When you record a Captivate demonstration or simulation, one of the coolest things that Captivate can do for you is automatically create the text captions. (All you need to do to enjoy this feature is select Automatically add text captions for any of the recording modes prior to recording.)
For some developers, the text captions that magically appear in a new project might already contain verbiage that is perfectly acceptable, or may only need minor changes. For instance, if you record a simulation requiring a series of steps that include clicking the File menu and selecting the New command, Captivate would automatically create a text caption that says this:
- Select the New menu item.
If I were writing this particular instruction, I would choose slightly different words:
- Choose the New command.
Both examples are perfectly acceptable. If you elected to go with the first option (the one that Captivate automatically created), the text caption would be finished. If you were producing the project, you could happily go on to the next "issue" to resolve in the project.
On the other hand, if you wanted to update the text caption to reflect the second option, you'd have to open the text caption's properties and make the change manually. While not difficult, this kind of editing can be very labor intensive. So what's a developer to do? Read on…
Believe it or not, it is possible to edit a Captivate support file (located in Captivate's application folder) so that the phrases used to describe events when you record Captivate simulations and demonstrations more accurately reflect your corporate style guide. Here are the steps to success:
- Exit Captivate.
- Using Windows Explorer, navigate to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Captivate 3.
- Find CaptureTextTemplates_English.rdl.
- Make a backup copy of the CaptureTextTemplates_English.rdl file and store it in a safe place. (This is the most important step–if you mess up the CaptureTextTemplates_English.rdl file during the steps that follow, you could always copy and paste the original file back into the Adobe Captivate 3 folder… no harm, no foul.)
- Open CaptureTextTemplates_English.rdl with NotePad. (Open the version of the file still within the Adobe Captivate 3 folder.)
- Scroll through the document–much of the text in the file won't make much sense to you. However, if you scroll down to the part of the document shown below, you'll see that this is the part of the document that controls the words "Select" and "menu item" in the first example above.
- If you edit the text in this part of the template, the automatic text captions created during the recording process will allow you to skip much of the editing process during the post-production phase.
In the image below, the template has been edited slightly so that the words "Choose the ???? command" will appear during the next recording session.
- Save and close the file.
- Record a Captivate project using any of the modes to see the verbiage changes in the text captions (ensure Automatically add text captions is selected as mentioned above).
Go ahead, give it a try. I think you'll find editing the RDL file to be easy and, in the long run, a real time-saver. But please, for your own sanity, please take my advice and backup the RDL file prior to making changes to the original!
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