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November 19, 2012
Question

I cannot access network files from Captivate 6 Trial

  • November 19, 2012
  • 2 replies
  • 1234 views

I downloaded the trial version of Captivate 6 for evaluation. My company stores our data on a server. When I try to open a file Captivate does not have an option to go to the server, which in this case is set up as my Z drive. All my other Adobe programs work fine. We have a much, much older version of Captivate that is on another computer and it works fine. The trial version will open any files I have on my laptop but not from the network. I can't even see them in the Captivate open file menu. If I open the folder where the files are stored and right click and "open with" I can get the file to open, howevr I get an error saying that some of the features may not function well because I don't have administrator privilages and I should close and open the program with "run as administrator". Is there a setting that I missed? If it is a case where all the files must be stored locally for Captivate to see them, this will not be a viable option for our company.

I run an Alienware M15x Running Windows 7 64bit.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

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    2 replies

    RodWard
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    November 19, 2012

    Since Captivate 5x came out there have been fundamental changes to the way the app works.  On WinVista and Win7 systems you need to set the Captivate application to Run As Administrator otherwise it will NOT work properly and will most likely crash.  If you are installing Captivate 6 to a networked PC in a locked down IT environment where you cannot get permission to Run As Administrator for this app, then you will encounter issues. 

    All Captivate versions have worked more reliably when project files are stored locally on your PC hard drive.  For several years now this has been the recommended practice if you wanted to avoid file corruption.

    Your description of how Captivate is reacting suggests to me that perhaps your PC environment contains other issues than just not running as administrator.  Is it possible that your company is also using virtual My Documents folders or roaming user profiles?  If so, these also will cause Captivate 6 to malfunction.

    sacrtcAuthor
    Known Participant
    November 21, 2012

    Thanks for the information. This is not our issue however. We just have a simple server setup. If I open a file from the server and then close it Captivate will then see the shared drive. I have gotten it to function, but it is a pain. So far I do not see any loss of functionality, but it should be this difficult to work with. We are evaluating and at this point, I'm not real sure I like it.

    Thanks again for the answers.

    Lilybiri
    Legend
    November 19, 2012

    Because of several functionalities, Captivate doesn't like to work on files situated on a network drive. Please copy the file to your HDD and after closing the file you can backup it back to the network drive.


    Secondly to have all  functionalities available (you should have seen a warning) on Win7 you need to run Captivate as an Administrator: use the right-click menu on the shortcut that opens Captivate, you can check the option to Run as Administrator, or change that option permanently using the Advanced button

    Lilybiri

    sacrtcAuthor
    Known Participant
    November 21, 2012

    Thanks for the answer. I knew all of this though. My issue was with it seeing our shared drive. Even running as Admin it would not see the drive. I got it to see the shared drive but have to force it. Having to work on everything locally and then transfer is not the best solution for us. This seems like a very awkard program, especially coming from Adobe. Let us not even mention that fact that they do not have a simple replay functionality in the program.

    Thanks again for answering.

    RodWard
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    November 21, 2012

    I am not sure what you mean by no replay function. Captivate does have this.

    With regard to your other issues:

    It may be that the way your IT environment is set up is causing Captivate difficulties in maintaining a link to your mapped drive. Nowadays there are some new approaches to virtualization and load balancing of servers that can introduce all manner of issues. Bottom line is that all Captivate project files should be on your local drive while you are working on them. End of story. If you are NOT willing to work this way, the by all means choose another app. But in my experience ALL of the desktop authoring tools need this.