Macromedia Adobe Captivate 2 User Manual
2
™
Captivate
®
Adobe
Using Adobe Captivate
© 2006 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.
Using Adobe® Captivate™
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: Introduction and Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Key features of Adobe Captivate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
What’s new in Adobe Captivate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Using Adobe Captivate Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Guide to Adobe Captivate instructional media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Adobe Captivate and accessibility issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
About using Adobe Captivate with other applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
About converting RoboDemo and Adobe Captivate projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Authoring requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
End-user requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Installing Adobe Captivate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Registering Adobe Captivate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
CHAPTER 2: Exploring the Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
About Adobe Captivate views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
About the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Customizing the work environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Displaying and docking toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Using the Filmstrip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Using the Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Displaying confirmation messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Using shortcut keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Magnification Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Undoing and redoing actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Changing capture keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
About the Bandwidth Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
CHAPTER 3: Creating Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Opening existing projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Importing Microsoft PowerPoint projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
About planning projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
About recording and creating new projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Recording software simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Recording scenario simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Recording other types of projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
About using project templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3
Using full motion recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Creating accessible projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Localizing Captive projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
CHAPTER 4: Adding Text Captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
About adding text captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Adding plain text to a slide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Adding text captions automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Adding rollover captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Changing the rollover area. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Converting tooltips to rollover captions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Localizing text captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Editing text captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Creating custom text caption styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Moving and resizing text captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Copying and pasting text captions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Importing text captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Exporting text captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Changing text caption order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Deleting text captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
CHAPTER 5: Adding Audio and Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
About adding audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Adding existing audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Equipment for recording audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Tips for recording audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Setting audio recording options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Calibrating microphones for recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Recording audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Recording audio while creating a project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Creating background audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Using a custom keyboard tap sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Adding silence to an audio file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Adjusting audio volume. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Adding existing audio to boxes and buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Recording audio for boxes and buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Setting keyboard tap sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Editing audio files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Editing audio timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Viewing audio details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Adding closed captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Previewing audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Exporting audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Deleting audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
About adding video. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Adding a video file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Setting video options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Setting audio options for the video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Setting position options for the video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
4 Contents
CHAPTER 6: Adding Images and Animation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Adding images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Adding rollover images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Inserting images as slides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Creating watermark images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Changing JPEG quality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Deleting images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
About animation in Adobe Captivate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Adding animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Adding animated text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Adding animation slides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
CHAPTER 7: Adding Boxes and Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Highlight boxes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Click boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Text entry boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Adding highlight boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Adding click boxes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Adding text entry boxes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Adding buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Adding JavaScript to boxes and buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Adding existing audio to boxes and buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Deleting buttons and boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
CHAPTER 8: Editing Mouse Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Changing mouse pointers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Changing mouse pointer size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Changing mouse click sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Setting mouse click effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Changing mouse movements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Aligning mouse paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Using straight and curved mouse paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Hiding the mouse pointer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Enabling the mouse wheel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
CHAPTER 9: Changing Timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Customizing Timeline appearance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Changing the order of object layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Hiding and locking object layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Previewing a slide using the playhead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Changing slide timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Setting caption speed automatically. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Changing keystroke speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Changing mouse pointer speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Changing object timing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Controlling Adobe Captivate projects with variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Contents 5
CHAPTER 10: Slides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Adding slides to a project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Editing slides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Changing how a project starts and ends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Adding skins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Securing slides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
CHAPTER 11: Adding and Managing Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Importing objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Using the Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Managing objects with the stage toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Duplicating objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Copying and pasting objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Copying and pasting objects from other projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Aligning objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Aligning objects on the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Changing object display order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Changing the size of multiple objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Aligning objects with the grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Adjusting object size and position by pixel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Merging objects into a slide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Managing interactive objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
CHAPTER 12: Editing Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Determining the size of your project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Deleting projects or templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Hiding projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Previewing projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Renaming projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Resizing projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Setting the background color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Setting project preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Adding a loading screen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Setting project properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Using a custom keyboard tap sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Checking spelling in Adobe Captivate projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
CHAPTER 13: Creating eLearning Content. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
About branching in Adobe Captivate projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
About editing branching in Adobe Captivate projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Exporting Branching view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Creating question slides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Setting eLearning output options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Setting eLearning pass rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Creating question review messages for quizzes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Creating a manifest file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Creating a PIF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Organizing quizzes with the Quiz Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
6 Contents
CHAPTER 14: Creating a Menu of Adobe Captivate Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
About creating MenuBuilder projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
About using text in MenuBuilder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Using images in MenuBuilder Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
About using click boxes in MenuBuilder projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
About changing MenuBuilder project options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
About exporting MenuBuilder projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
CHAPTER 15: Publishing Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Publishing projects as stand-alone (EXE) files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Publishing projects to Adobe Connect Enterprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
Publishing projects as Flash files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Publishing projects as printed Word output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Publishing projects to the web using FTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Sending projects using e-mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Publishing an AICC content or a SCORM package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Exporting text captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
CHAPTER 16: Adobe Captivate and Other Software Applications. . . . . . . . . . . 269
Adobe Captivate and Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Adobe Captivate and Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Adobe Captivate and RoboHelp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Adobe Captivate and Microsoft PowerPoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
CHAPTER 17: Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Troubleshooting Adobe Captivate project startup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Troubleshooting animation timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Troubleshooting application distortion when recording. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Troubleshooting capturing while recording a web application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Troubleshooting choppy full motion recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Correcting colors in slides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Troubleshooting fonts on transparent captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Troubleshooting Adobe Captivate output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Troubleshooting video errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Troubleshooting text viewed in a browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Troubleshooting font size in text entry boxes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Troubleshooting the number of slides in a project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Troubleshooting publishing projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Troubleshooting quizzing errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Troubleshooting exporting projects to Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Troubleshooting JavaScript that does not appear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Troubleshooting the Skin Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Uninstalling Adobe Captivate 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Contents 7
8 Contents
CHAPTER 1
Introduction and Installation
Adobe® Captivate™ 2 is a professional software tool that you can use to quickly create interactive
demonstrations and simulations in a variety of formats including Macromedia® Flash® from
Adobe (SWF) and executable files (EXE). Anyone who needs to develop online product
demonstrations, software simulations for e-learning, or online tutorials for user support will find
Adobe Captivate an ideal solution. Adobe Captivate includes everything you need to record
actions in any application and instantly create a simulation.
Adobe Captivate lets you add customized text captions, audio (voice-overs, background music,
and sound effects), video, animation, text animations, images, hyperlinks, and more to your
projects. A small file size and high resolution make Adobe Captivate simulations and
demonstrations easy to publish online or burn to CD for use in training, sales, marketing, or user
support.
If you use Adobe Captivate to create e-learning content, you can add fully interactive question
slides, buttons, click boxes, and text entry boxes. Adobe Captivate is SCORM 1.2 and 2004
certified and PENS and AICC compliant, allowing effortless integration with any learning
management system (LMS) or Questionmark Perception.
Key features of Adobe Captivate
Adobe Captivate has the following key features:
• Rapidly develop software simulations and demonstrations Get up and running in Adobe
Captivate immediately with a friendly user interface and a new Project wizard that walks you
through creating scenario-based simulations. Or simply start recording any application and
Adobe Captivate automatically captures every action on the screen. Increase productivity using
timesaving features like AutoText Captions (automatically inserts a text description of each
recorded task), automatic addition of highlight boxes, scored user interactions, and
instructional feedback.
• Create simulations and demonstrations in Flash format, without knowing Flash When
the recording is done, Adobe Captivate instantly creates a Flash simulation of onscreen actions,
complete with smooth mouse animations and text descriptions or scored interactions with
instructional feedback. No Flash knowledge or programming skills are required.
9
• Edit slides and mouse movement Every screen is a completely editable slide that can be
removed, replaced, or revised. Audio mistakes can easily be fixed using the new audio editor.
This makes changing or updating projects easy.
• Include interactivity without programming Increase the effectiveness of simulations by
easily adding interactivity including quizzing with scoring and branching, text entry boxes with
multiple correct answer options, and click boxes. Multiple interactions and objects can be
inserted into a single slide, enabling numerous choices or complex realistic simulations. You
can view and edit all interaction and branching in the new Branching view and Advanced
Interaction dialog box. When recording in simulation mode, Adobe Captivate automatically
adds scored interactions and instructional feedback.
• Integrate with other e-learning applications Leverage existing resources by integrating
simulations with other e-learning tools. Adobe Captivate supports SCORM 2004, SCORM
1.2, PENS and AICC, making it easy to deploy simulations through any learning management
system (LMS). Adobe Captivate integrates especially well with Adobe® Acrobat® Connect™
Professional, even generating special files in the background that enable tracking and searching
in Acrobat Connect Professional.
• Let Adobe Captivate do the work, and then import projects into Flash Take the m a n ual
work out of creating software simulations and demonstrations in Flash. With Adobe Captivate,
you don’t need to manually take screenshots and add mouse tweens in Flash. Record
applications in Adobe Captivate and export the project to Flash MX 2004 or Flash 8 for
advanced editing and further development.
• Enhance the Acrobat Connect Professional experience Increase training effectiveness by
adding interactive simulations to Acrobat Connect Professional and Adobe® Acrobat®
Connect™ Training 6. Viewers can be active participants who can fully interact with the
simulation.
• Maximize creativity with custom controls, templates, and menus Customize templates,
captions, and playback controls to match corporate identity or the graphical interface of
applications. Create eye-catching menu pages to display any set of Adobe Captivate projects,
enabling end users to access multiple simulations from one central location.
• Publish to a variety of formats Author a simulation once and generate multiple file formats
including SWF and EXE for easy distribution in the format of choice. Easily create handouts
or job aids using the Microsoft Word publish feature.
• Deliver rich media projects to over 98% of web users In Adobe Captivate, create high
quality content while maintaining a small file size. Immediately email projects, or post them on
a web site, Intranet, or an online help system. Take advantage of the Adobe® Flash® Player to
stream interactive projects. No plug-in downloads are necessary; over 98% of Internet users
can already view Flash files.
10 Chapter 1: Introduction and Installation
What’s new in Adobe Captivate
Adobe Captivate 2 provides major new features and enhancements, including the following:
• Compile scenario simulations for training Easily create interactive training modules. You
can simulate scenarios that form demonstrations, assessments, or training sessions in three easy
steps.
• View complex scenario branching Rapidly develop scenario-based training by visually
mapping out the different learner paths. Collapse and expand sections of the simulation and
focus on the branching at the end of slides based on a learner’s choice in the beginning of the
simulation.
• Manage project interactions globally Speed up development and manage all project
interactions globally. Organized as a table, the Advanced Interaction dialog provides easy
editing of all interaction options such as branching, attempts, success and failure actions,
shortcuts, time limits, scoring and reporting.
• Enhance training with Flash Video Add and customize the presentation of video in training
content with an easy, dialog driven process. Benefit from alpha channel support and the ability
to insert Flash Video recorded with green screens. Create engaging content with avatars
pointing out screen areas, or use videos for characters in scenarios.
• Create scenario- or interaction-based training Develop projects for training that include
“soft skills” such as role-play, sales, or management training. With the scenario simulation, you
can create a project in three easy steps.
• Reuse and update content in the project Library Save production time and manage all
project components using the Library panel. Drag objects from the Library onto slides or into
the Timeline. Reuse content and import libraries from existing projects. Launch third-party
tools from within the Library to edit, or update Library objects such as audio or image files.
• Focus the learner’s attention by zooming in or graying out Engage the learner by focusing
attention to specific areas. Simply gray out the rest of the screen or magnify a particular screen
area with a zoom effect. Both effects can be combined for maximum awareness. The zoom
effect retains all interactivity of the enlarged area so learners can focus on practicing a particular
task.
• Enhance projects in Flash from Adobe Captivate Take projects from Adobe Captivate to
Flash for further development using the improved, powerful Flash export feature. Adobe
Captivate also exports the playback controls and other objects such as full-motion slides and
text animations.
• Improve look and feel with skins and menus Simplify navigation by adding a pop-up menu
with a list of demonstrations or simulations. Create a professional look and feel by using a
customizable skin. The playback controls and the menu are displayed as part of the skin and
don’t cover any areas of the training content.
• Leverage industry standards Leverage SCORM 2004 packaging and runtime
communication. Adobe Captivate supports SCORM 2004, SCORM 1.2, PENS, and AICC,
to easily deploy simulations through any LMS. Generate demonstrations and simulations that
are 508 compliant to reach audiences with disabilities.
What’s new in Adobe Captivate 11
• Print step-by-step job aids Provide printed documentation and generate concise step-by-
step guides. Use Adobe Captivate as a performance support tool and automatically convert
complex tasks into a printer-friendly job aid.
• Customize scoring slides Control the look and feel of quiz result slides. You can customize
all aspects of a slide including the score options displayed and the default text captions.
Reposition the slide by dragging in the film strip.
• Insert slide notes from the Edit, Storyboard, and Branching tabs You can now use the
Slide Note panel in the Edit, Storyboard, or Branching tabs to add notes to slides in your
presentation.
• Customize the size and position of objects You can use the Size and Position tab to define
the size and position of objects such as captions, boxes, buttons, zoom area, text animation.
Also you can use the Position tab to define the position of a Flash® Video. The size and position
dimensions are displayed in the Stage toolbar when you select the object.
• Work faster, edit more easily Save time and increase productivity with a multitude of
streamlined workflows and usability enhancements such as the new hide and lock option in the
Timeline, automatic addition of text entry boxes during simulation capture, color picker,
customizable workspace, zoom in edit view, an improved user interface and many more.
Benefit from increased product and playback performance.
• Enhanced settings for object properties The Apply to all option in the Slide Properties and
all object dialog boxes, lets you choose to apply options selected in the Settings menu, to all
slides in the project. The Settings menu in the Slide Properties lets you select how to apply
property changes in the project.
• Simplified e-learning content transferring from authoring or content systems to an
Adobe Captivate 2 supports PENS, so you can publish e-learning courseware to an
LMS
LMS with a one-time configuration in Adobe Captivate and a single click while publishing
content.
• Improved accessibility Closed captioning gives people with hearing disabilities access to
Adobe Captivate presentations. You can add descriptive information that explains the audio
recording in written text.
Using Adobe Captivate Help
Adobe Captivate Help uses WebHelp Pro as its output and is designed to open in your default
web browser. Because Adobe Captivate Help is located on a server, the speed at which the system
appears depends on your Internet connection speed. If necessary, you can select the option to
view Adobe Captivate Help offline, instead of from the server.
To access offline help:
• From the Help menu, select Use Offline Help.
Using the Help window
Adobe Captivate Help includes the following left panes. To access each pane, click the Contents,
Index, Search, or Glossary button in the toolbar.
12 Chapter 1: Introduction and Installation
Navigation buttons
Contents The Contents pane displays the table of contents, books, and pages that represent the
categories of information in Adobe Captivate Help. When you click a closed book, it opens to
display its content (sub-books and pages). When you click an open book, it closes. When you
click pages, you select topics to view in the right pane.
Index The Index pane displays a multilevel list of keywords and keyword phrases. These terms
are associated with topics in Adobe Captivate Help and are intended to direct you to specific
topics according to your way of working. To open a topic in the right pane associated with a
keyword, click the keyword. If the keyword is used with more than one topic, a dialog box
appears so you can select the topic to view, and then click Display.
Search When you type a question in the Search pane, related topics appear on the right. (This
feature is called natural language search.) You can enter questions or keywords.
Glossary The Glossary pane displays a glossary similar to one that you find in a printed
publication. The glossary is a list of words, short phrases, and definitions related to Adobe
Captivate. When you select a term from the top pane (“Term”), its corresponding definition is
displayed in the lower pane (“Definition”).
Toolbars
These features provide quick, easy navigation for getting around in Help.
Browse sequences The browse buttons (Next and Previous) are located at the top of the
browser. Browse sequence buttons are different from the Back and Forward buttons, as they
present topics in a predetermined order.
Full-text search The Search text box enables you to perform a full-text search of Adobe
Captivate Help. This type of search locates topics containing the text you enter in the Search text
box. Full-text searches examine every word in Adobe Captivate Help to find matches. When the
search is completed, a list of topics is displayed so you can select a specific topic to view.
Browser toolbar The toolbar at the top of the window is the standard toolbar for your default
browser. Use it to move forward and backward through the history of visited topics.
Adjusting the window and pane size
• You can adjust the width and height of the browser window by dragging the edges of the
window in or out.
• You can adjust the width of the left pane by dragging the edges of the left pane until the mouse
pointer turns into a line with arrows on each end.
Navigating topics
You can use links and Related Topics buttons to navigate through topics.
Links Blue underlined text denotes a hyperlink that jumps to another topic or web page, a pop-
up link that displays a window over the main window, or a text-only pop-up menu that displays a
brief text description. Some links “drop down” additional text or “expand” text to the right.
Using Adobe Captivate Help 13
Related Topics buttons When you click a Related Topics button, a pop-up menu displays a
list of related topics. Click a topic in the pop-up menu and it opens in the right pane.
Note: To see Adobe Captivate version information, select Help > About Adobe Captivate. A dialog
box appears identifying the version of Adobe Captivate installed on your system.
Guide to Adobe Captivate instructional media
Adobe Captivate includes resources that help you learn the program quickly and become
proficient in creating your own Adobe Captivate projects.
Adobe Captivate Help includes comprehensive information about using all aspects of Adobe
Captivate. To view Adobe Captivate Help, open Adobe Captivate, and from the Help menu,
select Adobe Captivate Help.
Getting started projects are actual Adobe Captivate projects that show you how to use Adobe
Captivate. Watch these projects to see Adobe Captivate and its new features in action. (The
projects are listed on the Adobe Captivate Start page, or in Adobe Captivate, click the Help
menu, select Getting started projects, and pick a project to view.)
Using Adobe Captivate is a PDF version of the contents of Adobe Captivate Help. It provides you
with information on using Adobe Captivate commands and features. The PDF file is available on
the Adobe website.
Getting Started with Adobe Captivate provides an introduction to Adobe Captivate and the basic
process of creating Adobe Captivate projects. A printed version of this manual is included with
the boxed version of Adobe Captivate and a PDF version is available on the Adobe website.
The Adobe Captivate Support Center at www.adobe.com/support/captivate is updated regularly
with the latest information on Adobe Captivate, as well as advice from expert users, examples,
topics, updates, and information on advanced topics.
Adobe Devnet at www.adobe.com/devnet provides tools, tutorials, and more for all Adobe
products.
Adobe Captivate and accessibility issues
You can create Adobe Captivate content that is accessible to all users, including those with
disabilities, using the accessibility features provided with Adobe Captivate. As you design
accessible Adobe Captivate projects, consider how your users will interact with the content.
Visually impaired users, for example, might rely on assistive technology, such as screen readers
that provide an audio version of screen content, while hearing-impaired users might read text and
captions in the document. Other considerations arise for users with mobility or cognitive
impairments.
14 Chapter 1: Introduction and Installation
About using Adobe Captivate with other applications
Adobe Captivate is a flexible tool that can be used together with several other software products.
Adobe Captivate works especially well with other Adobe software:
• Adobe Captivate and Adobe® Acrobat® Connect™ Enterprise
• Adobe Captivate and Flash
• Adobe Captivate and RoboHelp® from Adobe®
• Adobe Captivate and PowerPoint
For more information, see Chapter 16, “Adobe Captivate and Other Software Applications,” on
page 269.
About converting RoboDemo and Adobe Captivate projects
When you open an Adobe Captivate project created with RoboDemo, it is important to note the
file extension. RoboDemo 5 projects use the .rd or .fcz file extension. Adobe Captivate
automatically converts RoboDemo projects when you open them and gives them the new Adobe
Captivate file extension .cp. (Adobe Captivate leaves the original RoboDemo files intact.)
Note: Adobe Captivate 2 does not support projects created with RoboDemo versions prior to
version 5.
When you open a project created in a previous version of Adobe Captivate, Adobe Captivate
prompts you to convert the project to an Adobe Captivate 2 project. You can overwrite the
existing project or create a new project; you cannot open the new Adobe Captivate 2 project with
an older version of Adobe Captivate.
Authoring requirements
To create projects with Adobe Captivate, your computer system should include the following
hardware, software, and accessories.
System requirements
• Microsoft® Windows® 2000 or Windows® XP®
• A 600-MHz Intel® Pentium® III processor or equivalent
• 256 MB of RAM (512 MB recommended)
• 100 MB of available disk space
• Minimum 800 x 600 resolution color display (1024 x 768, millions of colors recommended)
Software and accessories for publishing and recording
• Internet Explorer 5.0 or later
• Adobe® Flash® Player (version 6.0 or later)
• Microphone to record audio
• Speakers and sound card
Authoring requirements 15
End-user requirements
End users viewing Adobe Captivate projects should have the following installed on their
computers:
• A Flash-enabled browser (for example, Internet Explorer 5.0 or later, Netscape Navigator 4.06,
or Netscape 6.0 or later)
OR
• Flash Player (version 6.0 or later)
• Speakers and sound card
Installing Adobe Captivate
Installing Adobe Captivate is a simple automated process. Check to make sure there is enough
free disk space on your hard disk to meet the system requirements.
After the installation program copies Adobe Captivate product files to your computer, you have
the option to activate and register Adobe Captivate online. It is important to activate Adobe
Captivate as soon as possible to enable all of the capabilities of Adobe Captivate.
To install Adobe Captivate:
1.
Close all programs.
2.
Do one of the following:
■ If you have an Adobe Captivate CD, insert the CD into the computer's CD-ROM drive
and then double-click the Adobe Captivate installer icon.
■ If you are installing Adobe Captivate from the Internet, double-click the downloaded file.
The InstallShield Wizard appears.
3.
Follow the onscreen instructions.
4.
Click Install on the last screen of the wizard.
Adobe Captivate is installed on the computer.
5.
Click Finish.
When you install Adobe Captivate, the product is a 30 day trial version until you activate the
software. It is very important to activate the software within 30 days. The activation process
verifies your product serial number and license. (For details, visit the Adobe Product Activation
Center.)
To activate Adobe Captivate:
1.
Double-click the Adobe Captivate icon on the desktop.
The Adobe Product Activation Wizard appears.
2.
Follow the onscreen instructions and enter your serial number.
The activation process begins. When the process is complete, a message appears stating that the
software was successfully activated.
16 Chapter 1: Introduction and Installation
3.
Click Continue.
4.
(Optional) Register with Adobe. Enter your name and e-mail address and click Register. A web
page appears and confirms your registration. (You can register at any time.)
Registering Adobe Captivate
Registering is optional; it provides you with many benefits such as priority upgrades, new product
bulletins, and timely e-mail messages about product updates and new content at
www.adobe.com.
It is a good idea to register your copy of Adobe Captivate. You can register electronically during
the product activation process when you first start Adobe Captivate. By registering, you are added
to the priority list to receive notices about upgrades and new Adobe products.
Registering Adobe Captivate 17
18 Chapter 1: Introduction and Installation
CHAPTER 2
Exploring the Workspace
Adobe Captivate is designed so that you can create a project easily. The following is an overview
of the Adobe Captivate work environment.
About Adobe Captivate views
Adobe Captivate has three main views: Storyboard, Edit (with the Thumbnail), and Branching.
Click the view tabs at the top of the project window, or press Control+Tab to navigate between
views. Each view features a window at the bottom of the screen where you can view, add, and edit
notes about individual slides in your project.
Storyboard view
This view appears when you open a project from the Start page. The project opens with small
images representing the slides that constitute the project. Storyboard view provides an easy way to
see all of the slides within a project at a glance. It also enables you to see the flow of the project.
You can change the properties of multiple slides at the same time: to select multiple slides, hold
down the Shift or Control key while clicking on slides; to select all slides, press Control+A.
Edit view
This view appears when you double-click a slide in Storyboard or Branching view. After recording
an Adobe Captivate project, you will probably spend most of your time in Edit view because this
is the view in which you add objects (such as captions, images, click boxes, video, and audio).
Using this view, you can make many changes to a slide, such as altering the mouse movement and
changing the mouse pointer.
In Edit view, you can see the Library, which lists media items in a project and lets you view and
reuse the images, backgrounds, audio, and animation in your project. Also, Edit view contains the
optional Filmstrip, Timeline, and Notes panels.
19
Branching view
This view appears when you click the Branching tab. The Branching view gives you a visual
representation of all links between the slides in a project, and lets you quickly edit those links.
The left pane contains the Properties, Overview, and Legend areas, which are all collapsible. The
Properties area shows the link properties of the selected slide or link, and lets you edit the
navigation type; the Overview section indicates which portion of the project you’re reviewing in
the main Branching pane; and the Legend section defines how each type of link between slides is
displayed. The main pane displays the type of link between slides, and lets you find and select the
slide you want to review. The bottom pane displays and lets you add notes for the slide selected in
the main pane.
The Branching view is particularly helpful when creating instructional materials containing
question slides, and specifying different paths for right and wrong answers. For example, you can
set one action (such as “Go to the next slide”) when a user supplies a correct answer, and you can
set a different action (such as “Open URL or file”) when a user supplies an incorrect answer.
Using the Branching view, you can easily make changes to the branching design.
You can export the branching view of an existing Adobe Captivate project into a BMP, JPEG, or
JPG file.
About the Timeline
The Timeline is a visual representation of all objects on slides. The Timeline provides an easy way
to view, at a high level, all objects on a slide and their relationship to each other. With the
Timeline, you can organize objects and precisely control the timing of objects. For example, on a
slide that contains a caption, an image, and a highlight box, you can display the caption, then the
image four seconds later, and then the highlight box two seconds after that. The Timeline also
shows any audio associated with the slide or with objects on the slide, letting you easily coordinate
the timing of audio with objects.
You can use the Timeline to hide or lock objects easily. This is useful when a slide contains many
objects and you need to edit the objects separately.
About toolbars and menus
In all views, the program contains menus and toolbars at the top of the program window. Context
(right-click) menus are also available throughout the program.
Menu bar Click a menu at the top of the program window (for example, File, Insert, or
Options) to see the related menu commands.
Context menus Place the mouse pointer in the pane in which you want to work. Press the right
mouse button, and select a command from the menu.
Toolbars Click an icon on any of the program toolbars as a shortcut to dialog boxes and
actions. All of the toolbar options (for example, showing/hiding toolbars, toolbar location, and so
on) for a given view are located in the View menu.
Tip: For maximum editing space, open a project and click F11 to display Adobe Captivate in fullscreen edit mode.
20 Chapter 2: Exploring the Workspace
Customizing the work environment
You can change and customize certain elements of the Adobe Captivate work environment to suit
your work style.
To change the size of the Slides panel:
1.
Open an Adobe Captivate project.
2.
Double-click any slide to open Edit view.
The Slide panel appears on the left side with medium icons that represent the slides in the
project.
■ To change the size of the slide thumbnail images, drag the splitter bar toward the outside of
the program window to make the thumbnails smaller or toward the inside to make the
thumbnails larger.
■ To hide the Slides panel completely, click the View menu, select Show Thumbnails.
To show or hide the Timeline:
1.
Open an Adobe Captivate project.
2.
Double-click any slide to open Edit view.
By default, the Timeline appears along the top of the slide.
■ If it is not open already, click the View menu, select Show Timeline.
■ To close the Timeline, click the View menu, select Show Timeline again.
■ If it is not open already, show the Timeline by clicking the splitter bar arrow.
■ To expand the Timeline, click the small, black display arrow. To close the Timeline, click
the display arrow again.
To show or hide the Library:
1.
Open an Adobe Captivate project.
2.
Double-click any slide to open Edit view.
3.
From the View menu, select Show Library.
To show or hide the left pane in Storyboard view:
• Open an Adobe Captivate project.
By default, the pane appears along the left side of the program window in Storyboard view.
■ To change the size of the left pane, drag the splitter bar toward the outside of the program
window to make it smaller or toward the inside to make it larger.
■ To hide the left pane completely, click the splitter bar arrow.
Customizing the work environment 21
Displaying and docking toolbars
Adobe Captivate contains many toolbars that provide easy access to commonly used features. You
have a great deal of flexibility in selecting which toolbars are displayed and where they are located
in the Adobe Captivate program window.
Enabling and disabling docking of toolbars
This option lets you select toolbars, drag them within the program window, and place (“dock”)
them in new locations. The option is enabled by default, but you can disable it at any time.
To enable and disable docking of toolbars:
1.
From the Options menu, select Preferences.
2.
Select or clear the Enable docking option.
Showing and hiding toolbars
By default, the main, object, and alignment toolbars appear.
To show or hide a toolbar:
1.
Open an Adobe Captivate project.
2.
From the View menu, select or clear Main Toolbar, Advanced Toolbar, Object Toolbar, or
Alignment Toolbar. Note that these menu items are available in Edit view only.
Showing or hiding captions on the main toolbar
Captions are text that appear next to the icons on the main toolbar. The main toolbar is
displayed, by default, along the top of the program window, just below the menu bar.
To show or hide captions on the main toolbar:
1.
Open an Adobe Captivate project.
2.
From the View menu, select or clear Captions on Toolbar.
Restoring default settings for text captions
If you made changes to the appearance of text captions, you can restore all text caption settings to
their defaults. (For example, you change the font for text captions to Times New Roman and the
font color to green. Click Restore to default to change the font back to the default font Arial and
the color to the default blue.)
To restore default settings for text captions:
1.
Open an Adobe Captivate project.
2.
From the Options menu, select Preferences.
3.
Click Restore to default.
22 Chapter 2: Exploring the Workspace
Moving toolbars to a different location
You can dock toolbars on any edge of the program window or you can disconnect a toolbar from
the Adobe Captivate program window and have the toolbar float in its own separate window.
To move a toolbar:
1.
Open an Adobe Captivate project.
2.
Click the left or top edge of a toolbar until a four-point arrow appears.
3.
Drag the toolbar to an edge of the program window where it can dock, or to the middle of the
program window where it can float. (If you want, you can always drag toolbars back to their
original locations.)
Using the Filmstrip
Edit view contains the optional Filmstrip, which lets you see all of the slides in a project and work
with them while editing an individual slide in Edit view. Using Edit view and the Filmstrip
together is a fast and productive way to work in Adobe Captivate.
Note: The Filmstrip also appears in the Advanced Interaction dialog box, which is available from the
Project menu in any view.
To view the Filmstrip:
1.
Open an Adobe Captivate project.
2.
Double-click any slide to open the slide in Edit view.
The Filmstrip appears.
■ The Filmstrip displays all of the slides in your project in viewing order. You can change the
slide order by dragging a slide to a new location within the project. (To select multiple
slides, hold down the Shift or Control key when clicking on slides; to select all slides, press
Control+A.)
■ If a slide has a label (short title) assigned, the label appears under the slide. It can be easier to
move slides and jump to a specific slide if you have assigned labels instead of just using the
slide number.
■ If a slide has an audio file associated with it, the audio icon appears in the lower right corner
of the slide. You can click the sound icon to show a menu with sound options such a Play,
Import, and Edit.
■ If a slide is locked, the lock icon appears in the lower right corner of the slide. You can click
the lock icon to unlock the slide.
■ If a slide contains mouse movement, the mouse icon appears in the lower right corner of the
slide.
■ By default, the Slides panel shows slides in a medium thumbnail view. You can change the
size of the slides, if necessary, by clicking the View menu, selecting Thumbnail Size, and
then selecting Small, Medium, or Large.
Using the Filmstrip 23
Using the Library
The Library, which is available in Edit view, lists media items in a project, and lets you easily view
and reuse the images, backgrounds, audio, and animation in your project.
You can also open items for edit from the Library. For example, you can right-click an image in
the Library, select Edit With from the menu, and browse to your favorite image editing program.
The image opens in the program, and you can edit and save the updated image in the project.
You can float the Library outside the program window, or move it to a different location in the
window. To do so, rest the pointer over the top left corner of the Library pane until a four-point
arrow appears; then drag the Library to an edge of the program window where it can dock, or to
the middle of the program window where it can float. (If you want, you can always drag the
Library back.)
For each item, the Library displays the following columns: Name, Type, Size (in kilobytes), Use
Count, and Date Modified. (Use Count is the number of times the item is used in the project.)
Click the title of any of these columns to sort the list of items within each item category folder.
Note: You can only see the Library location when you’re in Edit view. If you switch to a different view,
you cannot see the Library. When you move back to Edit view, the Library reappears in the same
location.
New items appear in the Library whenever you add an item to the project. An item remains in the
Library and is available for reuse even if you delete the slide in which that item was originally
located.
If you use an item in one slide and then drag it from the Library to another slide, you can alter the
item properties in the subsequent slide without affecting the first instance of the item.
Library toolbar
The Library toolbar appears at the top of the main Library pane, below the Library preview pane.
The toolbar contains the following options:
Open Library Select this option to open another Adobe Captivate project’s Library. This allows
you to reuse any item from that project’s Library in your current project.
Export Select this option to save a copy of an item to a location outside of the project.
Edit Select this option to open an item in the editing application you previously selected for the
file type. This option is not enabled until you select an editing application for the specific file type
through the Edit with option in a Library item’s right-click menu.
Properties Select this option to open the properties dialog box for the selected item.
Usage Select this option to view the list of slides on which the selected item is used.
Update Select this option to update Library items that have been edited outside of the project.
Select unused items Select this option to highlight all items in the Library that are not
currently used in the project.
Delete Select this option to delete the selected item(s) from the project.
24 Chapter 2: Exploring the Workspace
Displaying confirmation messages
Confirmation messages appear when you perform important, and often permanent, actions in
Adobe Captivate. The confirmation messages give you one more opportunity to change your
mind when deleting information or changing key attributes. If you find that certain messages are
not necessary for the way you work or are slowing down your development time, you might want
to disable confirmation messages for actions that you perform frequently.
To display or not display confirmation messages:
1.
Open an Adobe Captivate project.
2.
From the Options menu, select Preferences.
3.
Select the actions you want to confirm, and/or remove the check mark from actions you do not
want to confirm.
■ Delete object Displays a message before an object is removed.
■ Delete slide Displays a message before a slide is removed.
■ Project resize Displays a message before a project is resized. (Resizing a project is an
action that cannot be “undone,” so it is a good idea to display a confirmation message for
this action.)
■ Video quality change Displays a message before the quality of a slide is changed.
■ Remove audio Displays a message before audio is deleted.
■ Cancel audio changes Displays a message before canceling any audio changes (for
example, adjusting volume, cutting and pasting sections, and so on).
■ Check audio input levels Displays a message before changing audio input levels (for
microphones or recording devices).
■ Frame rate change Select this option to have a confirmation message appear before
changing the frame rate.
■ FLA export instructions Select this option to have a confirmation message appear when
exporting an Adobe Captivate project into Flash.
■ Publish overwrite files Select this option to have a confirmation message appear when
publishing files to the same location more than once. (For example, you publish to Flash
and create a SWF file stored in a particular location. If you publish to Flash again, creating a
SWF file and saving it to the same location, a confirmation message will display asking if
you want to overwrite the existing file.)
■ Change audio Displays a message while recording, importing, or adding new audio to a
slide with existing audio.
■ Extend item Displays a message if you add audio to an object when the audio’s duration is
longer than the object’s duration.
■ Remove item from Library Displays a message when you delete an item from the Library.
■ Sharing of audio Displays a message when you change an audio that is used on another
slide.
■ Duplicating of audio Displays a message when you add an audio that is already on another
slide.
Displaying confirmation messages 25
Using shortcut keys
Shortcut keys provide an easier and quicker way to navigate and use Adobe Captivate. They let
you use keyboard key combinations instead of a mouse or program menu. Shortcut keys are
commonly accessed by using a keyboard function key, Alt, Cont rol , an d Sh ift in conjunction with
a single letter or number.
Shortcut key Action
F1 Open Adobe Captivate Help (To access dialog-level help, click the Help button
on individual dialog boxes.)
F3 Test view current slide (Edit view only)
F4 Preview project
F5 Record audio
F6 Import audio
F7 Spelling and grammar check
F8 Preview project from current slide
F9 Show the Advanced Interaction dialog box
F10 Preview current slide and following four slides
F11 View Adobe Captivate in full screen
F12 Preview project in web browser
Control+A Select all
Control+C Copy (slide in Storyboard view or Filmstrip, and selected object in Edit view)
Control+D Duplicate (slide in Storyboard view or Filmstrip, and selected object in Edit view)
Control+E Extend length of object display time to end of slide on Timeline (Edit view only)
Control+F Find a particular object in the project Library
Control+G Change slide to optimized quality
Control+H Change slide to high quality
Control+I Increase indent (selected object in Edit view)
Control+J Change slide to JPEG quality
Control+K Lock the slide
Control+L Sync selected object to the playhead
Control+M Merge the selected object with background
Control+N Move to Slide Notes pane
Control+O Open project
Control+P Align selected object with playhead on Timeline (Edit view only)
Control+R Print the project (through the Publish dialog box)
Control+S Save
26 Chapter 2: Exploring the Workspace
Shortcut key Action
Control+T Change slide to standard quality
Control+U Edit with (in project Library)
Control+V Paste what is on the clipboard (e.g., slide, image, object, etc.)
Control+X Cut (selected object in Edit view)
Control+Y Redo
Control+Z Undo
Control+Alt+B Show Thumbnails (Edit view only)
Control+Alt+L Show Library (Edit view only)
Control+Alt+N Show Slide Notes (Edit view only)
Control+Alt+T Show Timeline (Edit view only)
Shift+Control+A Add animation object (Edit and Storyboard views only)
Shift+Control+B Add new button (Edit and Storyboard views only)
Shift+Control+C Add new caption (Edit and Storyboard views only)
Shift+Control+D View slide properties
Shift+Control+E Insert new zoom area (Edit and Storyboard views only)
Shift+Control+F Insert Flash Video (Edit and Storyboard views only)
Shift+Control+G Show the Go to Slide dialog box
Shift+Control+H Hide/Show slide
Shift+Control+I Decrease indent (selected object in Edit view)
Shift+Control+J Insert blank slide (Edit and Storyboard views only)
Shift+Control+K Add new click box (Edit and Storyboard views only)
Magnification Shortcuts
Shortcut key Magnification level
Control+1 100%
Control+2 200%
Control+3 300%
Control+4 400%
Control+= Zoom in
Control+- Zoom out
Magnification Shortcuts 27
Undoing and redoing actions
You can reverse the previous action by using the Undo command. You can also reverse the action
of the Undo command by using the Redo command.
To undo an action:
• From the Edit menu, select Undo or press Control+Z.
Each click reverses one more action. Continue clicking Undo (or pressing Control+Z) to
remove as many of the previous changes as necessary.
Tip: When the Undo command is unavailable (dimmed), you cannot undo the previous action.
Tip: Adobe Captivate tracks actions from the time you open a project until the time you close the
project. Therefore, you can undo as many times as you need to, as long as the project remains open.
To redo an action:
• After you have used the Undo command, from the Edit menu, select Redo or press Control+Y.
Changing capture keys
Adobe Captivate has default keys for starting and ending the recording process (both standard
Flash recording and full motion recording). You can change these keys as you like.
Note: You cannot use the Escape, Enter, Tab, Spacebar, Shift (without Control or Alt), F1, or
Backspace key in a key combination.
To change recording capture keys:
1.
Do one of the following:
■ Open Adobe Captivate. From the Options menu, select Recording Options.
■ Open an Adobe Captivate project. From the Options menu, select Recording Options.
2.
Click the Change Recording Keys tab.
3.
To change keys, click once in one of text boxes and, on the keyboard, press the key or key
combination you want to use. For example, click inside the stop recording text box and then
press Shift+Alt+4. The key combination you entered now appears in the stop recording text box.
You can use almost any key, including the Control, Alt, Shift+Control, and Shift+Alt keys. For
example, you could change the stop recording key to Alt+R.
4.
When you finish, click OK.
28 Chapter 2: Exploring the Workspace
About the Bandwidth Monitor
Adobe Captivate allows you to view how much bandwidth a selected project requires. You can see
how much bandwidth each slide requires and how well the slides stream over a variety of
connections. With this knowledge, you can make project adjustments as necessary.
To analyze project bandwidth:
1.
Open an Adobe Captivate project.
2.
From the View menu, select Bandwidth Analysis.
Adobe Captivate generates the slides and the Bandwidth Monitor dialog box appears.
3.
This dialog box contains three tabs: Slide Summary, Graph, and Project Summary. Navigate
through the tabs as necessary.
The Slide Summary displays information about each slide. The following options are on the
Slide Summary tab:
KB per sec (Kilobytes per second) As a general rule, any frame with less than 3 KB per
second streams well over a modem Internet connection. Frames with larger amounts of
bandwidth might, depending upon several factors, cause playback to pause. If previous frames
require lower bandwidth, the higher bandwidth frame might download at an acceptable speed.
Note that the first frame in a project always has a higher KB per second value, because it is the
first frame to load and additional project information must load with it.
Seconds The frame duration, in seconds.
Video (KB) The size of any included video.
Audio (KB) The size of any included audio.
Graph This tab reveals how the project streams across time for different modem and
broadband speeds. You can view high-bandwidth frames and note how they appear on
common connection types.
Project Summary This tab displays project summary information. Both the size and KB per
second are listed for each project item. Size is much less significant than KB per second. For
example, a 500 KB project running for 60 seconds streams at 8.3 KB per second; this requires
a broadband connection. On the other hand, a 2000 KB project running for 10 minutes
streams at 3.3 KB per second, and this will stream well even on a low-speed modem
connection.
4.
(Optional) Click Print to print the information displayed.
5.
Click OK.
Note: After you have identified the frames that require high bandwidth, you can reduce their
impact on the project by extending the timing for the high-bandwidth frame or the preceding
frame(s). You need to do this only if bandwidth is limited and you notice distracting pauses during
playback over the Internet.
About the Bandwidth Monitor 29
30 Chapter 2: Exploring the Workspace
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