Captivate 2019 and MacOS11 Big Sur

[ralp64]

Hi everybody,
iam using the last update 11.5.5.676 of Captivate 2019 on an iMac updated to the new MacOS 11 Big Sur. It looks like there is a big problem to show the correct layout preview window. If you use the responsive view-slider or change from 100% to optimal or lower or bigger. The desktop freaks out 😞

Is this a known issue? 

[ralp64]

UPDATE - Besides the desktop problem - i couldn´t reach the Captivate update function to controll, if there is a newer version. Because of this problems i was forced to downgrade to Catalina with help of my timemachine backup. 😕

[Kelsey Todd]

I had the same issue late last year when Mohave (Catalina?) was released. (whichever is the last OS). I installed it and then suddenly Captivate wouldn't work. I didn't have a time machine backup on my corporate laptop so I lost all my data. Lesson learned. Now I've awkwardly signed synced my work laptop with my icloud account just so I don't lose anything. 

I would wait a few months to update your iOS if you want to use Captivate. It takes them a bit to make it compatible. Since Captivate isn't part of the creative cloud suite it's managed by a completely different branch of the company it seems. 

[Lilybiri]

Great advice, and perhaps will be accepted since you are a Mac user. As a Windows user I don't dare to give such an advice anymore because at that moment the sky explodes over my head, raining insults and complaints.

[Saurav_Ghosh · Accepted solution]

Hi,

We've published a KB regarding the compatibility- https://helpx.adobe.com/captivate/kb/adobe-captivate-2019-mac-big-sur.html

Right now, Captivate 2019 isn't compatible with Big Sur. There is an issue with the project editor area when you launch CP on Big Sur.

We are working on it.

[RodWard]

Thank you for this advice Saurav, but if I might be so bold, it comes somewhat too late to help those Mac users that have already upgraded their OS.

It's been a known issue for many years now that new major releases of Mac OS almost always break Captivate functionality, if not render the entire app unusable.

I'm sure there are Mac users inside Adobe that are aware of when a new OS release is imminent, or at the very least would know AFTER it has dropped.

So how much trouble would it be for the Captivate DEV team to put up a thread here on the User Forum advising Mac users to hold off on upgrading until the DEV team had a chance to do some testing on the new OS to verify whether or not performance has been impacted?  This kind of support costs Adobe nothing, but would go at least some way toward alleviating the bad reputation Adobe gains when it comes to support.

[Allen_Partridge]

Rod,

I'm making a note and will ask Pooja to try to do this going forward. Reminding users not to update to unsupported releases of Operating Systems is a very reasonable request. 

In general - only the version(s) specifically listed in the release notes are supported. Customers can reasonably expect a fix / enhancement in the wake of major operating system updates that break the software - or a new version of Captivate that is compatible with the new OS, but only the advertised OS is officially supported until such a fix or update is released.  So the wise move remains to avoid the latest OS update until after the fix or new software version update is released. 

Allen

[Lilybiri]

Allen, that is very reasonable and most Windows users do respect that advice. However Mac users are bit different, for unknown reasons. 

[andrewg38962025]

Hi Allen

Can I ask why Adobe have not sent out a statement or email about Captivate to users? Surely for a new OS release, which was announced in June and then had 5 months of beta testing - this would have been known to Adobe before release.

I like many others, should have checked the system requirements and not upgraded to Big Sur - but expected that software from Adobe would have worked with the new OS. It's my fault - but if Adobe knew it wouldn't work - why not just display great customer service and let people know? I now either have to try and roll back my OS, or put clients work on hold for a month or more until a new version is released.

[mjmj]

Is it really our fault for expecting the current version of Adobe's product to work on the current version of the operating system?  

Conscientious users keep our systems up to date.  Big Sur has been available to developers for about a year now.  It's difficult to avoid the conclusion that macOS Captivate is not a priority for Adobe.

[andrewg76970232]

Hi Allen

A year later - a new OS, and the same issues still exist. This time around I have been wise enough to not upgrade, but there has been zero communication from the Captivate Team to users on the latest OS.

Is it really too much to ask for some basic communication on an OS that has been in the works and available as a beta for several months, and has now been released to the public a number of weeks ago? The Captivate team would have had access to the beta testing of macOS Monterey - the same as the other Adobe software teams do. However when I last spoke to the Adobe team some weeks ago, I was told:

a) they have not tested Captivate on macOS Monterey

b) they have no timeline or schedule for testing and/or release of Caoptivate for macOS Monterey

Not to have compatibility is one thing. But the refusal to communicate with customers is kind of ridiculous.

[mphermes]

Is there perhaps a timeline when we might expect this to be resolved?  I'm currently evaluating Captivate for our company and seeing that we're developing on Macs, we need to ensure none of our team is allowed to upgrade to Big Sur if we decide to move forward with licensing the software.  Any general estimates - days, weeks, or even months can help us create a plan to move forward on updating our systems.

It's also a little disheartening to know that apparently every major release breaks compatibility with Captivate like RodWard mentioned.  I'm not sure how long it took for Catalina support to be added into Captivate 2019 when it was first released, but if that was a long process as well it doesn't give me hope this will be resolved soon.

[ralp64]

Thank you Saurav for this official statement. But iam with @RodWard. It would have been nice with a statement in time before the official release. Iam a totally newbie to Captivate since two months ago, but iam a Mac Desktop Publishing user from the beginning - so i expect that such a big player to the Mac Univerum like Adobe (former Macromedia, former Aldus) had some kind of rutin for a quality controll. I didn´t find any warning text somewhere and took this for good sign. Now it´s cost me a whole day to recover. 😕

@Lilybiri i can´t talk about what windows-users do respect for advices or not or about their expectations from their OS. For me as a Mac-User iam used to that stuff is working fine and the customers are not to forced to do the beta-testing aswell. I updated to the official release of a new OS. Not any beta-release.  There was for sure time enought and a lot of different Beta-releases for all developer to test and come up with a solution or atleast with a warning. 

Somehow i got the feeling that it is "only" the desktop view or the project editor which was making problems so hopefully there will be a workaround soon.  🙂

(sorry for my bad english)

[genoMarb]

Look, Im sorry. You can't just open a KB and think that is enough. Adobe should put out some form of statement. So people that have not updated thier OS until now will wait. We login with our emails, how dificult is it to send an email, surely you know already all the iOS users. I just want to save fellow users this displeasure.  At the very least, just do this.

[I-Am-So-Professional]

Please check out my comment on this thread.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/captivate/captivate-2019-release-on-macos-big-sur-macos-11/m-p/116061...

[sarahcolette]

Hi everyone,

This issue has completely derailed a project that I'm working on under a deadline. I had not heard anything from Adobe about there being a delay in support for the Big Sur OS update. I work with numerous software applications and Captivate is the only one that is either still not supported or hasn't communciated a delay in support. 

If you are going to support Mac users, you have to address this issue or communicate otherwise. Please advise when we can expect a resolution.

Sarah

[KQS]

I use many niche software products that provide "advanced" development tools (Captivate, LabVIEW, etc). All are expensive because of their small customer base. The unfortunate thing is these same "advanced" software products also commonly profess ignorance when a new OS version is released that breaks their code. This is despite the fact that Apple releases versions of their new OS months in advance to developers like Adobe. One would imagine that the Adobe developers would have found the workspace bug if they had opened Captivate even once on a pre-release version of Big Sur. Obviously, the Captivate development team put zero effort into Big Sur before its release, which makes no sense because issues with the new OS have to be addressed at some point, so why wait and and only fix the problem after your user base has problems. Don't get me wrong, I love the Adobe family of products, but I would hope that this experience with Big Sur will prompt the Adobe managers to pay more attention to upcoming Mac OS releases. After all, the Captivate program attracts creative-type individuals, and they likely use the Mac in higher percentage than other business professionals.

[Lilybiri]

Do not guess like this 'they likely use the Mac in higher percentage than other business professionals." There must be a reason that concurrent eLearning tools do not provide a Mac version. Look for Mac users in this forum providing expert advice? 

[RodWard]

"After all, the Captivate program attracts creative-type individuals, and they likely use the Mac in higher percentage than other business professionals."

Best laugh I've had all week.

Creativity has nothing to do with the OS on your computer.

[kdmemory]

Sigh. I am a MacOS user and provide expert advice. Not entirely sure about "expert" though I hope so. So much to Lilibiri's remark.

About the "attracts creative-type individuals, and they likely use the Mac in higher percentage than other business professionals" remark: Hello! MacOS users, dismount your high horse attitude. There are so many creative-type makers, educators and artists who use Windows or Linux or whatever.

And I read several times here iOS. Big Sur is MacOS (for Apple Desk- and Laptops) and not iOS (which is for iPads and iPhones).

Klaus

[Lilybiri]

@kdmemory  You may be one of the big exceptions 🙂

Thanks for your help!

[sarahcolette]

I wanted to drop in and suggest an option for my fellow Mac users. You can add a Bootcamp Windows partition and install one of your 3 Cp desktop licenses on the Windows side. It won't help with continuing to work with all the software you already have on the Mac side, but it has been my temporary workaround to continue working slowly, but surely, on my project. Please be advised that your Mac peripherals may not work on the Windows side (the Bluetooth Apple keyboard and mouse drop easily), so you may have to go old school and plug in a mouse or just use your laptop. 

Another portion may be to use Parallels, but I haven't tested that. Hopefully this helps until we receive a Mac update.

[sarahcolette]

Correction: *option

[mphermes]

Parallels does indeed work, I've tested this on my end and it's a viable solution until Adobe releases a working version for Big Sur.  I haven't encountered too many bugs (and nothing too substantial regarding project size) since we were just evalutating it for our upcoming training, but moving forward I plan on using it this way.

[Inst Hotchkiss]

Has the issue with Big Sur been corrected? I tried to install Captivate on the iMac at work using Big Sur, and everytime I tried to click on an item in the interface it freaked out, just as the person in the above stated. The interface slid to the left and the workspace would not center. I was not able to draw a circle on the first page. I tried to edit the text and it would not let me. I have used Adobe for years and teach Adobe softwares at a college. I wanted to test this software to demonstrate to my boss to implement in course development and training materials that I use. Really disappointed... how can you help.