You can import and edit Microsoft PowerPoint presentations in Adobe Captivate. Imported slides can be edited in a Microsoft PowerPoint environment from within Adobe Captivate. You can choose to link to the source PowerPoint presentation to keep it in sync with the Adobe Captivate project.
When a PowerPoint presentation is linked to an Adobe Captivate project, Adobe Captivate creates a reference to the source presentation. When the linked presentation is opened in Adobe Captivate for editing, the source presentation is loaded into Adobe Captivate. Because the source presentation is referenced, and not embedded into the project, linking to presentations does not affect the file size of the Adobe Captivate project.
When you import a presentation into Adobe Captivate without linking to it, the entire source presentation is embedded into the project. Editing an embedded presentation does not affect its source file. However, embedding increases the file size of the Adobe Captivate project. You can embed the presentation when the location of the Microsoft PowerPoint presentation is not fixed. Embedding is also useful when the Adobe Captivate project must be opened on a computer that doesn't have access to the Microsoft PowerPoint presentation.
Adobe Captivate supports PowerPoint presentations with the extensions .ppt, .pps, .pptx, and .ppsx. You can import PPT and PPS slides even if you do not have PowerPoint installed on your computer. However, you can’t edit them after import. To import PPTX and PPSX slides, you must have Microsoft PowerPoint installed on your system. Adobe Captivate converts PPTX files to PPT files during import.
Scenario |
PowerPoint version required |
|---|---|
Import PPT file |
Need not install Microsoft PowerPoint if you are importing slides from a PPT file. |
Import PPTX file |
(For Windows) Microsoft PowerPoint 2013 or 2016 (For Mac) Microsoft PowerPoint 2013 or 2016 |
Edit PPT file |
(For Windows) Microsoft PowerPoint 2013 or 2016 (For Mac) Microsoft PowerPoint 2013 or 2016 |
Edit PPTX file |
(For Windows) Microsoft PowerPoint 2013 or 2016 (For Mac) Microsoft PowerPoint 2013 or 2016 |
Open, edit, and save the PowerPoint file in Microsoft PowerPoint before importing it into Adobe Captivate. Performing this procedure ensures that the PowerPoint version installed on your computer is stable.
- Do not close or use PowerPoint launched by Adobe Captivate during import or round-tripping.
- Launch both Adobe Captivate and PowerPoint in the same mode, that is either both in Administrator mode or both in non-Administrator mode. It is recommended that you launch both in Administrator mode.
- Avoid doing any copy/paste action (even in other applications such as Notepad, or file copy), when Adobe Captivate is using PowerPoint.
- Avoid parallel edits. For example, suppose that you edit a linked PowerPoint file within Adobe Captivate and the source file in Microsoft PowerPoint simultaneously. In such cases, the results are unpredictable.
- Avoid editing PPTX and PPSX files with older Microsoft PowerPoint versions. If you want to edit an embedded PPTX of PPSX file outside Adobe Captivate, export the file from the resource Library and then edit the file. The edited file can then be updated in Adobe Captivate.
- If you have installed any interactive PowerPoint plug-ins, ensure that you launch Microsoft PowerPoint before you open the presentation in Adobe Captivate for editing.
- Avoid linking to PowerPoint files over the network on a shared network drive. The results are unpredictable if you lose connectivity while working with the shared file.
- Ensure that the size of the slides in both Captivate and PowerPoint are properly aligned.
- If you have imported an audio file in PowerPoint slides, make sure that the audio file you are importing is in the same location as the PPT file.
- Reduce the Captivate file size by compacting the PowerPoint file.
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If you want to link to the PowerPoint presentation, select Linked. If you want to embed the PowerPoint presentation, clear Linked.
Adobe Captivate ensures that all Microsoft PowerPoint animations, all hierarchical animations (One by One, By level at Once etc.) that can be applied on Smart Art objects, all paragraph level animations on text having Text effects (glow, shadow, 3D, reflection, etc.), triggered Animations, audio bookmarks, and many more features are supported when a PPTX is imported.
If you select the High Fidelity option, you can import the features of the PPTX file.
Adobe Captivate always honors the timing of the PPTX slide. If you have modified the slide timing further in Microsoft PowerPoint (Rehearse Timings and Advance Slide -> After), select Slide Duration so that these altered settings are included in the import procedure.
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Click OK.
The PowerPoint slides are imported into the Adobe Captivate project and they appear in the designated location. If necessary, you can change the order of the slides.
Note:
Transitions applied in a PowerPoint file do not work in Captivate. For example, if you have applied a Morph transition to your PPTX slide, the transition do not work in Captivate after importing the PPTX.
Narration in a PowerPoint presentation slide is imported as a sound object and appears as a separate object on the Timeline. Even in the linked mode, changes made to the audio file in Adobe Captivate after import are not reflected in the respective Microsoft PowerPoint presentation. Similarly, changes made to the audio file in Microsoft PowerPoint are not reflected in the Adobe Captivate project. Object sounds are retained in the SWF file that is created from slides containing such objects.
Slide labels and notes are imported only during the first import. Any subsequent changes to the labels and notes in PowerPoint are not reflected in Adobe Captivate.
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Note:
If you have inserted notes into your PowerPoint slides, the notes are also imported when you import the PPTX. To see the notes in Captivate, select Window > Slide Notes.
You can insert Adobe Captivate projects into Microsoft PowerPoint presentations in a few simple steps. Publish an Adobe Captivate project as a SWF file. Then open a PowerPoint presentation and insert the published SWF file into a slide.
note: For information on inserting Adobe Captivate projects into Microsoft PowerPoint 2007, see the topic on PowerPoint 2007 on the Microsoft website.
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Set the Playing property to True to play the file automatically when the slide is displayed. If the SWF file has a Start/Rewind control built in to it, you can set the Playing property to False.
If you don't want the animation to play repeatedly, set the Loop property to False. (Click the cell to display a down arrow; then click the arrow and select False.)
Set Embed Movie to True to ensure that the Adobe Captivate project is always included with the PowerPoint presentation.
Movie properties
You can edit an individual slide or the entire set of slides imported from a PowerPoint presentation within Adobe Captivate without launching PowerPoint. If you want to edit only a few slides, edit each slide individually. It is faster than editing the entire presentation.
Note:
Single-slide edit mode is not supported on Mac.
When you send an Adobe Captivate project with linked slides for editing, send the PowerPoint presentation along with the project. Sometimes the recipient has to relink the presentation before editing it.
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Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the slide generated from Microsoft PowerPoint, select Edit with Microsoft PowerPoint and then select one of the following options:
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When you select Edit Slide or Edit Presentation, the PowerPoint editing environment opens within the Adobe Captivate window (if you are using Adobe Captivate on Windows. You can edit the slides in Microsoft PowerPoint.
If you are using Adobe Captivate on Mac OS, see Using Adobe Captivate with Microsoft PowerPoint on Mac OS.
Updating is necessary when the PowerPoint file is linked and the changes are made directly in Microsoft PowerPoint.
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Note:
If the file in the Adobe Captivate library and the original Microsoft PowerPoint file is not in sync, the color of the dot in the status column in the library changes from green to orange. If you remove or relocate the source Microsoft PowerPoint file, then a question mark appears in the status column. Click to relink.
When you send an Adobe Captivate project for editing, the recipient sometimes has to relink the presentation to the project.
You can import a presentation into an Adobe Captivate project without linking (embedded mode). The entire presentation is embedded into the Adobe Captivate project. Slides that are not selected during import are also imported into the Adobe Captivate project, but they are not visible in the project. When you choose to reduce the file size, Adobe Captivate deletes such slides permanently from the project. This process is irreversible.
The following list describes the changes in behavior when you use Adobe Captivate with Microsoft PowerPoint on Mac OS:
When you select to edit a presentation (added as Adobe Captivate project), the presentation opens in Microsoft PowerPoint and not in Adobe Captivate. On Microsoft Windows, you can edit the presentation from within Adobe Captivate.
When you edit the presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint, you can continue to work in Adobe Captivate.
Note: Do not edit the presentation when Adobe Captivate updates the project, else the changes are lost. Let Adobe Captivate update the project and then modify the presentation.
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