Troubleshooting problems with project files

To keep your valuable content safe, it’s super important to avoid changing the project folder’s contents and keep it near your .pptx file. The data inside this folder is managed automatically and there is no need for users to open and change it ever.

Your project can get disconnected fr om the recorded audio files, quizzes and other materials that you created if you perform any of the following actions:

• Delete the project folder unintentionally (breaks the link)

• Change/rename files inside the project folder (breaks the internal structure)

• Rename the project folder (breaks the link)

Also, you can separate your presentation and the project folder by moving either of these components to a different location wh ere they have no access to each other (breaks the link). 

If you perform any of these actions, the PowerPoint presentation will open and show normally. However, if you try to publish it with iSpring, you will have missing audio and quiz resources or other error messages. 

There is always a chance that you find or restore the lost data. This article covers the most common scenarios and steps necessary for finding and restoring your project files. 

Situation 1: I lost my quizzes

If the editable .quiz file for your project cannot be found automatically, you will get this message when you try to publish a presentation or open the quiz:

OR

If you see this message, most probably you accidentally deleted the project folder or copied the .pptx presentation to some new location and don’t have access/permissions to the original project folder anymore (e.g., flash-drive or network disk). 

The .pptx file stores the last location of the project folder, so if you simply copy or move it to another location, it should automatically update your project.

Solution

Follow these steps until you find the original quiz file:

1. Open the default iSpring project location C:\Users\%username%\Documents\Presentations (copy and paste it to the Windows Explorer path bar) and look for the folder with the name of your presentation (e.g., “Space Shuttle Program”).
2. Use Windows Explorer (Win+E) Search this PC. Enter your presentation’s name to find the project folder on your computer.
3. Open the Recycle Bin on your computer and do the same search.
4. Try restoring the required project folder from Windows Backup. Skip this step if you didn’t set it up beforehand.
5. Search your computer for folders named “quiz”. Every project folder has this folder so you may get many results.
6. Search your computer for files with the “.quiz” extension. This search will give you the list of all editable quizzes on your computer. If you have one quiz added to your presentation, you can narrow your search by entering the name “quiz1.quiz” in the search field.
7. Search external drives and network drives that might have the original files of your project. Ask colleagues who worked on your projects, maybe they still have a copy of your original quiz.
8. If you deleted your project folder and emptied the Recycle Bin, you can try recovering deleted files using the EaseUS utility.
9. If you have the published (Web) folder containing a quiz that opens in a web browser, you can re-create the quiz manually by re-typing all questions and answers.

If you were lucky enough to find the project folder, make a copy of it, then move it to the location of the PowerPoint presentation. Close PowerPoint and open this presentation again. The link between your .pptx file and the project folder should be automatically restored.

If you found the required .quiz file, use the Locate option from the error dialog window to link it to the presentation. Otherwise, delete the slide with the quiz that cannot be found, create a new slide, click the Quiz button on the iSpring toolbar and sel ect Recent quizzes > Browse...

Here is a search sample for quiz1.quiz files in This PC. It listed both editable quiz files (quiz folder) and output or non-editable quiz files (data folder).

Situation 2: I lost my audio/video

Solution

Follow these steps until you find the audio or video narration folder:

1. Open the default iSpring project location C:\Users\%username%\Documents\Presentations (copy and paste it to the Windows Explorer path bar) and look for the folder with the name of your presentation (e.g., “Space Shuttle Program”).
2. Use Windows Explorer (Win+E) Search this PC. Enter your presentation’s name to find the project folder on your computer.
3. Open the Recycle Bin on your computer and do the same search.
4. Try restoring the required project folder fr om Windows Backup. Skip this step if you didn’t set it up beforehand.
5. Search for folders named “audio2” or “video2” on your computer. Every project folder has this folder so you may get many results.
6. Search external drives and network drives that might have the original files of your project. Ask colleagues who worked on your projects, maybe they still have a copy of your original quiz.
7. If you have the published (Web) folder that contains the narration, you can open a data folder and import the audio (.mp3) or video (.mp4) narration back to the Manage Narration window. It may require manual sync and additional work but you won’t need to re-record everything again.
8. If you deleted your project folder and emptied the Recycle Bin, you can try recovering deleted files using the EaseUS utility.

If you were lucky enough to find the project folder, make a copy of this very important folder, then move it to the location of the PowerPoint presentation. Close PowerPoint and open this presentation again. The link between your .pptx file and the resources folder should be automatically restored. 

The project audio is recorded in the common .wav format with random names, so there is no point in searching for individual audio files.

Situation 3: I lost other project files

Use the same instructions as for searching and restoring quizzes or audio.

• Interactions in the project folder are placed in the respective folder, called “interactions”. These files have a .visuals extension and are named automatically: “intr1.visuals”, “intr2.visuals”, etc.

• Simulations are stored in the folder “scenarios”. These files are named like this: “scenario1.scenario”, “scenario2.scenario”, etc.

• Screen recordings are stored in the folder “video-projects”. Like audio and video narrations, they are given random names. For example: “76541c6f” or “57dea030, and consist of “project.iscamproj” file, and “.sc” files. There is no point in searching for them by name.

• Web Objects that you add to your presentation are stored in the folder “webobject”.

Learn more about project structure and its folders in the Managing iSpring Projects article.

Breaking the link scenario

The iSpring project management mechanism is intelligent enough to remember the last location of your project. If you break the link between the .pptx file and the project folder (e.g., changed the name or location of your .pptx file), iSpring will try to restore it.

Breaking the link scenario

Using the new version of iSpring

If you upgraded your iSpring to a newer version, it may also initiate an automatic project update. The following message may appear:

Note: Sometimes, this message appears if you perform 1-2 steps of the Breaking the link scenario, but instead of clicking the quiz, you delete a slide with an existing quiz and then try to create a new quiz.