Adobe Captivate 2019 very slow

Report · Sep 25, 2018

Hi,

am trying to develop simulations and interactive slides, but either the new version slows down or hanged. Am using Mac it has ample space to accommodate captivate files. Any remedy?

Report · Feb 19, 2019

I have not done that before.

Captivate is sucking up 1GB of the memory. When I jump from slide to slide while developing, the CPU jumps up to 45% to 50%. Not sure if that is normal since I have not monitored this before. There was only a slight jump when clicking objects.

Report · Feb 19, 2019

It's not uncommon for Captivate to use more than a Gigabyte of RAM. How much RAM does your system have available?

Some earlier versions of Captivate had memory leaks that caused the RAM usage to gradually climb until it reached a level that would threaten the OS and then Captivate would crash (most likely because Windows killed it in self-defence). But that issue doesn't seem to exist in current versions.

How many megabytes is the CPTX project you are working on?

Report · Feb 19, 2019

16GB on the computer. I have been monitoring it since our last exchange and I am using 45% - 47% of the memory.

The files I have been working on today range from 7MB - 26MB.

Thanks again for your help on this.

Report · Feb 19, 2019

16 gig of RAM should be plenty. I have the same amount on my own HP Probook development laptop here, running Windows 10.

Mine also sits at about 45% of RAM in use but most of that is really Windows and other OS-related processes. Captivate is only taking up about 900 meg.

Those project sizes are minimal. Should not be a problem at all.

Another big factor in performance is the hard drive. I now always use high-speed SSD drives. I had a spinning disk start to die on me about 5 years ago so I quickly bought a new SSD drive and cloned the disk over. I was amazed at the difference it made to the speed of the same computer with no other changes. Do you have access to IT technicians at your place of work that could possibly test the performance of your hard drive? When you are using Captivate, does Task Manager show the hard drive maxing out?

Report · Feb 20, 2019

I have 32 gig of ram. With a DDR4 Drive

My captivate file that I am working on right now is 154.1mb. And my computer is using 75% to 115% of my CPU when I am typing in the question slides. I don't have anything else open other than Safari and the Activity Monitor.

I don't know what else to do!

Report · Feb 20, 2019

I'm not a MAC user so I cannot offer any experienced solution for you. We sometimes see these issues reported on the User Forum by MAC users but to my knowledge I have never seen a definitive answer that explains why some MACs have no problems at all and others run as slow as a wet week.

If you have your system set up as recommended (all CPTX files on local hard drive, all Default Locations on local, not using roaming profiles but also just local) then I don't know of any cause.

I think this is one of those times when you need to call Adobe Support and get them involved in finding the solution. Please by all means report back if you find a solution.

Report · Feb 20, 2019

RodWard , I do have an SSD, but I am not sure if it is high speed. I am going to get out IT team to give this computer the once over now that it seems clear it is not a software issue.

Thanks again for your help!!

Report · Feb 19, 2019

I am running a iMac Pro (2017)

Processor: 3.2Ghz Intel Xeon W

32 GB 2666 MHz DDR4

And using Captivate 2019, is like the slowest thing ever!

Anybody got any ideas on how to speed it up.

PLEASE!!!! Let me know!

Report · Feb 20, 2019

I am also having problems with Adobe Captivate 2019 on my brand new iMac:

iMac 27-inch, 2017
4.2 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory: 16 GB 2400 MHZ DDR4
Radeon Pro 580 8192 MB

The crazy thing is, my older iMac (2012), which has a similar hardware setup runs the software just fine. I've had Adobe customer support try fixing the issue but they just blame Apple. I've tried doing everything they've asked, even creating a Root user and installing the software that way.

I will definitely be uninstalling Captivate once I no longer need the software.

Report · Feb 28, 2019

I have this same issue with a newer iMac.

Any interaction with Captivate 2019 (and before) takes at least 5 seconds to respond with significant reduction in productivity.

I noticed these issues when I upgraded to an iMac with a Retina display. While the delay in the other Adobe CC apps is far shorter, it is particularly bad in every version of Captivate I'm using going back to Cp7.

I HAVE A WORKAROUND. Many of you won't like it, but it does speed performance very noticeably. Reduce the resolution of your display as low as you can tolerate.

For the Mac, you can do this in System Preferences > Display > Resolution.

Select the "Scaled" radio button, and the option below for "Larger Text".

Yes, I know. Your apps become horsey-huge. But try using Captivate after reducing the resolution. For me, productivity is almost normal speed. It's still much slower than I think it should be, but I'm at least 5x productive now with this simple step.

Of course, this will adversely affect the usable workspace for other apps, but it does avoid the Captivate delays for me.

I don't know if the delays are an issue with the graphics hardware or software (I am running Radeon Pro 580 with 8GB of VRAM), but I believe all the Adobe apps could benefit from improved graphics display optimization; whether it is using the Metal framework for macOS, or else libraries to work with the graphics processors more efficiently.

In fairness to Adobe, high-resolution displays require fierce software and hardware demands to render complex documents in real time.

However, I saw a demonstration from Adobe of a special Photoshop version running on the new iPad Pro that was able to edit and render massive augmented reality images in real time, so it would seem that they have already cracked this nut. Seeing that, I'm not sure what the cause of the Captivate delays are.

Perhaps development teams only work on one product, but Captivate could really use a tune-up to its graphics engine to render these very simple graphics much faster.

On another note, I would love the same graphics tools in Captivate that InDesign currently uses, but I'm not holding my breath.

I hope this helps.

Report · Mar 30, 2019

@brick-layers... Sir, much thanks for the suggestion, it is greatly appreciated...However, I tried this with my 2015 27 inch iMac- changed the display, SCALED FOR LARGER TEXT..Went back to Captivate to continue working on my project....Unfortunately, NO CHANGE in the slowness issues with Captivate 2019 for Mac.

This is going to take a patch or some sort of line-level coding overhaul in programming from Adobe .

It does not seem possible that doing something as advanced/sophisticated as, say, creating 3D lettering in Adobe's Photoshop CC, or rendering video in Adobe's Premiere, should in any way be NOTABLY MUCH faster (!) than doing things in Adobe's Captivate 2019, like...

typing a sentence
using your cursor to simply try to slide the program's window one inch to the left

To me there is no logical explanation, except that there's a PROGRAMMING ISSUE with Captivate 2019 for Mac, that needs to be fixed by the software developers of Adobe, Inc, ASAP, for it's customers.

Report · Mar 31, 2019

Every MAC user that experiences this issue should be logging it as a bug with Adobe via the Bug Reporting form.

Complaining about the issue here in the forum achieves very little. None of the users here can make whatever changes are required to Captivate's underlying code to resolve the issue.

Adobe won't be highly motivated to resolve the issue unless they think a LOT of users are affected and they judge that by the number of reports coming in from the feedback form.

Report · Apr 01, 2019

So how do I get the bug reporting form. I'm not familiar with how or where it is?

Report · Apr 01, 2019

Here is a direct link to the form:

Adobe Captivate

Report · Apr 02, 2019

RodWard

Done deal...I've reported these items to Adobe using the Bug Reporting Form.

I'm going to post a video to YouTube showing visual documentation of these issues and send them the link...Captivate 2019 for MAC has a serious problem! I let them know THIS PRODUCT is not the Adobe we know and love...This must be addressed and fixed by Adobe, for the eLearning community, with some swiftness

Report · Apr 09, 2019

I agree that Captivate 2019 on macOS needs a serious re-write. I'm on a 2018 MacBookPro

2.6 GHz Intel Core i7
32Gb Ram
Radeon Pro 560X 4 GB

Captivate is the worst performing app on my system by a long, long way.

Its slow speed, general glitchy nature, especially when using SVGs, and non-integration with standard macOS features (such as Fullscreen support) is frustrating at best. I have to "Save Early; Save Often" like Word 98 in case it crashes and I lose work. It is a serious productivity drain on a daily basis. It feel like a kludge from the 20th century.

Just yesterday I tried to record audio directly into Captivate. Normally, I use Audactity, but I needed to record some voice annotations for a fellow Captivate developer. It worked the first time. Then I kept getting “Audio encountered an internal error” errors. I went back to Audacity.

Please, Adobe, re-write Captivate for macOS from the ground up. Bring it into this decade before the decade is out. We know you can, because Creative Cloud for macOS is highly performant.

I would like my working life in Captivate for macOS to be a joy. Right now, I dread every time I have to open a project. And I have to do that most days of my working life...

Report · May 08, 2019

Thanks to the workaround by noybn, I feel the performance of Captivate is acceptable for my needs.

Yes, it could be faster still (considering the relative lightweight needs of the graphics assets), but I consider this solution good enough to be productive with *all* my apps.

Suresh, please either officially support "Open in Low Resolution" as the de facto resolution to this issue, or else find a way to have Captivate work natively at these high-resolutions. I believe Apple's Metal graphics libraries can help accelerate performance significantly.

In any case, many thanks to nobyn for providing an actual working solution to this very pernicious issue.

Report · Jul 02, 2019

I'm on a Mac and THIS resolved my lagginess and slowness. Thank you!!

Report · Aug 05, 2019

This workaround of lowering my resolution to "Larger Text" helped me! Thank you! It's a terrible way to work but at least I'm not waiting for the text to appear when I am typing!

Report · Mar 25, 2019

Same here, i use a 27" imac with 24GB RAM, EVERY single mousclick takes 4 sec at least.

I have to decide if our company will stick to this, and at the moment my only answer ist : PLEASE DON'T, lets find another app.

Even if i start a new projects i have 5 sec lag on every action i do, no matter what, even resizing the captivate window takes 5 sec.

If this is normal, i am out.

Report · Mar 25, 2019

I completely understand your frustrations as I am dealing with it as well. I can honestly say that Adobe is aware of the issue and has been working with me to fix it. Brick-layer's solution does work but it is an annoying solution because we need to change the resolution of our monitor.

Just sit tight - hopefully they will get this figured out soon.

Report · Mar 25, 2019

I hope this update comes before i have to give my report, as for now i cannot advise anyone to use this app, including me.

Report · Mar 25, 2019

I think the Windows users may not be anywhere affected by the issue as the MAC users are. So, I hope you think to include that in your report.

Report · Mar 26, 2019

Well, we work on mac, so ...

Report · Mar 26, 2019

Bummer...