Create design templates



Design templates help provide a standard look and functionality for Adobe Captivate projects to which they are applied. They are useful when you need to create different modules of a project or when all projects that you create need to adhere to visual design guidelines.

A design template in Adobe Captivate is a set of custom visual properties for the following objects:

  • Button: Transparent, Text, Image

  • Text caption

  • Click box

  • Highlight box

  • Mouse

  • Question slide

  • Quiz results slide

  • Rollover captions

  • Slides

  • Slidelet

  • Text animation

  • Text entry box.

A design template is represented as a set of slides, with each slide containing a subset of these objects. You can set properties for each of these objects in the template. When you apply a template to a project, the properties are applied to all the corresponding objects in the project.

Question slides and quiz result slides are separate entities in the template with their own set of configurable properties. Changes to slide properties of normal slides do not affect these slides. Changes made to the properties of an answer label are applied to answer labels across the project. Similarly, changes made to a single score label or score result label are applied to all similar labels.

    Set properties at the project level

    In addition to setting properties for individual objects, you can also set properties at the project level, for example recording defaults, skins, and the loading screen.

    You cannot delete, move, or copy template objects. You can, however, move slides within the template.

    Note: Only those object properties that can be customized for the template are available to you.

    1. Do one of the following:

      1. Select File > New > Project. In the New Project dialog box, select Design Template.

      2. Click Design Template on the welcome screen.

        A set of slides containing all the objects that can be customized for the template appear.

    2. Change the properties of the slides and objects as you would in a normal Adobe Captivate project. Only the properties that you can change are enabled.

    3. To change the background and transition properties of the slide, click Properties in the main menu bar. Set the properties using the Slide Properties dialog box that appears.

    4. To change the properties of objects in the template, select the object from the Find pop-up menu. The selected object is highlighted in the template. Double-click the object, and use the dialog box that appears to change the properties.

    5. To change the recording defaults and the loading screen for the project, select Edit > Preferences. Use the Preferences dialog box to set these properties at the project level.

    6. To change the skin properties, select Project > Skin Editor. Set your preferences for the skin using the Skin Editor dialog box.

    7. Save the template as a.cpdt file.

    Apply design templates

    Design templates can be applied to Adobe Captivate projects using the Design Template panel. You can also apply a design template to a project template. The object properties are applied to the placeholders in the project template.

    The Design Template panel contains the templates available in the Design Template folder. This folder is present in the My Documents folder under My Adobe Captivate Projects. If you have created a template outside this folder, you can add it using the Browse Template button  in the panel. If the added template exists in the panel, it is not copied to the panel again. When you add such a template, it is selected in the panel, and its thumbnail appears in the Preview panel.

    You can change the folder from which the panel picks the templates. Click Change Template Directory  in the panel and browse to the folder from which you want to import the templates.

    The Adobe Design Center contains templates that you can download for free. Click Adobe Captivate Exchange  to download templates from the Adobe Design Center. Download the ZIP file, and extract the contents to your design template folder.

    When you move the mouse over a design template in the panel, a thumbnail of the first slide of the template is displayed. To preview all the slides in a template, select it in the panel, and scroll the Preview panel to preview all the slides in the template.

    Any background image in the project is not overwritten by the template. However, if you have not specified a background for the project, the background used in the template is used for the project slides. The background image set using a template is overwritten when a template with a different background image is applied to the project.

    You can apply design templates to individual slides or to an entire project.

    • When the template is applied at the project level, properties set in the template are applied to all slides and objects in the project. When you insert new objects or slides in the project, the properties set in the template are applied to them. Any properties set for the project, like recording defaults, skin, and the loading screen, are applied too. You can, however, choose to overrule the template properties when working in the project.

    • When the template is applied at the slide level, new slides and objects use the properties set in the project. The template properties are not applied to the new slides and objects.

    You can preview a design template like any other project in Adobe Captivate, but you cannot publish it.

    Note: When you modify a template, reapply it to the presentations to which it has been applied.

    1. Open the project to which you want to apply the template.

    2. Select Window > Design Template.

      In the Design Template panel, move your mouse over a template. A preview of the first thumbnail of the design template is displayed in the Preview panel.

    3. To add a template to the panel, click Browse Template.

    4. Select/hover/right-click the template thumbnail that you want to apply, and choose one of the following:

      • Select Apply to apply the template to the selected slide. The properties defined in the template are applied to all the objects in the selected slides.

      • Select Apply All to apply the template to all the slides in the project. The properties defined in the template are applied to all the slides and objects. Project-specific properties like recording defaults, skin, and loading screen are also applied to the project.