SCORM resume not working: why learners start from the beginning

Resume is turned off in the course

In Storyline, “Never resume” means every launch starts at the first slide, even though the LMS offers to save the learner's place. If the course is tracked by slides viewed, a learner who leaves partway has to view them all again in one sitting.

1. Turn resume on (Storyline)

   Open Home → Player → Other → Resume → On restart and choose “Prompt to resume” or “Always resume”. With “Prompt to resume”, a learner who answers no starts again, which is expected.

2. In Captivate

   Captivate has its own version of this, “Never Send Resume Data”: see Captivate course not resuming.

The saved progress is too big

SCORM 1.2 only guarantees 4,096 characters of suspend_data, the block of text where tools like Storyline pack which slides were seen and how questions were answered. Long courses and big quizzes go over it, and the LMS refuses or cuts the save, so the learner returns to an older place or to the start. We tested this on SCORM Cloud: it refuses any SCORM 1.2 save over 4,096 characters.

1. Bring the saved progress down

   Follow the suspend_data page to check the 4,096 limit. In Rise, the usual fix is to publish for SCORM 2004 4th Edition, which guarantees 64,000 characters: in Publish → LMS, choose SCORM 2004 in the “LMS” drop-down and pick the 4th Edition. In Captivate, see the Captivate page.

The course ends the attempt instead of pausing it

When the learner leaves, the course should set its exit value to "suspend", which means “keep my place”. If it sends anything else, the LMS may treat the visit as finished. In SCORM 2004 any other exit value ends the attempt, so the next launch is a new one. A strict SCORM 1.2 LMS also starts from the beginning; some LMSs resume anyway, which hides the problem until the course moves to another LMS.

1. Leave the exit settings alone

   Storyline has no publish option for its exit values. They sit in the SCORM driver it adds to the package (lms/scormdriver.js), and Alder's TOOL-006 says in words what they do. Articulate only suggests editing that file when the “Exit course” trigger does not close the window.

The LMS starts a new attempt every time

In Moodle, the SCORM activity's “Force new attempt” setting set to “Always” makes each re-entry a new attempt, and the learner is not returned to where they were. Ask your LMS admin to change it (see LMS notes).

Check the zip before you upload it again (free)

Learners starting from the beginning? Check your course for this. Alder puts the matching problems first and gives you a short test script. Run it again on the new zip after a fix.

1. Drop the published zip

   Open Alder and drop the zip. It is read in your browser; nothing is uploaded. For a Storyline course, the findings include its resume option (TOOL-005), and for Captivate, TOOL-012 if resume data is switched off.

   

2. Leave partway

   Click “Launch the course”, go a few slides in, and press “I'm done” without finishing. Read “Next time”. “Resumes” means the course asked the LMS to keep the learner's place. If it says “Starts over”, look for RUNTIME-010 in the findings: it names the exit value the course sent.

   

3. Test as a returning learner

   Click “Test as a returning learner”. Alder opens the course again with the data it saved and tells it this is a returning learner. It should open where you left off. If it opens on the first slide, the course is not using its saved place (resume may be off); the call log shows what it asked for and what it got.

   

4. Take the longest path

   On a long course, go through every slide and question and watch “Saved progress (suspend_data)” beside the course. If it goes amber or red, the size limit is your cause.

One limit to know: the returning-learner test always resumes, the way an LMS does for an unfinished attempt. It does not copy an LMS that forces a new attempt, so check that setting in the LMS too.

LMS notes

• SCORM Cloud (tested in September 2026): an unfinished SCORM 1.2 attempt that exited with “suspend” reopened with entry “resume”, and both the saved data and the bookmark came back. A completed or passed attempt reopened in review mode instead.
• Moodle: “Force new attempt” has three choices, “No”, “When previous attempt completed, passed or failed” and “Always”. Only “Always” stops an unfinished attempt resuming. Source: Moodle's SCORM settings text.

Why it happens

A SCORM course keeps a learner's place in two fields the LMS stores for it: the bookmark (cmi.core.lesson_location in SCORM 1.2) and cmi.suspend_data. After a "suspend" exit, the LMS tells the course next time that it is a returning learner (cmi.core.entry = "resume") and hands the data back. Learners start over when any step of that round trip breaks.

Still not working?

• The learner had already finished: a finished course often reopens from the start, as a new attempt or in review mode. See Course starts a new attempt, or opens in review mode.
• Progress is lost only when learners close the tab: if the course saves only when it finishes, a closed tab can lose the whole visit. See Learners lose progress when they close the course window.
• It works for you but not for some learners: Completions missing for some learners only.