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Using Articulate Software on a Mac with VMware Fusion

Article Last Updated

This article applies to:

Storyline 360, Storyline 3, Studio 360, Replay 360

Here are a few tips and best practices for using Articulate software on a Mac with VMware Fusion.

Disable Shared Folders

Disable shared folders in your virtual machine to keep all your project files in the Windows environment. Here’s how:

  1. Launch VMware Fusion and open your virtual machine.
  2. Click Virtual Machine on the menu bar and select Settings.
  3. Click Sharing, then uncheck Enabled Shared Folders.
  4. Close the Settings window and restart your virtual machine for the changes to take effect.

To learn more about shared folders in VMware Fusion, see this article.

Work Exclusively in the Windows Environment

Save and publish Articulate projects in the Windows environment, not the Mac. For example: C:\Users\John\Documents\

Don't work from a network drive or an external USB drive. Doing so can result in file corruption due to latency.

Audio, video, and image resources must be located in the Windows environment, not the Mac. Copy and paste files you need for Articulate projects to the Windows environment, then insert them into your Articulate courses.

When working with Microsoft Office (e.g., when importing PowerPoint slides into Storyline), Office apps must be installed in your Windows environment.

Disable Retina Resolution

If you're using a Mac with Retina display, you may find that interface elements in Articulate apps are small and difficult to read. To fix the problem, disable Retina resolution in VMware Fusion. Here’s how:

  1. Shut down your Windows virtual machine if it’s running.
  2. Click Virtual Machine on the menu bar and select Settings.
  3. Click Display, then uncheck Use full resolution for Retina Display.
  4. Exit Settings and launch your Windows virtual machine again to see the change.

To learn more about Retina support in VMware Fusion, see this article.

Turn Off Unity Mode

Unity mode is a VMware feature that lets you display apps from virtual machines (VMs) on your Mac as though they're native apps. While it’s a nifty feature that works with lightweight apps, it’s also graphic-intensive and could negatively impact the performance of your virtual machine.

We recommend using either single-window or full-screen mode when you’re working with Articulate software. Here's how to switch view modes:

  1. Launch VMware Fusion and open your virtual machine.
  2. Click View on the menu bar.
  3. Select either Single Window or Full Screen.

Tip: The keyboard shortcut Control+Command+F toggles in and out of full-screen mode.

Keep VMware Tools Updated

VMware Tools are similar to device drivers for your Windows virtual machine. When you update VMware Fusion, you also need to update VMware Tools so your virtual machine runs efficiently.

Encrypt the Virtual Machine to Install Windows 11

Windows 11 requires Trusted Platform Module (TPM) version 2.0. To install TPM 2.0, you'll need to encrypt the virtual machine first. Check out the following VMware articles for detailed steps: