Captivate 9 - Text disappearing in Published version

[ChidsPujar]

Hi Guys, Facing a big issue with my Captivate project, would appreciate if someone could quickly guide me with this.

- Powerpoint files being imported into Captivate
- Make changes in Captivate, by using the edit the Powerpoint slide option (Ctrl+Alt+S).

Randomly (but quite frequently) the files get corrupt i guess. When i save it & publish it to HTML5 output the text on screen disappear...All browser show similar treatment. This is very eratic nature...

Can someone help me in this matter please?

Cannot share actual file due to client project files....

Regards

Chidamber

[RodWard]

Are you on the latest updated build for Captivate 9?

Have you set up Captivate as recommended with regard to default locations etc?
Setting up Preferences in Adobe Captivate | Infosemantics Pty Ltd

Have you tried resetting Preferences and deleting the Layouts folder to refresh Themes?

[ChidsPujar]

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, we have set up the preferences etc...Have tried switching themes etc but no improvement...We had to literally rebuild the whole course to get this resolved.

I feel there is something which triggers this behavior. Would anyone know a solution as this is happening quite often.

[Lilybiri]

From my experience in the forums, I learned that a theme could be corrupted, especially if it is a custom theme upgraded from a former version. Did you use a custom theme?  Deleting the Layouts folder in Public documents will refresh the themes coming with Captivate, but a custom theme doesn't have to be stored in that folder. I even recommend never to tweak an existing theme but always create a custom theme and store it elsewhere, not in the Layouts folder.

[RodWard]

I would also recommend you investigate all of the Object Styles in the document where ever there are issues. It could be that the objects are somehow becoming  unlinked from their object style.

This is just a guess, but here's a suggestion:

Try to determine which objects are consistently not appearing in the output (yes I know it's usually inconsistent) and then in Edit mode select those specific objects and look carefully at their assigned Object Style.  Look for a plus + symbol directly in front of the Style Name.  That indicates that something has been changed from the default style.  Try resetting the style back to its default setting (using the drop down menu just above the Style Name dropdown).   Then republish and see if that resolves the issue or has any effect.  If the object that previously did not appear now DOES appear, you may have discovered the reason.

[ChidsPujar]

Thanks all guys...Please note that this is a Powerpoint to Captivate import...we do not create any objects here except a few hotspots over the navigation buttons...

No themese are used, so how do i still refresh/delete the theme? there are no Captivate related stuff, whatever animation is there comes from the Powerpoint slide imported. The only thing that disappears is the Text...If i go to individual screen & edit the PowerPoint slide in captivate, it appears back...but then i will have to do this for each individual slide, i tried editing the entire presentation & then saving it, this does not resolve the issue...

I have tried deleting themes etc...but still no respite

[RodWard]

OK.  I think I may be seeing the reason here.

Is the text that is NOT appearing actually text that gets animated in PowerPoint?  That could be the reason it is not appearing. 

By the way, even when you are importing a PPT slide, there is still an underlying Captivate Theme being used.  There is no way to avoid having a Theme involved.

[ChidsPujar]

The text from PowerPoint, even if it is not animated does not appear. This happens ONLY when the captivate acts funny...Normal circumstances, the import works perfectly fine.

I am currently working on 10 similar types courses. They all have text/graphics animations in PowerPoint & work perfectly fine in captivate even if published.
I have faced issues on 2 courses on random basis. They worked fine in the initial stage, but suddenly stopped when Captivate started behaving erratically.

When i go to edit the slide in captivate & just save it...they start appearing again. But I have to then do this manually for each individual page.

[RodWard]

How often do you clear your Project Cache?

[ChidsPujar]

I clear it quite often...

As regards to your earlier point, i even tried publishing the course in flash only...& there it worked fine. So i gather there is something wrong when i publish it to HTML5... This does not happen all the time, but once it happens, i have found no solutions other than saving each individual slide again

[Lilybiri]

Just  a small clarification: you always use a theme in Captivate: its object styles, master slides. The PPT import uses the Blank master slide, is it totally blank? You talk about hotspots over navigation buttons: do you mean two interactive objects on top of each other, that is something you should avoid always.

[ChidsPujar]

yes the master slide is blank....

The interactive hotspots are placed over the Next images (which are in PowerPoint) Just to introduce the go to next slide functionality etc. NO two interactive objects are placed on top of each other...

[Lilybiri]

That is OK. I never use PPT as base for eLearning, too limiting.  Since the imported ppt slides are really movie slides, I wonder how the interactive objects are reacting: where is the pausing point?

[ChidsPujar]

I understand, but that is the requirement of this project. SMEs create the PPT & we convert it into captivate courses.

We add interactive hotspots & pause it at the end of each movie(swf). The next/prev hotspots facilitate to go to the next/prev page in captivate.