Storyline and Adobe Captivate Compatibility

Jun 09, 2014

Hey friends!

I am transitioning a course from Articulate Presenter '09 into Storyline because we are wanting to make our courses mobile friendly. The course I am currently transitioning has an Adobe Captivate file that I need to import. Knowing that Adobe Captivate creates .swf files (which are not mobile-friendly), transitioning the course into Storyline somewhat defeats my intent of making the course mobile-friendly. Any ideas on solutions or ways around this?

Thanks in advance!

8 Replies
Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Kelcy and welcome to Heroes!

There are some additional directions here on how to insert captivate content into Storyline. Although it should be noted if inserting Captivate content as a Flash file it will not work in HTML5 or the Articulate Mobile Player. For a full comparison of Storyline's Flash, HTML5, and Articulate Mobile Player output, click here. (If you insert your Captivate movie as a web object, it'll work in HTML5 output that is viewed in Google Chrome or desktop Safari. However, it will not work in mobile Safari or the Articulate Mobile Player for iPad.)

Michael Hinze

Hi Ashley, you mentioned that "If you insert your Captivate movie as a web object, it'll work in HTML5 output that is viewed in Google Chrome or desktop Safari. However, it will not work in mobile Safari or the Articulate Mobile Player for iPad". I'm not sure I understand why this may be. See below two screenshots of an HTML5-published Captivate file that was inserted into a webobject and then HTML5-published in Storyline. This works for me in both Safari on my iPad and Mobile Player App. Am I missing something?

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Michael,

That's how it's documented here - and since I don't know much about Captivate, I went with that.  I asked a few of my other colleagues in regards to if that was still accurate and they shared that the web object method may work with newer versions of Captivate which can be published for HTML5. Since it may vary based on which version of Captivate you're using - it may be something you'd want to showcase via a Screenr.  

I'll also check to see if we can get the documentation updated regarding the possibility of inserting Captivate content for use in mobile if it's included as a web object.  

Michael Hinze

Ashley Terwilliger said:

Hi Michael,

That's how it's documented here - and since I don't know much about Captivate, I went with that.  I asked a few of my other colleagues in regards to if that was still accurate and they shared that the web object method may work with newer versions of Captivate which can be published for HTML5. Since it may vary based on which version of Captivate you're using - it may be something you'd want to showcase via a Screenr.  

I'll also check to see if we can get the documentation updated regarding the possibility of inserting Captivate content for use in mobile if it's included as a web object.  

Thanks Ashley, I get it now. The Technote you referenced assumes that the Captivate output is in FLASH (Not HTML5) and, yes, that wouldn't work in mobile Safari or the Player app.
Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Yup - I think it was likely written before Captivate had the HTML5 option, and therefore the Flash output wouldn't have worked as a web object. I shared it with our team to see if we could update that note to reflect that some versions of Captivate may work...but it'll be something we'll refer folks here to the forums for assistance with. 

Thanks for bringing it to our attention though! 

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