Adobe Captivate: Repurpose Preferences

by Kevin Siegel

Have you ever visited the Preferences dialog box in Adobe Captivate (Windows users, Edit > Preferences; Mac users, Adobe Captivate > Preferences), made several changes and later, maybe months later, needed those settings on another computer running Captivate? I'm betting your answer is yes, and you've had a tough time ensuring the Preferences in one project match those in another.

When I teach Adobe Captivate, I try to stress the value of creating a project template (and creating templates from scratch is a big part of my Captivate 6 Advanced class). If you set the Preferences within a Captivate template and then use the template when you create new projects, the Preferences will match from one project to the next. However, you can create perfectly nice Captivate projects without a template. In that case, understanding how get Preferences from one project into another is useful.

For instance, in the images below, I accessed the Preferences dialog box and set the Preferences on some of the screens.

In the Project Information area, I added information about the Author (Biff, as usual, gets all the credit around here), Company name, Project Name and the Description.

In the SWF Size and Quality area, I set the quality to Medium.

From the Project Start and End area, I added the company logo as the Preloader, set the Preloader % to 50, enabled Fade In on the First Slide, and set the Project End Options.

I also visited the Publish Settings and changed the Frames Per Second to 20 (30 is the default) and disabled both Enable Accessibility and Play tap audio for recorded typing.

Setting each of the Preferences above wasn't difficult. In fact, it took perhaps 2-3 minutes to set everything. However, since having to memorize all of the settings isn't something I look forward to on a project-by-project basis, the ability to export this project's Preferences is going to be quite nice.

Export Project Preferences

1. Open a Captivate project and set your Preferences.
2. Choose File > Export > Preferences to open the Save As dialog box.
3. Pick a save destination for the Preferences file and, in the File Name field, give the file a name. (Note: The Preferences are exported as a .cpr file.)
4. Click Save.

Import Project Preferences

1. Open another Captivate project (or create a new project).
2. Choose File > Import > Preferences.
3. Locate and open the .cpr file you exported.

After the import process, browse the Preferences in the project. You'll notice that most (but not all) of the Preferences exported from the first project have been imported into the current project.

Note: If you'd like to see the process of working with a project's Preferences, check out my video demonstration on our YouTube channel.

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Looking to learn Captivate quickly? IconLogic offers multiple live, online Adobe Captivate 6 classes each month includingIntroduction to Adobe Captivate and Advanced Adobe Captivate.