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LPeterson1
LPeterson1
Inspiring
August 4, 2016
Answered

Help Editing Master Slide - Objects not staying put in filmstrip

  • August 4, 2016
  • 1 reply
  • 1065 views

Hello,

I am a little newer to Captivate in that I have edited and created projects where someone else developed the template. I am now developing a template in Captivate 8.01.242 and am getting really frustrated.

In my template, I am using placeholders for items I will need to change for different slides (e.g. images or titles) and using smartshapes for shapes I want to always appear. I have a lot of layers on some slides but once I have them in the right order I save, go to the filmstrip view, and things are NOT layering correctly! For example, I put a placeholder image in the background but in the filmstrip view it is on top. Or a text placeholder is hidden beneath a smart shape.

I have tried selecting "Master Slide Objects On Top" and things shift, but still are not in the correct order. Interestingly, if I select, deselect, and reselect that option, slide will rearrange objects every time.

Any help that can be provided would be great! I've searched the forums to no avail on this issue.

Thank you!

Lisa

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer RodWard

I would recommend you DO NOT use Captivate's CPTL file format to create project 'templates'.

Apart from all the reasons you mention in your own post, you may not be aware that Captivate currently still has (even in version 9) a huge bug with CPTL templates that means if you set up Variables and Advanced Actions in your templates and use them at all, then when your developers use your template to spawn new CPTX project files they will find the variables and advanced actions are duplicated by the exact number of times they were used in the template.  In practice this creates a huge mess that cannot be fixed.

If you want to see the issue in action or replicate it for yourself, here is a post I made about the issue some time ago (it's been around now for three Cp versions now):

Duplication Issues in Adobe Captivate Cp7 and Cp8 Templates | Infosemantics Pty Ltd

My recommendation in the video is that you set up a CPTX the way you want your 'template' to work and then just set the file properties to READ ONLY so that anyone trying to use that file will be required to Save As to keep their changes.  This avoids the bug described above.

1 reply

RodWard
Community Expert
RodWardCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
August 4, 2016

I would recommend you DO NOT use Captivate's CPTL file format to create project 'templates'.

Apart from all the reasons you mention in your own post, you may not be aware that Captivate currently still has (even in version 9) a huge bug with CPTL templates that means if you set up Variables and Advanced Actions in your templates and use them at all, then when your developers use your template to spawn new CPTX project files they will find the variables and advanced actions are duplicated by the exact number of times they were used in the template.  In practice this creates a huge mess that cannot be fixed.

If you want to see the issue in action or replicate it for yourself, here is a post I made about the issue some time ago (it's been around now for three Cp versions now):

Duplication Issues in Adobe Captivate Cp7 and Cp8 Templates | Infosemantics Pty Ltd

My recommendation in the video is that you set up a CPTX the way you want your 'template' to work and then just set the file properties to READ ONLY so that anyone trying to use that file will be required to Save As to keep their changes.  This avoids the bug described above.

LPeterson1
LPeterson1Author
Inspiring
August 4, 2016

Thanks Rod. I will definitely look at that, I need to create a sample eLearning for a client soon and can't waste time with the template. I'm also brainstorming with some co-workers, if I see or hear anything that might also help I'll post here.

Thank you!

Lilybiri
Lilybiri
Legend
August 4, 2016

FYI you don't use the latest version of 8, which is 8.0.3

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