How do I use video branching?

1. Decide whether each branch is a separate video or a section of one long video.
2. Publish every video that a viewer can reach. A branch to an unpublished video does not run.
3. In the video that holds the choice, add one button, hotspot, image, or text interaction for each option. You can also use a multiple-choice question and set an Action on each answer.
4. Open the interaction, go to Content, and set Click Action to Switch Video (then Select Video) or Change Time (then Select Time).
5. To branch without a click, click More in the add bar, then choose Switch Video or Change Time under Playback & Navigation. This adds a navigation that runs at its time.
6. Open More in the video menu and choose See branching to check the map of video-to-video paths.
7. Click Preview and follow every path to its end.

Use Switch Video when your branches are separate files. Each video has its own report, so you can see who reached each branch. Each branch video also counts toward the videos in your library.

Use Change Time when all branches are sections of one file. The viewer stays in one video, so the branches do not use extra library videos, and the whole path is recorded in one view.

After you select a destination for Switch Video, set Switch Time to start the destination video at a point other than 0:00. Use this to skip an intro that the viewer already saw.

The Switch to Previous Video action returns the viewer to the video they came from, at the time they left it. Use it for a short detour, such as a product demo, that should return to the main story.

The End Screen tab also has Switch Video (Automatic) and Show Button: Switch Video, so the end of one video can lead to the next.

Variables that a viewer sets in one video go with them when they switch. The next video can greet them by name or show only the options that fit their earlier answers. See Do variables carry over when a viewer switches videos?.

• Mindstamp lists unpublished destinations under Unpublished Video Branches. Publish them, or the switch does not take place.
• In the editor, an automatic switch shows Automatic Branching Choice, so you can stay on the video you are editing. Use Preview to test the real viewer path.
• Test each path on a phone as well as a computer.

• Video branching
• Branching tutorial