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Sandra_Ray
Participant
September 24, 2026
Question

Showing Captions when Interactive Button Clicked to Play Audio

I am working on Captivate 13.2.

I have a single-character block with a button. The learner clicks the button to listen to an audio file of a telephone interaction. 

For those persons who need captions, I need to add a caption file. Right now, I cannot find a way to display captions when the interactive button is clicked. I know how to add captions to slide audio, but not when clicking an interactive button.

Right now, the only way I can display the text for learners who cannot hear (or need captioning) is to add the full text in a hidden section that displays when the button is clicked. This makes the slide quite lengthy, and they have to scroll to find the next button.

Does anyone know how I can add captioning without having to include the audio script? I have a .VTT file with the same name as the audio clip. It didn't automatically pick up the captions as I expected.

    2 replies

    Sandra_Ray
    Participant
    September 29, 2026

    I think I fixed it. I added a link to view a PDF of the audio. If the user doesn’t need it, the slide functions as needed. Otherwise, they can view the PDF and then return back to the main course and continue as needed. 

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    Legend
    September 29, 2026

    Forcing the captions open for users who don’t need or want captions is bad UX. Have you enabled the playbar for your project? That gives users direct control over caption visibility.

    You could rearrange your page so the transcript is presented as primary body text, with the option to listen to the audio as a secondary mode of consumption. If the transcript makes the page scroll even then, your audio is too dang long.

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