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Captivate Info Sheet
Captivate Info Sheet
Online Resources
https://helpx.adobe.com/captivate/user-guide.html - Usually, the adobe pages answer most of my questions
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqksaaBboESOUGsswRhF9KA - Paul Wilson, very thorough and easy to
understand
Click on Blank Project and verify canvas size (1024 by 627 is recommended for this class)
Removing default play icon at the beginning of the project (this is not in the Projects Tab, but in
the Adobe Captivate Tab)
Adobe Captivate Tab > Preferences > Project > Start and End > click Auto Play
Slides
Master Slides** like templates, when you modify a master slide, all the slides that use it as a base
will also automatically change.
See Master Slides in the PROPERTIES Panel
Click Master slide view, make modifications as desired (it is worthwhile to lean about
“placeholder objects” if you are taking this path) then Exit Master
Shapes
Hold SHIFT while creating a shape to make a perfect/equilateral shape
Can be modified in the PROPERTIES panel > Style Tab
Control when a shape appears, and for how long it stays in the TIMING panel
Add entrance/exit effects
Highlight Box: think of it as a highlighter, even when it is on top of another object that object is
still accessible, use it to draw attention to an area or object (you can have it appear on top of a
button if the user hasn’t clicked something in a few seconds, for example)
Mouse: Literally shows a mouse cursor going to something. You set up what you want to
show being clicked on.
Zoom Area: zooms in on something
Rollover Caption: when the user moves their mouse over an area, a caption will appear
Rollover Image: when the user moves their mouse over an area you set, an image will appear
Rollover Slidelet: works as the other Rollover features, but can have both text and images
Web: Loads a website in a small window on the slide
Interactions
Click Box: a clickable area that offers success and failure texts (and hints too)
Drag and Drop: an activity where users must sort objects into the right “zones”
Learning Interactions: Pre-packaged activities you can add (like word searches, certificates
and timers). Worth looking at but can be difficult to modify to achieve your own “look”
Media (add elements from outside of Captivate - you can also drag files onto the Captivate Stage).
You can see all the media you have added in your Library. You can also delete unused elements in
your library (this is good practice).
A note on Characters: - it is often suggested that you have a guide character in your
presentation, something to humanize the presentation and support the user as they are going
through the material.
Record (add your own narration directly within Captivate)
Publish (package your project for SCORM) see the section below for details
Assets (some pre-set images of people that you can incorporate as characters in your project)
4. The Timeline
Your slide will end and move on to the next slide automatically after the duration length if there are no
buttons that pause the slide. You can think of slides as movie clips.
Visibility (eye icon) if you want an object to be hidden initially, “x” the object. The object will not be
visible until something else “Show”s it. You can also hide objects in the PROPERTIES panel.
Lock (lock icon) you can lock something during editing so that you do not accidentally move it
Hierarchy (whatever is at the top of the list on the timeline will be layered above other objects). Note:
If something is covering a button, the user will not be able to click on it.
Click on the object in the timeline > drag the object up or down > release object
To show how it works, I will modify a Blank slide template in Master view
Exit Master Slide View
Choose your Master Slide design from the dropdown menu in the PROPERTIES panel
Now, changes I make in Master slide view to this blank slide will lead to changes to all the
slides that use it as a base. Here, I resize the star. You can see that slides 3, 4, and 5 auto
changed.
6. Object States
Change the appearance of objects (mostly buttons) based on how the user is interacting with the
object
Default states are:
Normal - the object is present but not being engaged with
Roll Over - the user has their mouse over the object, but has not clicked (note, as we switch to
mobile platforms, this is being used less and less)
Down - the user has clicked on the object
You can add new states (like a Locked State–like in Candy Crush, or a Visited Stated)
Modify States by clicking on the object > click on State View on the PROPERTIES panel
Click on the state that you want to modify
7. Incorporating Buttons
Use Interactions: Interactions > Button (note that buttons made this way have less versatility)
On Success - means when the button is clicked the chosen action will happen
There are several drop down-options, but a main one you will use is “Jump to Slide” this is better than
“go to next/previous” because it will always remember its path even if you change the order of your
slides
Infinite Attempts vs No. of Attempts - how many times can the user click on this button?
Display: add an on-screen message for Success, Failure or a Hint (if they click elsewhere)
Hand Cursor: The mouse pointer changes to a small hand when the user is hovering over the button
Disable Click Sound: takes away the “chik” sound (better to remove if you are including audio)
Reporting: Include in Quiz if you would like Scorm Cloud to track User’s experience with this button
***General Suggestion: set up your button and then copy and paste it to other slides, so you only need to set
up the interactions once
8. Modifying Slide Background
In the PROPERTIES panel click Project Background > drop down menu > Custom
Name them
Here is what my screen looks like now
Select the Drag and Drop option from the Interactions tab (this will launch a wizard)
Click on drag objects (select all of them, using “Shift” if necessary)
Hit “Next”
Click on the drop targets (select all of them, using “Shift” if necessary)
Hit “Next”
Drag arrows (the center of your drag objects will have a blue square and a black arrow, click from the
center and drag to right drop zone)
Move Success and Failure captions if desired (or move these later)
Hit Finish
Check “Go Back” if you want your objects to be sent out of the drop zone when they are
wrongly matched > Hit Ok
(you’ll need to do this for each drop zone)
Add an action to a successful drag and drop (like buttons, you can make a drag and drop
call up an action)
Click on a drop object then in the DRAG AND DROP tab > Format tab > Object Actions > No
Action
Set Action
(use advanced actions when you want one button to do two or more things OR if you want one button
to act differently based on certain conditions - eg. show transcript the first time you push it, and hide
transcript the second time your push it)
Set the green rectangle to non-visible (anytime something appears with the “show” action it
must first be hidden)
Set actions, select the green button > PROPERTIES panel > Actions tab
> Execute Advanced Actions
Save as Action
(use advanced actions when you want one button to do two or more things OR if you want one button
to act differently based on certain conditions - eg. show transcript the first time you push it, and hide
transcript the second time your push it)
Advanced actions when one button acts differently based on certain conditions
Make a button (Make Shape > click Shape > Use as Button in PROPERTIES panel)
> Type text “Transcript” on the shape
One button doing multiple things requires a variable > Click on Variables
Add New > Give the variable a name that starts with “var” to make it easier to find later
> Set value to 0 > Save > Close
Click on Create a new action
Give a name to the Action that you will be able to identify easily
Under IF > double click > use the drop down menu to:
Select Variable in the first drop down > select the Variable you made
Select “is equal to” in the second drop down
Select “literal” in the third drop down
Type 0 in the text field (here, you are saying if our variable is 0)
On the next row of Actions > double click > use the drop down to:
hit Assign > use the drop down to get the Variable you’re working with
> next drop down get Literal
> put “1” in the text box
Click on the ELSE tab (here, we want to do the opposite of what we did in our IF Actions
tab, so Hide what you previously showed, Assign 1 back to 0, etc.)
Use the folder icon to choose the final file location > Check Zip files > Publish
Locate your file
Remember that your file must be 100mb or less for SCORM cloud. To see the size of your file
> right click > get info
Go to https://cloud.scorm.com
Create a free account
Import Course
Click on Library (on the left) > your course link “Captivate E-Learning Course”
Select A Course > Select “Captivate E-Learning Course” > check Public Invitation > Create
Invitation
Copy URL > share with whoever you need to
The account page outlines how many registrations you have and how much storage you have
used, Clear Existing Registrations will set registrations back to o