ADOBE CAPTIVATE: Recording Screen Actions on a PC with a High-Density Screen

So, you got a fabulous new Windows laptop. It’s light! It’s compact! And it has a beautiful High-Density screen. The screen’s resolution is so sharp that you’ve got it set up to display at 150% or 200%, because otherwise the icons and text are so tiny and sharp that you can barely read them.   Then you try to do some screen-capture work in Adobe Captivate, and you are hit with an error message: Screen capture with high density monitor not allowed or perhaps something about DpiAwareness. The net result is that you cannot record the screen, either in software simulation or in video demo recording mode.

In the past, the fix was to manually update the AdobeCaptivate.ini file. You had to venture deep into the Adobe Captivate program files and find that .ini file. Then you had to edit it with a text editor and change the DPI setting to 1. Then you had to battle your Windows setup about permissions and file names and passwords even just to save your changes to the .ini file. Even after all that, many developers report that while recording works, the Captivate software itself becomes so teeny-tiny that it's impossible to use.   As an alternative to fighting with the .ini file, I've got two easy plans of attack for you (neither involve editing any sort of support file):   Plan A: Right-click your desktop and choose Display Settings. Change the size of text, apps, and other items to 100% (even if not recommended) and then close the Display Settings.

Restart Captivate and see if you can record a software simulation. If yes, all is right with the world. If you still cannot record the screen, it's time for plan B.   Plan B: Find the Captivate.exe file (it's usually in Program Files > Adobe > Adobe Captivate 2019), right-click and choose Properties.

From the Compatibility tab, click the Change high DPI settings button.

Check the checkbox for Override high DPI scaling behavior. Ensure that Application is selected in the Scaling performed by drop-down.

Click OK to each of the two dialog boxes to confirm your changes.   And that’s it. You should now be able to record screen actions on your high-density monitor with no problems.

***   Jennie Ruby, CMT, CTT, COTP, is a veteran eLearning developer, trainer, and author. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer and Certified Online Training Professional. She teaches both classroom and online courses, and has authored courseware, published training books, and developed content for countless eLearning projects. She is also a publishing professional with more than 30 years of experience in writing, editing, print publishing, and eLearning.

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