Growing pains. Captivate 9 to Captivate (2024)
I am moving over from Captivate 9 and trying to work in the new version. I can no longer seem to:
– copy/paste
– add layered text boxes or graphics (to hide private patient information)
– move buttons, graphics around wherever I want on the page
– create Master slides
Is this normal for the new version?
Here’s my main question:
I’ve started working on a course with an Intro page, objectives, etc. I am now trying to insert a simulation. Don’t seem to be able to insert a simulation into a course. What am I doing wrong? Appreciate your feedback!
Captivate Classic introduced some bugs which were not in version 11.5.5.
I agree with you about the loss of control in the new Captivate, which seems to be meant for a completely different audience of users. The main cause is the fixation on responsive projects only, but the new workflow with canned slide templates and blocks is even less customisable than the previous responsive projects with Breakpoints or Fluid Boxes. For professional jobs I only use 11.5.5.553 and just lose some time trying to reproduce workflows in the new version, which leads to many frustrations.
At this moment Captivate Classic is planned to expire in 2027 with the promise that it will only happen if all features are implemented in the new version. That is still a long way to go. Personally the reasons why I preferred Captivate over concurrent tools are all gone at this moment: reusability (no library, no shared actions with parameters, no solid themes) and collaboration with other Adobe tools (Photoshop, Illustrator, Animate, Audition… to mention some). If Captivate Classic dies really I will quit my favorite tool which I used since two decades..
As you may already be aware of, this new version is limited in features. Multiple problems you mention are due to:
- Version can only produce responsive project, which is already coming with the limitation that stacking is forbidden (what you called layering). You can only stack a block… on top of a background which can be an image.
- New version has no Project Library, which means you also lose the possibility to edit backgrounds and images with PS or another graphical editor. That allowed you in previous versions to blur sensitive information.
- Similar to Rise the concept of the new version ison having slide templates and blocks with a canned layout for the three devices. You are not allowed to freely move objects at all, you need to ‘obey’ what is possible in the PI.
- Themes have been deprecated a lot, only some styles remain. No master slides anymore. I am very sad about that because I have create lot of themes for clients to be able to streamline the design, branded for their company. Same regret for the lack of libraries, where I provided many shared actions to avoid having the recreate a complicated action from scratch.
- Simulations: it is chaotic (sorry for the term). You can create a sim (although I do not recommend to do it) but a sim is in essence not responsive. If you want to import those slides in a version 12 project (copy/paste) you will bump on multiple hurdles: resolution. Why do I use ‘chaotic’? Only sims have still click boxes and Text Entry Boxes, which do not exist anymore in other version 12 projects. Moreover, if you insert the sim in a responsive project, automatic zooming/panning is added. That may be fine for demo mode, but not at all for assessment/training.
You see that the problems are not due to your actions. I understand you want to test out this new version, and it has some nice features, but to me also to much lacking features. Are you aware of the fact that you are entitled to install Captivate Classic along (11.8.3)? You will be more comfortable in that version, although there are some bugs.
Thanks for your feedback. Yes, we do have Captivate Classic as well. All of our content was in Captivate 9, and we have recently upgraded those courses to Classic. There are some issues that we still need to work out but they are upgraded.
The new Captivate is very disappointing. We, as designers, loose all control of the look and feel of courses. You can’t even copy/paste, add layers (as you discussed), and I believe that you can’t add hotspots (not too sure about this). So disappointed by this new product.
Is Classic set to expire at the end of 2025?
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