Problem with importing PPTX (PPT works fine)

[MarkAllenSchneider]

I have Captive 2019 and Office 2019. When I try to import a pptx file into Captivate, I receive an error. If I take that ppt file and convert it to ppt, it imports just fine. This has happened for my last three versions of Captivate (and the past couple of Office versions). And the PPT files come from many of my stakeholders. So the file is not corrupt. What could the problem possibly be?

[RodWard · Accepted solution]

PPTX is not a new format.  And the problem here is not usually the PPT file. This is just the way that Captivate usually works.  It seems that Adobe hasn't felt spending more development time on PPT import was as important as other features they wanted in the application. 

[MarkAllenSchneider]

Hi Rod.  I always appreciate your feedback.  Are other people also experiencing this problem with pptx vs ppt?

Thanks,

Mark

[RodWard]

This question about why Captivate cannot import a PPTX has been very common "issue" reported on this forum for several years now.  Adobe shows no interest in improving the PowerPoint interaction with Captivate, probably because they don't see a future in it.

You cannot really expect an imported PPT deck to end up being much more than fixed image backgrounds in a Captivate project.  The imported slide objects don't really get converted into equivalent Captivate objects (as they do in other types of authoring apps such as Storyline).

So using PPT as a starting point for a Captivate project is really tying your hands quite a bit creatively.  This is why most Captivate developers avoid it and build from the ground up in Captivate itself.  I realise many organisations don't understand (or care) about this limitation.  But that's still not going to change how Adobe operates.  They won't spend development money on anything unless they see a compelling reason to do so, usually based on whether or not it will sell appreciably more user licenses.

Since they can already claim to be able to "import PowerPoint projects" people that would have bought Captivate for that will already have been covered.  (Even though they aren't necessarily going to be completely happy with the results.)