adobe – The Logical Blog

July 8, 2025

Adobe Captivate: Web Objects

If you want to make your eLearning content more dynamic and engaging, Adobe Captivate's Web Object feature is a powerful tool worth exploring. A Web Object allows you to embed external content directly into your Captivate project, integrating live web-based materials like websites, videos, maps, dashboards, and interactive widgets without inflating your project file size.

One of the biggest advantages of using Web Objects in Adobe Captivate is keeping your content current without republishing the course. For example, if your training references a company policy page or a frequently changing knowledge base, embedding it as a Web Object ensures learners always see the latest version. This is ideal for responsive eLearning development, where agility and up-to-date content are essential.

Web Objects also enable you to bring in content and interactivity that Captivate can’t natively create. Want to add a Google Form, a live YouTube video, or an HTML5 calculator built with JavaScript? With a Web Object, you can seamlessly include these components inside your Captivate slides. This can be a game-changer for interactive eLearning design, giving learners hands-on engagement with tools and platforms they’ll use.

In addition to improving interactivity, using Web Objects helps optimize your course performance. Because you're linking to externally hosted content rather than importing large media files, your Adobe Captivate project remains lightweight, which reduces loading times and improves the learner experience, especially on mobile devices or slower connections.

However, it’s important to understand when a Web Object might not be the right fit. Since the content is hosted externally, learners must be connected to the internet. Also, SCORM or xAPI tracking doesn’t extend to Web Objects, meaning you won’t be able to track user interactions within the embedded content unless you implement custom solutions. Additionally, browser and LMS compatibility may vary depending on the content you’re embedding.

Despite these limitations, embedding external content in eLearning using Web Objects offers tremendous flexibility. Whether linking to real-time dashboards, embedding secure intranet portals, or simply including a video hosted on Vimeo or YouTube, Web Objects provide a simple yet effective way to enhance your courses without adding complexity or bloat.

In conclusion, if you're an instructional designer, developer, or trainer looking to create engaging and scalable eLearning, Adobe Captivate’s Web Object feature can help you build modern, interactive courses that remain current and lightweight—an essential combination in today’s fast-paced training environment.

Here's a video I created that shows web objects in action.

If you need Adobe Captivate support, I offer training, mentoring, and development support.

I have a top-selling Captivate course on Udemy if you'd like training on demand.

May 9, 2025

Adobe Captivate 2025: Interactive Videos

In this Adobe Captivate 2025 (version 12.6) tutorial, you’ll learn how to create an interactive video that displays knowledge check questions as overlays—going far beyond a traditional play-and-pause video.

You’ll see how to add and configure knowledge checks, insert bookmarks at key points in the video, and trigger actions that display those questions as overlays when a bookmark is reached. You'll also learn how to use an action to resume the video timeline after the learner interacts.

This technique helps keep learners engaged while reinforcing key concepts without disrupting the flow of the video.

If you need help with Adobe Captivate, I offer public vILT classes and one-on-one mentoring.

Also, check out my Adobe Captivate 2025 course on Udemy.

May 7, 2025

Adobe Captivate Classic: Add AI Audio (Text-to-Speech) to a Shape

Adding audio to a Captivate Classic slide is easy: choose "Audio, Record to" or "Import to." Adding text-to-speech to a slide object is a bit more complicated.

Choose Audio > Speech Management.
Click the plus sign to create a note area.
Type a script.
Pick your voiceover "talent."
Click Generate Audio and then click Close. (This will add the audio to the slide, which you will delete during that last step below.)
On the slide, select a shape.
On the Library, drag the new audio onto the shape.
Choose Audio > Speech Management and remove the audio from the slide background.

Here's a video that will walk you through the process.

Looking for help with Adobe Captivate or Adobe Captivate Classic? I've got you covered with live training, recorded training, and one-on-one or group mentoring. https://www.iconlogic.com/instructor-led-training/software-title/captivate.html

February 14, 2025

Adobe Captivate 12: Auto-Advance Slides

In older versions of Adobe Captivate, slides automatically advanced from one to the next. If you wanted a slide to pause for learner engagement, you had to add an interactive component, such as a button or click box. This version of Captivate is as different from Captivate Classic as night is from day.

To make a Captivate 12 slide auto-advance, add a bookmark to the Timeline and set its action to go to the next slide.

This short video demonstrates the process.

If you need Adobe Captivate training, mentoring, or development support, we can help.

August 21, 2024

Adobe RoboHelp: Consistent Image Sizes

I recently had a student from one of my vILT RoboHelp classes ask how they could quickly control the size of multiple images for an entire project. Her supervisor wanted several images displayed at 50% of their original height and width.

This is a reasonably simple task via CSS.

To begin, open the assets folder and open your project CSS. In the example below, I opened the default css that comes with every new RoboHelp project.

Create a New Style.

In the Class area, type a name. In the example below, I've named my new style Images. Note that the same name will automatically be added to the Selector area.

Click the Done button.

With the new style open, open the Layout category. Because my student wanted the images 50% smaller than the original, I set the Height and Width to 50%.

Save the project.

Open a topic with an image or import an image into a topic.

At the far right of the RoboHelp window, click Styles.

Select the image in the topic and click your Images style from the list of styles.

Use the style on as many images throughout the project as appropriate.

To change the size of the images using the Images style, go back to the CSS file and edit the Images styles. After saving the CSS file, all images using the Images style will instantly update.

May 6, 2024

Adobe Captivate 12.3: Image Editing Improvements

The 12.3 update Adobe made to Adobe Captivate now provides some helpful image editing features. You learn how to add images to a project early on the first day of my two-day Adobe Captivate training class,

Once you have added an image to a slide, you can change the image focus and crop it via a single screen. What I love about the editing enhancements is that you can see how the edit will appear in multiple views without first having to close the editing screen and preview it in the browser.

To change the image focus, select the Visual Properties panel.

To the right of the Image drop-down menu, click the Edit icon to open the Edit Image options.

From the Image Focus area, select an alignment.

The three previews at the right provide a helpful indication of how the edit will appear on multiple displays.

To crop a Captivate image, at the left side of the Edit image screen, drag one of the corner circles a few inches

The preview area will show you how the cropped image will appear in the different screen sizes.

When finished, click the Save button.

Note: Once you have Adobe Captivate 12 installed on your computer, updates are free. To get the 12.3 update, go to the Help menu and click Check for Updates.

Looking for training or mentoring? I'm just an email away if you need help using Adobe Captivate or Adobe Captivate Classic.

April 18, 2024

Adobe Captivate 12.3: Share for Review

The Share for Review feature is one of the more compelling enhancements in the recently released 12.3 update for Captivate 12. Project stakeholders can now add slide-by-slide comments to your slides in one central location. Reviewers do not need to own Captivate or know how to use it. The review interface is clean and very intuitive.

To begin, ensure you're using the 12.3 build. You can get the free update by choosing Help > Check for Updates.

Create or open a project, and then click the Share for review icon at the lower right of the Captivate window.

You can accept or customize the default Title in the Share For Review screen. For instance, you might want to add a date or version number to the title. Otherwise, click the Create review button.

The project is published to a secure Adobe server.

From the Access type drop-down menu, you can choose between making your review Public (anyone with the link can access the review project) or Private (only people you invite can see the review project).

Invite people to the review by clicking Invite people and adding email addresses as appropriate.

Here is a sample email that your reviewers will receive once you click the Invite to view button:

Reviewers click the Open Review button and are taken to the project review screen. As mentioned, reviewers do not need Captivate or any special software to participate in the review process.

Once the review window is open, team members can add comments slide-by-slide.

What I like about the review feature is that people can add comments for each preview mode. In the image above, I added a comment in the Desktop view. I switched to tablet mode in the image below and added a comment.

As issues are resolved in Captivate, the developer clicks the Update review button, and the updated project is uploaded to the server. You do not need to create a new review; just let reviewers know an update is available.

Are you looking for Adobe Captivate mentoring or Adobe Captivate training? We offer one-on-one sessions, a step-by-step workbook, and private classes. And we love a classic. If you're still using Adobe Captivate Classic, we offer training and support on that version as well. Email me directly for more information.

October 26, 2023

Integrate Adobe Captivate eLearning Output with Adobe RoboHelp Projects

Integrating interactive eLearning with your use assistance or help documentation is super easy if you use the Adobe Technical Communication Suite.

Check out this full training session that I taught for Adobe at DitaWorld: https://youtu.be/FdM148qDjTQ?si=-5Dq7o-QYAh_tzi6

You'll learn to use Adobe Captivate Classic (Captivate 2019) to create an interactive software simulation and publish the lesson as HTML5. Then, you will learn how to incorporate the training into an Adobe RoboHelp project.

September 13, 2023

Adobe Captivate 12 (2023): The Timeline Widget

In the spirit of learner engagement and interactivity, you're going to love the widgets you'll find in Adobe Captivate 2023 (also known as Captivate 12). Over the next couple of weeks, I'll show you how to use the widgets in a project.

First up: the Timeline widget.

Open or create a Captivate project and insert a blank slide.

From the icons at the left, click Add new widget.

Choose Timeline widget.

The widget is added to the slide with placeholder content.

On the Visual Properties panel, change the number of timeline objects by moving the Number of nodes slider to as few as 2 and to as many as 6.

Select a design:

Add or remove your block components:

And replace the placeholder objects with your own content.

Preview the project to see the results and interact with the widget.

If you want to see the Timeline widget in action, check out this video.

If you're looking for a step-by-step training workbook, Adobe Captivate 2023 training, or mentoring, we've got you covered.

August 9, 2023

Adobe Captivate 12: Update 12.1 Released Today

Adobe released an update to Captivate 12 today. Here's a link to download the update: https://helpx.adobe.com/captivate/help/captivate-downloads.html

According to Adobe, here's what's changed in the 12.1 update.

Captivate doesn't allow you to select any file on macOS while using the Open URL or file action.
Captivate behaves unexpectedly when you select the Text tab of Success or Failure caption of a click box in a simulation project.
A valid numeric input in an input field produces an error.
Added a retry state for a Drag and Drop interaction when the number of attempts exceeds one.
When you try to apply an image filter on a cropped image, the filter isn't applied as expected.
Captivate behaves unexpectedly while creating a project on macOS. This happens when Captivate is installed with one user account and another user tries to launch Captivate.
Captivate may behave unexpectedly on Windows if you select the following fonts in a text object.
- Lucida Bright Demibold
- Lucida Fax Demibold

If you need Adobe Captivate training, mentoring, or eLearning development, check out our vILT courses: https://www.iconlogic.com/instructor-led-training/software-title/captivate.html. And, yes, we are still offering training on Adobe Captivate 2019… now known as Adobe Captivate Classic.