Free Storyboarding Template

UPDATE Nov. 30, 2009: Amazingly (to me, anyways) this post was written in 2007. It feels like it has been 5+ years since I wrote it! In fact, many folks have emailed me over the past 6 months or so asking me how to get this template to work with Word 2007, to which I usually respond something to the effect of, “I haven’t looked at that template in years!”, and I feel bad for leaving them to try to figure it out themselves. Tonight I finally had some time to look at the template and, sure enough, it does not work in Word 2007. The reason being is that, as awesome an upgrade Word 2007 is over prior versions, unfortunately Microsoft took out the ability to easily create and/or customize the menus (aka, the ‘Ribbon’ in Word 2007). There *is* a way to do it but it isn’t very straightforward and, quite frankly, I don’t really find learning Microsoft stuff interesting. But if enough people ask I will take the time to give it a go and maybe even expand on the features of the existing template. If you are/have used this storyboard template and found it useful, please let me know. I’d love to hear feedback on it.

A couple of years ago I developed a storyboard template in Microsoft Word that has since been used by a lot of folks. It has even been used (with my permission) as the starting point for a commercial storyboard product that does XML export and much much much more.

After speaking with a number of folks who have been looking for a starting point for their elearning designs and who have expressed interest in an easy-to-use tool that is based on Microsoft Word so that it can be used by teams, I’ve decided to make my original version available free for anyone who might find it useful.

I think the tool is especially useful for those using “Rapid Elearning” tools. As you’ll see in the screenshot below, there is an added dropdown menu in which a bunch of pre-formatted objects can be inserted into the document quickly and easily. If you are comfortable with Word’s advanced features (adding/editing menus, macros, etc.) then feel free to add and/or edit this template. My only requirement is that you send me a copy so that I may share it with others here on my site. Too many folks in the elearning field are just too protective of their “intellectual property”. C’mon folks, this is a Word template that took me maybe a day to develop. So hopefully this is some inspiration for others to share their work, too.

Here are screenshots of the available menu items. Note I have one specifically for Captivate objects. If enough folks ask for it I’d be happy to update this to add the new features from Captivate 2.0 to this template, or any other tool (Articulate, Raptivity, etc.).

Enjoy, and please leave comments or shoot me an email with any questions.

To use this template just click the link below to download and do a Save As… to your PC. Note: if you just do an Open With Microsoft Word directly from the server it may not attach the template portion properly and you won’t get the eStroyboard menu showing in the upper-right of the menu bar. Email me if you have problems with it.  I asked someone to open this template using Word 2007 and it appears to work with Word 2007, as the eStoryboard shows up under the “Add-Ins” menu in that version of Word. So it looks like it is Word 2007 compatible in addition to 2000/XP. Enjoy!

Download eStoryboard Template v0.9