Adobe Captivate Reviews

A powerful player in the e-learning arena

Comments: While I am just jumping into the platform as my current job requires it over other software platforms, I am impressed. Having used the entire Adobe CC and other e-learning software, this platform is not difficult to transition into.

Pros:

Having used many products for developing e-learning, Captivate is among the top-tier development programs but has a high cost to entry. The platform is powerful and has a lot of nuances that allow for digging deep into options for developing truly custom courses and user experiences.

Cons:

While you can dig deeply into advanced interactions, data reporting, etc, the learning curve is immense to begin to understand elements such as advanced actions, keywords, etc. Variables become buried and are not as easy to manipulate as in Articulate Storyline, but they are buried for very good reason in that you can actually do more in Captivate than with its rival program with such features. If I am to further nitpick, I am not excited by the filmstrip display for slide storyline. This is a feature I love in Articulate's e-learning in that non-linear branching is highly encouraged whereas the linear filmstrip does little to entice users to develop complex learning opportunities, reinforcing the linear death by slides commonly seen in virtual learning.

Adobe Captivate is the Cornerstone of My eLearning Business

Comments: I started using Adobe Captivate with version 2. It was okay but obviously there was room for it to improve. At the time of writing this review, Captivate is on version 11 and it has matured into a robust solution. I will continue to use it for all my professional eLearning work for as long as they continue to make it available.

Pros:

I have been using Adobe Captivate since the mid-2000s. Each release has brought new and innovative features that allow me to continue to impress my clients. Features like virtual reality and interactive video make Adobe Captivate the industry leader in eLearning Authoring tools

Cons:

A complicated piece of software means that the learning curve is steep but the reward is that in return it does so much.

Great for basic eLearning - but not the best

Comments: It's good. I spent around 2 years using Captivate as my only tool for eLearning development. I now use Articulate Storyline 360 as my main tool, but have dipped back in to Captivate for features such as the screen recording

Pros:

Having come into the eLearning world as a Flash developer, it was so easy to use. If you have nay background in Flash, or any basic programming knowledge, it is highly transferable to the way that Adobe have built captivate. Screen recording feature that captures mouse clicks etc.

Cons:

It's just too complicated. Steep learning curve which was difficult for me when trying to train new employees how to use Captivate to develop eLearning. Impossible to train SME's to use for storyboarding etc in a way that has any return on the time that would need to be spent training them (in fairness, they do have the storyboard add on for this function). In comparison to an alternative such as Articulate Storyline 360 - it is overly complicated. Responsive content development is a real pain. I understand the methodology here, using a CSS style layout to develop content that can run on any display - but I tripled my hours to make this work on a freelance project which causes the client to walk away. In the real world, using a scalable player is a better solution, which it can do, but given the fact that Adobe promote the "responsive" design so heavily as one of their key features - I personally wouldn't waste my time on it again. I don't believe the world need truly "responsive" eLearning.

Adobe Captivate - What you'd expect from an Adobe product

Comments: I've authored over 300 courses with Adobe Captivate in the last 6 years and overall, I'm very satisfied with the product. For all its faults, it's really forced me outside my box and helped me learn a lot about instructional design.

Pros:

Adobe Captivate allows you to author amazing and beautiful coursework if you don't mind spending a little extra time to learn some coding. The product is fairly intuitive and it has a lot of capabilities. It's a very deep and robust product.

Cons:

To really get the best out of Captivate, you do need to spend quite a lot of time learning about creating variables, some beginner coding, and occasionally some javascript. You can make the program do whatever you want, but it takes a lot of patience and, sometimes, some wonky workarounds.

Terrific training tool

Comments: Using this I have been able to set up tests and quiz for our training sessions. Its also let me create video presentations which automates some of our new hire training. You have to put in some time and learn it to get the most out of it but once you do that, its very powerful.

Pros:

It is very robust and has a ton of features. You can create some really impressive training modules with this. We have been using this for a little while now to train our new hires on policies and process. I really like that once you get the hang of this, you can create very professional looking training material with it. It lets you embed videos, images and docs into your module pretty seamlessly. You can include your branding (which was a big deal for us) and colors. You can even include your Voice over if you want to. Using this I have created Quiz, Presentations and video guides. And they all looked fantastic.

Cons:

Like a lot of other Adobe softwares (at least in my experience) it can be a little daunting to get started with. There is a lot you can do with it but you have to invest some time to get the most out of it. I really wish Adobe would figure out how to simplify the usage and work flow for newcomers.

Adobe Captivate not the choice for me

Comments: I understand this is a great tool but the price, large time investment required to be proficient, unintuitive navigation, and high bandwidth it takes up made the product not worth it.

Pros:

Even though I didn’t have a great experience with this product, I recognize you can create really awesome courses, elearnings, microlearnings, etc.

Cons:

My issues with Adobe Captivate can be boiled down to three things:1. Despite the interface looking familiar, I found it very difficult to navigate and perform basic functions.2. At the time I was using a virtual desktop to work and found this software put a great strain on my computer…so much so that everything moved at a snails pace.3. I acknowledge that, with time and effort, I could have learned to be proficient with Adobe Captivate. But that time investment, for the high the price, wasn’t feasible (especially considering if we chose this software, we’d have to teach others to use it as well).

Authoring Tool with a Twist

Comments: My overall experience so far is positive. We are developing eLearning modules using the interactive tools found in Captivate. So far, the video formatting, audio (speech-to-text) function, and responsive project mode are my biggest positives.

Pros:

Adobe's new version of Captivate (2019) is a fantastic authoring tool for the right user. I say that because the user must be competent on various computer applications and willing to spend some extra time learning! I have used many authoring tools, but this one has made me slow down and rethink some of the methods I use for development. It is not easy, but when you learn to set it up correctly, the functionality is amazing! I'm referring mostly to the responsive projects that are scalable for desktop, tablet, and mobile devices. This is a wonderful feature, but takes quite a bit of time to learn.

Cons:

The biggest consideration I have found is the amount of time I have had to spend learning the program. Once understood, I have been able to make progress, but this is not a two or three week project...give yourself more time.

Captivate & the ease of convertability

Comments: It gives you the ability to create in so many ways & to help make video & online training more streamlined, with the added feedback from an LMS to get good feedback on how end users are absorbing the triining

Pros:

I truly enjoy the ability to convert old PowerPoint training decks into exciting & yes to coin a phrase, "Captivating" training for our employees & management.

Cons:

The cost for our small company is a little high & there is no special pricing for Teachers or Students. It would be great id Adobe would let you replace some of the Adobe Cloud products with Captivate as part of the overall package even if it were for a little more per month.

Seamless Service

Pros:

During my previous role as a Regional Training Executive I was nervous to create Training Modules as I had previously used a different software. Adobe Captivate is simple to use and quick to learn. I no longer create Training Modules however if I do I hope to use Adobe Captivate.

Cons:

Possibly a personal issue however as I was working form home I had alot of issues accessing account however our remote IT Team were able to asssit me (apologies I am not sure what their resolution was).

Adobe Captivate - powerful learnng tool

Comments: Basically Adobe Capivate has helped me produce a number of instructional videos which are still in use today for the entire organisation. I created a video for example on how to use dashboards created with Microsoft PowerBI. Can be clunky at times and produce large files if you don't know what you're doing - however it's very powerful and capable

Pros:

It's relatively easy to use from the get go and mildy intuitive. Once you get the hang of it you can produce very professional looking video demonstrations of software.

Cons:

If you're not an Adobe person you will likely struggle with this - however that just means more learning of the product itself. It's not a modern feeling bit of software and feels a bit dated.

Sahr B Komba Graphic & Dsigned

Pros:

to designed all types of work in my business

Cons:

to designed more in my business for my customers

Great product

Comments: Great product for our needs

Pros:

Easy to navigate for knowledgeable user - Avatar type in or speech and speech to text - Software simulations

Cons:

Tricky settings - Freezing file, long to proceed (Scrom) responsive on design - Text to speech quality

Feature-Rich Design and Development

Comments: I've preferred Captivate to Storyline throughout my career. Most orgs seem to lean toward Storyline because the UI is so similar to working in PowerPoint. I definitely prefer the more robust feature set that gets quality, regular updates/enhancements that comes with Captivate.

Pros:

The ongoing updates and upgrades continue to make this software easier to use for those new to it, and also expedites building many of the interactions. Really enjoy the Assets feature as well when looking to switch things up a little - really helps with inspiration and new ideas. The online community is also really great with supporting each other and lending new ideas. The different preview options that are built in are fantastic and load so much faster than Storyline.

Cons:

There are still a lot of work-arounds needed for some interaction types to meet digital accessibility needs, but that's to be expected with almost any software. When capturing video, you cannot capture device audio.

Adobe Captivate is E-Learning Solution

Comments: I've been using this app for a long time, It works fine with me and I absolutely love it. It helps me save a lot of time. I am very satisfied with using this software.

Pros:

The usefulness and versatility of Adobe Captivate are among the most extensive. You may develop everything with it, from conventional card-based eLearning modules to virtual reality training. That's why it's so outstanding. And fantastic image quality for lovely e-learning content.

Cons:

When features have issues, Adobe takes a while to repair them. By being more deliberate and prompt in fixing these errors, they may improve their product in this area.

Adobe Captivate saves time and money for you and your company

Comments: Since 2012 I'm using Captivate for make all the documentation and instruction manual for many software or website I've developed or I collaborated with, saving me and the companies a lot of time and troubles. This is very recommended for freelance developers and companies as well (companies of any kind that have employees using any software).

Pros:

This software save you a lot of time on making your software documentation and/or how to teach the final user to use the software or website they need to do their work. Remember, “A picture is worth a thousand words”, and I think a video is worth a thousand pictures. This is special useful on companies that have many employees, or with employees distributed for all the country/world. Companies that needs to take working the new employees as soon as possible, with a minimum loss of time on teaching him/her the new employee on how to use the software needed for their job.

Cons:

In my special case, I need to complement this software with one video-editing software, for take more advantage and do more things that final user of my software/web very appreciate. However, Captivate works just fine by itself.

not a great authoring tool

Pros:

it's adobe, so that's about the real pro it has going for it.

Cons:

besides being adobe in name, it mirrors no other adobe product on the UI side. it also isn't as intuitive as other authoring products and also doesnt really work with AICC compliant content

You can do anything with it, but it takes lots of time.

Comments: I liked the software but I didn't like how long I had to spend on each project. What I did like was the versatility to do literally anything I wanted. I never had a challenge I could not find a solution! The problem was that finding that solution oftentimes meant a whole lot of research and contacting Adobe was just not something I found easy or convenient to do. They do have a lot of users though that were very open to helping when you reached out...and I did that often.

Pros:

Variables that I could assign and use in the course.

Cons:

It was very labor-intensive. Although you could do anything, it just took a lot of time. Especially if the course needed to be available on multiple platforms, such as desktops, tablets, and mobile.

Adobe

Comments: Overall, a good experience

Pros:

I like how many things you can do with it. You can literally edit any document any way you want.

Cons:

The only problem I've had with Adobe is that sometimes documents freeze every once in a while.

A Reliable Multimedia Tool

Pros:

I consider Adobe Captivate to be a re liable took to create multimedia and screen recording tutorial video. With little learning I am able to create very empresive videos . I like the ability that I can combine several existing projects together and easily add images and videos.

Cons:

The software is a little pricey and not a part of Adobe Cloud collection but if your are in education the price is affordable.

Long time user

Comments: Captivate is a great tool. From a layout perspective it simply wasn't as intuitive as Storyline. However it's been a few years since I've used it last so perhaps this has improved.

Pros:

This software is a great instructional design tool. Having used it since its inception (RoboDemo) I have seen it evolve a lot over the years. Nothing negative

Cons:

Nothing negative. Simply I switched over to Storyline and found it way easier to use for advanced eLearning development.

Pdf reader

Pros:

This has been of a great help to me in reading and editing out pdf documents.

Cons:

It doesnt really have any drawbacks. I an satisfied using this software.

ELearning Design at it’s best!

Comments: Adobe Captivate has the power to help you create riveting eLearning experiences. It’s not as expensive as the competition, so you also get more bang for your buck.

Pros:

This software can do just about anything that you would like for your eLearning courses. It’s easy to create interactive software demos, video role-plays, and detailed quizzes. If you have Adobe Captivate Prime, you can upload directly into the LMS. But even if you use another LMS, it’s easy to create a SCORM file and import it in.

Cons:

It’s not the most intuitive product. You can do just about anything you would imagine, but it will take some experimentation. However, if you stick with it (or look up a few how-to’s on YoutTube) you’ll be all set!

Use Often

Comments: The perfect and most powerful course authoring tool.

Pros:

So many features such as responsive design, screen recording and script writing.

Cons:

I feel overwhelmed at times to keep up with latest editions.

To be honest, I expected better from Adobe

Comments: Captivate seems like the "black sheep" in Adobe's lineup. If it had more integrations with Adobe CC, it would be a great option, but unfortunately it doesn't get the attention it deserves.

Pros:

One endearing quality of Adobe Captivate is their "Live Device Preview" Which allows you to preview your creation on an actual device.

Cons:

Coming from Articulate Storyline, it's very difficult to get the same type of interactions and logic in Captivate without some considerable tinkering.

Courses Designing by Captivate

Pros:

I used this software for creating courses online for my Organizations and I have found very useful specially in COVID19 Situation around the Globe however my most favorite feature of this software to choose the answer types by several options like multi choose, choose one etc

Cons:

Its configurations related to issuing certificate is tricky which is not very user friendly and it needs to made simple and easy