Captivate 2019 project on Mac not previewing

[WestsideCharlie_CL]

Just installed my new Mac version of Captivate 2019 (11.8.0.710), created a simple two-slide project and when attempting to preview (HTML 5 in Browser), it fails immediately with a Publish failed message.

When I attempt to Preview from this slide, an Adobe AIR window opens, with an OK button. When I click the OK button, I'm presented with a black screen. Very unsatisfying.

My publish settings are the default:

I'm on macOS Monterey version 12.6.

I know a lot about Captivate on PCs and am guessing there's some macOS setting I need to tweak.

Any help is most appreciated.

Thanks!

[RodWard]

There is unlikely to be any tweak on either Apple OS or even Windows that will fix this.

Adobe AIR is Flash-based technology.  It is still in Captivate 2019 because this version of Captivate predates the death of Flash in 2020. Using anything other than Preview as HTML5 in Captivate is really using Flash technology.

But as almost everyone on this forum well knows, neither Adobe or Apple has had reason to support Flash technology for some years now. 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/air-discussions/adobe-air-support-beyond-2020/td-p/10381868

That's the most likely reason why you're not seeing anything.

[WestsideCharlie_CL]

Thanks, Rod. Yes, I decided not to move off of Monterey for the reasosn you cited. Thanks forr your feedback.

[Lilybiri]

Of course I may misunderstand but you also mention that Preview HTML in Browser, which is the only valid preview for non-responsive projects (see Rod's answer) is also failing. That points to more than just the loss of Flash player support. If it was a responsive project, all Preview methods should work. Serious UI bug but that is my personal opinion.

First of all: which browser is your default browser? I guess it is Safari (Apple brand) and that browser is indeed often is tricky. Did you try with another browser like Chrome or Firefox, and with the same result?

[WestsideCharlie_CL]

Yes, I'm only using Preview HTML in Browser, and my default browser is Chrome. This is a non-responsive preoject.

I've tried previewing in Firefox and the result is the same. 

I think my next step is to reboot my mac, which I haven't done since installing Captivate.

Any more thoughts are most welcome.

Thanks!

[Lilybiri]

Clearing the cache and cleaning the Preferences are the most common first troubleshooting actions.

More info in;

https://blog.lilybiri.com/tips-for-troubleshooting

[WestsideCharlie_CL]

Well, I cleared the cache and reset preferences and still cannoy preview. Going to reboot now and then report back.

[WestsideCharlie_CL]

Rebooting did not work. I uninstalled Captivate, and re-installed it. The two-slide project I had created earlier was available. I created a one-slide project with a shape on the slide. I tried to preview it:

And got this:

Not sure what else to do.

[WestsideCharlie_CL]

One of my co-workers has also downloaded and installed the current version of Captivate 2019 onto his Mac. He is also experiencing the same problem, and having the same symptoms as described above. We both have uninstalled and then re-installed the application, and still cannot preview projects.

So now I know that it's not just my setup. 

Can someone from Adobe walk us through our set up to determine what's wrong? 

Any other ideas are welcome!

[Lilybiri]

I am sorry you are still having the same problem. Since it can be replicated as well by a peer I start to wonder if it is linked with a firewall and its settings, or due to other rules within the company? As I told before I am on Windows, where it is recommended to have admin rights for Captivate (not for everything) to have all features working well. However I have no idea if something similar is needed on a Mac.

You are sure to have a version which is compatible with your iOS version? 

[WestsideCharlie_CL]

Good questions Lilybiri. Most of my work over the years has been on PCs, so I'm naturally skeptical about the Mac OS system (just a silly bias.) But, corporate firewalls and such may be a barrier somehow, even though I appear to have full Admin rights.

That leads to the current OS. There is an OS update available and I'll probably install that to see if it makes a difference.

I'll keep you all posted. Thanks!

[RodWard]

MacOS updates usually break Adobe Captivate, not fix it.  

Adobe's system requirements for Adobe Captivate are listed here:

Adobe Captivate system requirements

Monterey version 12.X.X is said to be supported.  However, if the version you are intending to update to is not still Monterey 12, then doing the update might actually make things worse, not better.

If your organisation has a software support deal with Adobe, then your best bet to resolve this issue is to get someone in your company that looks after software to lean on Adobe Support to get their technical people involved ASAP.

[Lilybiri]

I forgot to ask a very simple confirmation: did you keep the default locations for the folders in Preferences, General settings (Publish at, Cache)? If yes, are those folders really on your system, not on a networked drive?

Another suggestion: can you open one of the sample projects, or a Quick Start project from the Assets panel? Is it possible to Preview that project?

[WestsideCharlie_CL]

I have not changed the default locations for either cache or publish. The publish path is:

Macintosh HD/Users/chmullin/Documents/My Adobe Captivate Projects

I opened Soft Skills Sample.cptx and was unable to preview it. As you know, though, that project is responsive so the preview option I tried is Live Preview on Devices. Still, got the exact same error.

Very puzzling since this install and paths are all local. We do have OneDrive and SharePoint services in our corporate environment so it's possible that that is affecting this issue. But no other application is having this problem.

Wondering is Apple support may have some ideas.

[Lilybiri]

Some users have indeed reported that OneDrive caused issues, but personally I also use OneDrive without any problems. There are non-responsive projects available as well, but all have to be published temporarily to show the preview in browser using localhost. Is it possible to move a project to a folder which is not synchronized with OneDrive? I always do this with the cache folder to avoid annoying messages when cache is cleared.

[WestsideCharlie_CL]

Still narrowing down where the problem may be.

My co-worker has a personal Mac that is nearly identical to our corporate Macs. He installed the same Captivate DMG on his personal machine and successfully previewed using HTML 5 in Browser.

Therefore, our issue is most likely due to the corporate image on our machines that are preventing access to localhost.

In general, what has to be "open" in order to launch a localhost on a Mac?

I'll reach out to our IT folks to figure this out.

[Lilybiri]

You probably are correct: access to localhost may be prevented by your IT people.

I also wonder if you are using Adobe fonts in the project? If yes, did you add 'localhost' to the domains when publishing?