

Is there some sort of preference that changes this behavior to make the line or arrow perfectly horizontal or vertical?
- Crystal-Horn
  Staff
  8 years ago
  Hi John. Thanks for bringing that behavior up for Storyline 3. We have an issue of erratic behavior (like this) reported for Storyline 2, so it looks like it might have carried over into Storyline 3. I'll be sure to document this for our team.
  
  Holding shift will keep an existing line at the same angle as you extend the line.
  
  When I am creating a line, the holding the shift key to keep it level works as expected. When adjusting a previously created line, however, holding the shift key is causing some weird behavior with the line extending in the wrong direction, and even appearing to move when releasing the mouse.
  
  The only workaround I've noticed is to move your mouse cursor either above or below the "plane" of the line.
  
  So, if you see the line extending the wrong way when the cursor is above the plane of the line, pull your cursor below it. And vice versa.
  
  Here's a Peek screencast of what I mean.
  
  I know that's weird and obviously not optimal, so we'll evaluate this as a team to see if we can get that key + mouse combination to work better.
  
  Thank you again!
AshleyT-Pollard
Staff
7 years ago
Hi JC,

I just tested again in Storyline 360, and didn't run into any issues drawing straight lines. Especially with the new guidelines that appear while drawing it was pretty easy. I also tried Crystals trick of holding down the shift while I was drawing and I was able to even drag that off in a different direction and still a straight line appeared.

Could you tell us a bit more about how you're working on drawing these lines and what version of Storyline you're using?
JCBlanchard
Community Member
7 years ago
Hi Ashley,

I'm using SL 360. Here is a screencapture explaining the problem.
JohnMorley-b701
Community Member
7 years ago
JC,

I am suffering the same agony: On a current project I am fine adjusting hundreds of lines. Hours could be saved if only Storyline offered the same behavior demonstrated in your video of PowerPoint, which I have become so accustomed to in other graphics programs that I just assumed would be a default in any software intended for professional use.
JCBlanchard
Community Member
7 years ago
Hi John,

Yes of course, this is standard behavior in the most basic of applications and it should be implemented in Storyline. Hard to believe that the original post above is 4 years old and the problem persists.
- Crystal-Horn
  Staff
  7 years ago
  Hello JC! We released object editing enhancements in November, and they include features to help with alignment and precise rotation of objects. Ashley mentioned the new visual cues you'll get when drawing objects, and here's what that should look like for you in Storyline 360 when drawing a regular line:
  
  You're using the freeform tool, however, and I see that those visual cues are not activated. So that we can better understand your need, can you describe for our product development team how you're using the freeform tool? For example, "It's better for me to use the freeform tool than a standard shape, or a group of straight lines because..." I want to be sure we understand the pain point!
  
  Thanks!
- carmencandela-a
  Community Member
  6 years ago
  That's right. Testing storyline 360 and still disappointed over the lack of this very basic behavior.
Crystal-Horn
Staff
7 years ago
Hey everyone. Thanks for the feedback - we take it all to heart. As Walt alluded, I get as much information as I can so customers, community staff and our product teams can all get on the same page. I'm sorry if my requests were taken any other way!

Mateusz, thanks for the detail on what you're seeing with the "snap" behavior. Let me do some digging on that issue, and I'll update this discussion. At this time, we aren't planning on adding the object editing enhancements to Storyline 3, and there isn't anything to share yet about future perpetual Storyline versions.
WaltHamilton
Super Hero
7 years ago
Mateusz,

You are not imagining things, that movement with control has been reversed, but only for some types of objects, not all.
JanetBranson
Community Member
7 years ago
I am using SL 360 and expected the 'snap to grid' option to be enough to create a 180° line. That alone does not work, but if I hold the shift key as in other applications it snaps just fine. Of course, I wasted just under an hour before checking the threads for the solution. Silly me.