by Kevin Siegel 
You've captured a series of screens using Adobe Captivate. During playback, you realize that there is something on some of the slide backgrounds that you simply don't want the learner to see. Maybe you captured a sensitive URL in a browser window, or maybe there's a name or data being shown that would be a privacy violation.
You can easily edit any Captivate background with a graphics program like MS Paint and erase the problem areas. However, if the problem exists on several slides, you would be looking at a lot of editing. An easier approach might be to simply use Captivate's blur effect to make a sensitive background area impossible to read. Here's how:
- Right-click the slide needing the blur effect and choose Find Background in the Library.
- Drag the selected library image onto the slide.
You now have two identical background images. The one on top (that you just dragged from the library) can be cropped and receive the Blur effect.
- Using the Crop Image button on the Image Edit group of the Properties panel, crop out everything on the background except what you want to blur.
- On the Timing group of the Properties panel, set the Display For timing of the cropped image to rest of slide.
- Position the cropped background over the area of the background that needs to be blurred.
And now to add the blur effect…
- Right-click the cropped image and choose Apply Effect.
- Click the Add Effect button (located on the lower left of the Effects pane).
Note: In Captivate 5, the Effect button is simply a lowercase fx. In Captivate 5.5, the words Add Effect have been added to the button.
- Choose Filters > Blur.
- On the Effects pane, stretch the Blur effect so that it lasts as long as the Image.
- From the Properties area of the Effects pane, experiment with the Blur X, Blur Y and Quality settings until the effect meets your needs. (To test the effect, preview a few of your slides.)
