Adobe Troubleshooting

When Adobe Captivate is causing you delays...

I've just been working on a project using Adobe Captivate 4.0.  I did have the Adobe update "for the record", but was still having a lot issues when I started adding the audio for the project. Yes, it was the audio, which I imagine, due to the size of the files, is what started my nightmare.

My basic problem in Adobe Captivate 4.0 was that it would run correctly on the timeline, but when in preview or publish mode, it would add a longer time to each slide that was specified and they would not advance when they were suppose to (It wasn't really a crash or stall, just a long delay). This was very frustrating. I spent some time figuring out a solution. This is what to do to fix it and also what you probably won't need to do, but you can try depending on your issue. I couldn't really find any forums or help on this so I thought I'd add it to my blog to help someone in need or (return to it, when I need a reminder!).

Because I'm sure you are frustrated now and would like a solution and you do need to finish the project very soon I'm sure, so here's what to try:

Adobe Captivate 4.0 builds cache. I found plenty of articles about cache for Adobe Captivate 5.0 but nothing really on Adobe Captivate 4.0. So what I finally did was I looked at the file it was creating in Captivate, in the Preview Mode, and saw it was pointing to this folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\Temp\cp4Temp

Close Captivate before doing the next step!

I moved all the files and folders from the above directory to a different folder in case I needed to restore them...for whatever reason (I was being precautious)...and I called that folder cp4Temp_old and left the cp4Temp folder empty.

Then I re-opened Adobe Captivate 4.0 and the problem was resolved (Totally Fab!!). Nothing else needed as far as I could tell.

After countless reading and trying to troubleshoot (and because I wasn't going to start over), I learned about needing to DaisyChain, so that was helpful.

Understand that Adobe Captivate 4.0 is known for causing corruption in files. I knew this but nothing worked to fix my problem. I had built a very large file...mistake number 1 for me. Lesson Learned, keep them to about 60 slides and learn how to Daisy Chain files, this link might be helpful. http://www.gooberguides.com/Mary/DaisyChain.htm I did implement this so the problem would not occur again. So far, so good.

I read you might be able to get away with more slides, it just depends on how much content is in on each slide and how large the file size ends up being.

Here are a couple of other things that might help you depending on what your issues are and where you're at in the troubleshooting:

1. Reinstall Captivate 4.0 (probably won't help you, so you might want to try this last!).

2. As I read here, Troubleshoot unexpected behavior | Captivate 4, 5, I closed Captivate 4.0, then renamed the Preferences file captivate_v40.dat to old_captivate_v40.dat in this directory:

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Adobe\Adobe Captivate

Then opened Captivate 4.0, it recreates Preferences file, captivate_v40.dat but this didn't help me for the issues I was experiencing.

3. Restore a file by following the instructions on what's recommended here: http://thedesignspace.net/MT2archives/000319.html or creating a new file as mentioned, but here are the basic instructions to import slides to an new project:

  • Create a new blank project with the same dimensions as the original CP file.
  • In the clean Adobe Captivate presentation select 'File>Import Slides/Objects from other Captivate projects'.
  • Browse to and select the corrupted CP file.
  • If no slides show in the importation dialog, then you will not be able to open the project.
  • If slides do show in the importation dialog, then click OK.
  • Once the slides have imported save your project.
  • You should now have an uncorrupted Adobe Captivate project.

Note: You will not be able to import quiz slides from one Adobe Captivate project to another.

Hope this helps you in some way, good luck to ya!