1. Select Project > Variables.
2. In the Type menu, select User.
3. Click Add New, and enter the following information:
- Name: Specify a unique name for the variable. Ensure that the name is intuitive enough to help users guess its content. For example, a variable storing the version number of a product would have the name ProductVersion or VersionNumber.
- Value: Specify a value for the variable. The value that you specify occurs at all instances of occurrence of the variable in the document. You can also choose to set the value later by leaving this field blank. Variables with undefined values appear as blank spaces in the project.
- Description: Optionally, add a description for the variable. For example, you could add a note for the authors instructing them about when to use the variable.
4. Click Save.
Can you use custom variables to populate text boxes in Captivate?
If by text ‘boxes’ you mean either Text Captions or shapes used to fill with text, the answer is YES. You have to insert the variable, using the X button in the Character part of the Properties panel of the text container. I will post a link to a blog post where the workflowis shown step by step. It is written to display system variables, but the workflow is identical for user variables, after they have been defined.
Here is the link, post has also the possibility to download a free table with all system variables.
http://blog.lilybiri.com/discover-slash-use-captivates-system-variables-part-1
Correct labeling is very important! You cannot use a variable name for another item. To avoid that I always start a variable name with v_ to identiy it as a user variable.
Moreover, I have an external library with several shared actions. Much used variables are in one of those actions (v_counter, v_visib, v_one….) with description and default value. I just drag that shared action to any new project to avoid having to define those variables over and over again. In previous versions I could have used a template file, but the cptl-files at this moment (since CP8) are very, very buggy and shouldn’t be used anymore.
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