Captivate 2017 (v.10) was released a couple months ago.
- Review the release notes. (note the ‘Tech Specs’ and ‘Compare Versions’ links on that page.)
- Check the helpful Adobe Forum for assistance and/or known issues.
- Download the Trial version.
The brightest update – ‘Fluid Boxes’ which help you to create truly responsive pieces for your multi-device delivery. From their site,
Explore the building blocks of Smart eLearning design with intelligent containers that use white space optimally…. Objects placed in Fluid Boxes get aligned automatically so that learners always get fully responsive experience regardless of their device or browser. Crunch authoring time and speed up time-to-market with a host of powerful properties, such as optional display of objects and locking of aspect ratio.
Of course, it’s not always that easy. General estimates are developing a responsive course takes at least 50% more time than a typical Captivate project, though fairly that should go down a bit as you become more adept. Check out Lieve’s blog (link to the right) for excellent articles on using Fluid Boxes.
Other oft-discussed features include:
- Adobe Captivate Draft (but only for iOS so far)
- Responsive sliders, text, and themes support
- Customizable closed captions
Finally, we often see questions about managing library assets in the various forums. Personally, I delete ‘unused items’ out of the library after almost every iteration/version of a source file. Some are less convinced that’s helpful, some with the thought that having those assets present makes it easier if they are to be used in the future. It’s a very personal workflow preference 🙂
Suggested steps for audio management, though you could essentially follow the same steps for any type of media – just substitute the appropriate related editor (i.e. Photoshop, Premiere, etc).
If you need to get your audio files out of a Captivate project for editing:
- Load your Captivate project
- Open the project file’s Library
- Right click the Audio folder
- Select Export
- Select the folder location for the exported files.
In your editor (i.e. Audition, Audacity):
- Open a file from the export folder
- Edit as needed (clean, shorten, or complete overwrite)
- Save the edited files (be sure they have the same name they original exports).
Back to your Captivate project:
- Find the Audio folder in the project Library (the one you may have exported)
- Select all the files you want to replace with the updated/edited files.
- Right click the selected and files and choose ‘Update’
- Verify the path in the resulting dialog – it should probably be wherever you exported the files to, or wherever your replacement files are located.
- You will be shown the replacement files matched in the target folder.
- Select Update
- There ya go! All the library files selected will be updated with the new files you pointed the Update process to.
Things to consider:
- If you substantially edit the audio files, their lengths will change on the timeline. Be sure to revisit the slides and ensure your timings (and lead/end buffer space) are correct for the slide content.
- When you look at the source location of any media file, this update process will work as long as that path exists and the file with-the-same-filename exists. If the same folder still exists where the original audio was imported from, just copy that entire folder (retitle it ‘project audio original backup’, or similar) then change the audio files in the original… then just perform the update steps below.
Oh! And don’t neglect the Adobe Education Exchange. Lots of good articles and how-to demos on that site. Adobe is putting a lot of energy  into building that site. I hope it continues to expand
Here’s a list of Captivate-related articles, sorted by most recent.