Question on Merging Filmstrips from Several Captivate 2019 Files

[andrew_g]

I have inherited Captivate courses that have several modules per course in separate Captivate (.cptx) files. I would like to copy all of the filmstrips into one course to publish to 1 SCORM object without sacrificing the design and programming from each slide on the timeline. Is this possible?

Thanks in advance,

Andrew

[Lilybiri]

All depends on the discipline and the good practice of the orignal developer.

To combine them in one file (with copy/paste using the filmstrip) without issues, it is required that:

• All courses use the same Preferences
• All courses have the same size in pixels
• Most important for the design: they all use the same Theme and do not have overridden Object Styles.

You still will have to do some editing, especially if you want to use a main menu slide, branching etc... 

Did you not think about using the SCORM packager? In that case you do not need to fulfull the requirements I mentioned but it will less look like 'one course'.

[andrew_g]

We did look to the SCORM Packager, but ran into issues moving from file to file. Also, some of these courses are a several years old and have published Flash elements. We were hoping that combining the SCOs and publishing them to HTML5 would make them anew.

[Lilybiri]

I must have misunderstood, but combining the files will not take out old SWF elements at all. That needs other approaches and workflows. 

[andrew_g]

Understood. We have tracked down the Flash/SWF elements and replaced them, but now we want to combine serveral Captivate filmstrips into 1 course that isn't very long so we can publish to 1 SCORM file. Articulate Storyline allows you to just copy and paste from other Storyline projects, so I was shocked at Captivate not making this process easier...

[Lilybiri]

You just copy/paste as well:

• Open the destination and source projects in two tabs in Captivate.
• Go to the Source project, activate the Filmstrip and use CTRL-A to select all slides. Copy them with CTRL-C
• Go to the Destination project, choose the location where you want the pasted slides aand use CTRL-V to paste them.

But what I told before: to avoid problems with consistency in design be sure before this simple workflow that the projects have the same resolution and use the same theme. In that case you will only have to edit the eventual branching andn navigation because all slides will have the theme look. 

It is simply because Captivate's Themes are taking out a lot of work to have a consistent design, same way as a stylesheet works for printed documents.  Does Storyline have that?

You cna just do the copy/paste since version 11.5 allows to have multiple themes in one project. But I wouldn't be proud of a project which has lot of different stylesheets.  

[andrew_g]

All of the themes are the same. They were built to be uploaded as individual SCOs in Pathlore. Why, I have no idea. I and a colleague did try to copy and paste the filmstrips together and got nowhere. We are running Version 11.5.1.499 and not the current version, which I believe is 11.5.5, would that possibly have an impact?

[Lilybiri]

Not at all. The workflow with Copy/Paste which I described is at least 10 years the same.  It is really very simple. How did you proceed?  You do not copy the filmstrip but all the slides on the filmstrip. Repeating

• Open the destination and source projects in two tabs in Captivate. Captivate has a MDI, Muktipkle Display Interface.
• Go to the Source project, activate the Filmstrip and use CTRL-A to select all slides.
• Copy them to the clipboard with CTRL-C
• Go to the Destination project, activate the Filmstrip choose the location where you want thav he pasted slides aand use CTRL-V to paste them. They will be pasted after the selected slide

[andrew_g]

Yes, I followed your directions, as did a colleague, and it only pastes text from the second module onto the last screen. It will not add to the filmstrip which is puzzling, because the theme, resolution, everything is uniform.

[Lilybiri]

That means that you had a text container selected on a slide and ocpied that to the clipboard. You didn't have filmstrip panle in focus.  Sorry, but I use that workflow almost daily, and why would it work for me and not for you? Very weird.  You never copy a filmstrip but you copy one or more or all slides in the Filmstrip to copy/paste. 

Maybe I need to explain in another language, my English is not understandable?

[RodWard]

Another consideration before you start should be that if you merge all contents into a single CPTX file and publish as a single SCO SCORM then you can only have a single quiz result at the end when you deliver this course from your LMS.  You lose the ability to get separate scores for each module in the course.  A SCO only has one result.  If you need more granular reporting, keep the modules as separate CPTX files and use the MultiSCORM Packager to bundle them.  Make sure your LMS can handle multi-SCORMs first though.

[andrew_g]

Rod, you make a good point. Also, we are moving away from Pathlore, which does allow multi-SCO objects to make up an individual course, to CornerStone, which I believe does not. That is the perdicament we are in right now.

[RodWard]

You mentioned earlier that the previous version of the course was divided into several different modules that were loaded into the LMS separately.  The main reason for doing things that way is to get the more granular reporting I mentioned.

Before you go to all the trouble of restructuring the course, at least check with Cornerstone about whether or not it supports multi-SCORM courses.  You may be surprised.  Cornerstone is one of the bigger LMSs around, used by many thousands of large companies.  The current version may have multi-SCORM capability.  

Here's the HELP file section:

https://help.csod.com/help/csod_0/Content/Content/Course_Publisher/Create_New_Publication.htm?Highli...

You also mention that you had problems with the Multi-SCORM Packager not allowing you to "move from file to file".  If you are referring to not allowing you to link directly from one module to the next, this is because the SCORM standard forbids a SCO from directly calling another SCO.  All SCO's need to be launched by the LMS.