🎓 Lesson 2: The Free Trial, Accounts & Installing
Now let's get you set up — the smart way. In this lesson you'll create your Articulate account, learn when to start the 30-day trial so the clock covers all your hands-on work, install Storyline 360 on Windows (or run it on a Mac), see why Rise 360 needs nothing installed at all, and get oriented in the Articulate 360 dashboard.
📚 What You'll Learn
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
- Create an Articulate account and start the full 30-day trial Trial / Paid
- Decide the smart moment to start your trial so it covers your hands-on lessons
- Install Storyline 360 on Windows Windows only, and understand your options on a Mac
- Explain why Rise 360 needs nothing installed, and find your way around the dashboard
⏱️ Estimated Time: 40 minutes
🎯 Project: Create your account, decide (or start) your trial, open the dashboard, and launch Rise 360 once — even if you don't build anything yet.
In This Lesson
⏳ The Smart Way to Start
Here's a small planning decision that pays off big: the trial is 30 days, and the clock starts the moment you begin it — not when you first build something. If you start it today just to poke around, you could burn a week of trial time on reading and planning before you ever open a real project.
So think of the trial like a fresh carton of milk: you don't open it until you're ready to use it. Part 1 of this course (Lessons 1–4) is all concepts, decisions, and planning — no software required. The hands-on building begins in Part 2 (Lesson 5). The smart move is to time your trial to start when you reach Lesson 5, so all 30 days cover the stretch where you're actually clicking, building, and publishing.
🧠 Mindset
It's tempting to rush to "install everything now" so it feels real. Resist that. A little patience here means your trial lines up perfectly with your busiest, most rewarding weeks — and you'll never feel the clock breathing down your neck mid-project. Planning the timing is itself a professional habit; real course projects live and die by their schedules.
If you'd rather set everything up today anyway — maybe you have time now and won't later — that's fine too. Just know the clock is running, and plan to move briskly into Part 2. Either way, this lesson shows you exactly how the setup works so there are no surprises.
👤 Your Account & the 30-Day Trial
Everything Articulate is tied to a single account you sign into. Creating one and starting the trial is one smooth path:
(email & password)"] --> B["✅ Start 30-day trial"] B --> C["🏠 Articulate 360 dashboard"] C --> D["⚡ Rise 360
opens in browser"] C --> E["🛠️ Storyline 360
install on Windows"] style A fill:#fed7aa,color:#1e293b style B fill:#fde68a,color:#1e293b style C fill:#bfdbfe,color:#1e293b style D fill:#bbf7d0,color:#1e293b style E fill:#c7d2fe,color:#1e293b
Figure 1 — The setup path: one account and one trial unlock both tools; Rise runs in the browser while Storyline installs on Windows.
To create your account and start the trial Trial / Paid,
go to Articulate's site (articulate.com) and look for the "Start free trial" option. In most
versions you'll enter your name, a work or personal email, and a password. Articulate may ask a few questions
about your role and what you want to build — answer honestly; it just tailors suggestions.
⚠️ Read before you click "start"
Starting the trial begins your 30-day countdown immediately. If you're still in Part 1 and just reading
along, you can create the account and explore the dashboard, but consider holding off on
activities that require the full authoring tools until Lesson 5. Articulate's current terms, trial length,
and what a trial includes can change — confirm the details on their site
(articulate.com/pricing) rather than trusting a number printed here.
When the trial ends, your account doesn't vanish — it simply moves to a "choose a plan" state. Anything you published and put on a link or LMS keeps working for learners; only your authoring access pauses until you subscribe. We'll talk plans honestly throughout the course, but you never have to decide today.
🛠️ Installing Storyline 360 (Windows)
Storyline 360 is a desktop application for Windows Windows only. You don't download it from a random web page — you install it through the Articulate 360 desktop app, a small manager that lives in your system tray and keeps your apps updated.
The flow, in plain language:
- From your Articulate 360 dashboard, download the Articulate 360 desktop app (the manager).
- Run the installer and sign in with your account.
- In the desktop app, find Storyline 360 in the list of apps and click Install.
- When it finishes, launch Storyline right from the desktop app — or from your Start menu.
Figure 2 — The Articulate 360 desktop app (a simplified mock-up, not a real screenshot): install Storyline here; Rise just opens in your browser.
💡 A few Windows realities
Storyline is a full desktop program, so it wants a reasonably modern Windows PC with some free disk space, and installs cleanest with administrator rights. Exact system requirements shift with each release — check Articulate's current requirements page rather than an old number. The desktop app also handles updates: when a new Storyline build ships, you update from the same manager.
⚡ Rise 360 Needs Nothing Installed
Here's the happy contrast: Rise 360 is fully browser-based. There's nothing to download,
nothing to install, and nothing to update. You sign in at Articulate's site (often via
rise.articulate.com or straight from the dashboard) and you're authoring.
Because it lives in the browser, Rise is cross-platform: Windows, Mac, Linux, even a Chromebook or tablet in a pinch. Your work saves automatically to the cloud as you go, so you can start on one machine and pick up on another. This is a big part of why all of Part 2 works for everyone, regardless of what computer you own.
✅ The install summary
Storyline 360 = a Windows desktop app you install via the Articulate 360 manager Windows only. Rise 360 = a website you sign into, no install, any device. Same account, same subscription, two very different setups.
🍎 Mac Users: Storyline in a Windows VM
If you're on a Mac, all of Part 2 (Rise) works natively — no special steps. For Part 3, Storyline is a Windows program, so you'll run Windows itself inside your Mac using a virtual machine (VM): software that runs a whole second operating system in a window. Inside that Windows environment, you install Storyline exactly as a Windows user would.
The common, well-documented options:
| Your Mac | Typical approach | Honest notes |
|---|---|---|
| Intel Mac (older) | Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion, or Boot Camp (dual-boot) | Runs standard Windows. Boot Camp restarts into Windows; Parallels/VMware run it in a window. |
| Apple Silicon Mac (M-series) | Parallels Desktop running Windows on ARM | No Boot Camp on Apple Silicon. Windows-on-ARM runs Storyline well for most learners; performance varies. |
⚠️ Keep expectations honest: VM tools like Parallels and VMware are paid products, and a Windows license may be required — these are separate from your Articulate subscription. Setups and compatibility change over time, so follow Articulate's current guidance and the VM vendor's own documentation. If a VM isn't practical for you, you can still complete every Rise lesson natively and follow the Storyline lessons by reading along with the mock-ups.
Why this matters: plenty of professional instructional designers work on Macs and run Storyline in a VM every day. It's a normal, supported setup — not a hack — and knowing it exists means your choice of computer never blocks your career path.
🏠 A Tour of the Dashboard
Once you're signed in, your home base is the Articulate 360 dashboard (sometimes just called "home"). It's the launchpad for everything in the suite. Expect to find:
- Your apps — cards or links for Rise 360, Storyline 360 (download/manage), Review 360, Content Library 360, and Reach 360.
- Recent work — quick access to courses and projects you've opened.
- Content Library — browse templates, characters, photos, and icons.
- Account & trial status — how many trial days remain, and where to manage your plan.
You don't need to memorize any of it today. The one habit worth forming: the dashboard is where you start, and from it Rise opens in a browser tab while Storyline opens (or installs) as a desktop app. That single mental map removes most "wait, where do I click?" confusion later.
🎯 Try It: Get Set Up
🏋️ Activity: Account, trial plan, and a first look around
Objective: Have a working account and a clear, deliberate plan for your trial — plus a first glance at the dashboard so nothing feels foreign when Part 2 begins.
Steps
- Go to
articulate.comand create your account (name, email, password). (⏱️ 5 min) - Decide your trial timing: start it now only if you'll begin Lesson 5 within days; otherwise note the date you plan to start it. Write your decision down. (⏱️ 3 min)
- Open the dashboard and find four things: your apps, recent work, the Content Library, and your account/trial status. (⏱️ 5 min)
- If your trial is active, click into Rise 360 once — just to confirm it opens in your browser. (No need to build anything.) (⏱️ 2 min)
- Windows users: download the Articulate 360 desktop app and locate the Install button for Storyline (install it if your trial is active). Mac users: note which VM route fits your machine from the table above. (⏱️ 5 min)
💡 Hint
If you're still in Part 1 and don't want to spend trial days yet, do steps 1–3 today and save steps 4–5 for the day you start Lesson 5. Creating the account is separate from committing your trial clock — so you can get oriented without losing time.
✅ Activity Complete When…
- You have an Articulate account you can sign into
- You've written down a deliberate plan for when your 30-day trial starts
- You can find your apps, recent work, Content Library, and trial status on the dashboard
- You know your install path: Storyline on Windows (or a VM on Mac), Rise in the browser
🎯 Quick Quiz
Question 1: Why does this course suggest timing your 30-day trial to start at Lesson 5?
Question 2: You're on an Apple Silicon (M-series) Mac and want to use Storyline 360. What's the honest picture?
📓 Learning Journal
Keep the habit going. After each lesson, jot down:
- Key concepts you learned
- Things that clicked for you
- Questions or confusion points to revisit
- Ideas you want to try
- Your progress and how you feel about learning this
✍️ This lesson's prompt: What computer will you use — Windows or Mac? If Mac, which route will you take for Storyline (a VM, or reading along with the mock-ups)? And what's your plan for when to start the 30-day trial? Write it down; you're making a real project decision.
📝 Lesson Summary
🎓 Key Takeaways
- Everything runs off one Articulate account; the 30-day trial's clock starts the moment you begin it, so time it to Part 2.
- Storyline 360 is a Windows desktop app you install via the Articulate 360 desktop app (manager); it also handles updates.
- Rise 360 is browser-based — nothing to install, works cross-platform on any device.
- On a Mac, run Storyline in a Windows VM (Parallels/VMware/Boot Camp on Intel; Windows-on-ARM in Parallels on Apple Silicon) — a normal, supported setup.
🎉 What You've Accomplished
You've gone from "how do I even get this software?" to a clear, deliberate setup plan: an account you can sign into, a smart trial-timing decision, and a mental map of which tool installs where. That's the difference between fumbling on day one and walking into Part 2 ready to build.
❓ Common Questions at This Stage
Do I have to start the trial right now?
No. You can create your account and explore the dashboard without committing your trial days. Since Part 1 needs no software, many learners wait to start the trial until Lesson 5, so all 30 days cover the hands-on building.
What happens to my work when the trial ends?
Your account stays; your authoring access pauses until you choose a plan. Courses you already published to a link or LMS keep working for learners. Confirm current details on Articulate's pricing page rather than relying on a printed number.
My Mac feels slow running Windows in a VM. Is that normal?
Some performance cost is expected when running a whole second operating system. Giving the VM more memory and CPU (within reason), closing other apps, and following the VM vendor's tuning tips usually helps. For lighter work, remember Rise runs natively and needs no VM at all.
🔭 Looking Ahead
In Lesson 3, you'll tackle the single most useful decision in this whole field: Rise or Storyline? You'll get a reliable framework for choosing the right tool for any project.
✅ Before the Next Lesson
- Create your Articulate account (even if you delay the trial)
- Write your trial-timing plan and your platform decision in your journal
- Windows users: install the Articulate 360 desktop app so it's ready. Mac users: pick your VM route
📚 Additional Resources
- Articulate pricing & plans — the current, authoritative source
- access.articulate.com — sign in and manage your account
- Articulate Support — install help and system requirements
- Course Glossary — every term in plain language
🌟 Encouragement for the Journey
Setup is the least glamorous part of any craft — and getting it right, calmly and deliberately, is a quiet superpower. You've cleared the logistics. From here on, it's all about building things you're proud of. See you in Lesson 3.