Question: How Do I Prevent a Caption’s Timing from Changing When I Edit a Caption’s Content?
I’ve created projects with hundreds of captions. I’ve set up specific caption timing for every caption (for instance, one of my captions has been set to last for 7 seconds via the Timeline; another is set to 8 seconds, etc., etc.).
Here’s my problem/question/heartache: Every time I edit my captions, the timing changes! What the heck??? This is making me crazy! Help!!!!
Answer: Turn off Captivate’s ability to calculate a caption’s timing
Choose Options > Calculate Caption Timing and turn the command off (there should not be a check mark next to the command).
Why? Depending on how you look at the world, the Calculate Caption Timing feature is one of those "glass half empty, half full" kind of commands. With the command turned on, Captivate will automatically calculate how long a caption will stay on a slide based on the number of characters contained in the caption. That’s a glass half-full kind of thing–you don’t have to worry about the timing. However, if you specify caption timing on the Timeline and then change a caption’s content, you will inadvertently reset your specified time to Captivate’s calculated caption timing. That’s a glass half-empty kind of thing–and you’ll have to reset the caption’s timing via the Timeline or through the caption’s Option properties.