The Timeline is a visual representation of the timing of all objects on a slide. The Timeline provides an easy way to view, at a high level, all objects on a slide and their relationship to each other.
With the Timeline, you can organize objects and precisely control the timing of objects. For example, on a slide that contains a caption, an image, and a highlight box, you can display the caption, then the image 4 seconds later, and then the highlight box 2 seconds after that. The Timeline also shows any audio associated with the slide or with objects on the slide. You can easily coordinate the timing of audio with the slide using the Timeline.
- A.
- Show/Hide All Items
- B.
- Lock/Unlock All Items
- C.
- Playhead
- D.
- Timeline Header
- E.
- Fly-Out Menu
- F.
- Move the Playhead to the beginning
- G.
- Stop
- H.
- Play
- I.
- Move the Playhead to the end
- J.
- Mute
- K.
- Elapsed Time
- L.
- Selected Start Time
- M.
- Selected Duration
- N.
- Slide Duration
- O.
- Zoom Slider
The major components of the Timeline are objects, the header, and the playhead. The objects on a slide are displayed as stacked bars in the right pane of the Timeline. The header at the top of the Timeline indicates time in seconds (and parts of seconds). The playhead shows the point in time in which the slide is being viewed.
The Timeline header shows time, in minutes:seconds format. For example, 01:05 indicates 1 minute and 5 seconds. The markings helps you see exactly when objects appear.
You can use the Timeline to hide or lock objects easily. This is useful when a slide contains many objects and you need to edit the objects separately.
Rearrange the Timeline panel
By default, the Timeline panel is docked at the bottom of any slide in an Adobe Captivate project. You can move, resize, group, or dock the Timeline panel to suit your requirement.
Change the zoom level of the Timeline panel
Use the slider in the Timeline panel. The center of the slider indicates 100% zoom. To increase the zoom level, drag the slider to the right. To reduce the zoom level, drag the slider to the left.
Change the order of object layers
Move the mouse over the object in the Timeline panel until the hand icon appears and drag the object up or down to reposition it.
If you have two objects that overlap on the slide, you need to select the object you want in front by setting the stacking order.
Changing the stacking order consists of moving objects to the back and front of the slide Stage. The key point to remember is that objects at the back of the Stage appear behind other objects. Use one of the following methods to set the stacking order:
Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) an object on the slide, click Arrange, and select one of the object order options. If necessary, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) other objects on the slide and adjust their order.
- Bring To Front
- This option brings the selected object to the top. When the project plays, the object appears on top of all others.
- Send To Back
- This option sends the selected object to the background. When the project plays, the object appears behind all others.
- Bring Forward
- This option moves the object one layer forward.
- Send Backward
- This option moves the object one layer back.
On the Timeline, move the mouse over an object until the hand appears and drag the object up or down to change its position in the stacking order. Moving an object higher in the stacking order moves it to the front of the Stage, while moving an object lower moves it to the back of the Stage.
Hide objects during editing
In the Timeline, click the dot below the eye icon
in the layer that you want to hide.
The object disappears from the slide and an X icon appears in the column. To display the object on the slide, click the X icon.
When you hide an object layer, it is hidden only on the Stage. You can still view the layer when it is previewed or published.
Timeline for slidelets
A slidelet is a slide within a slide. A slidelet has its own Timeline. All the objects in the slidelet are displayed in its Timeline. When you select a slidelet, the Timeline changes automatically to that of the slidelet. To display the Timeline for the slide containing the slidelet, click anywhere outside the slidelet. For more information on slidelets, see Rollover slidelets.
Lock objects
In the Timeline, click the dot below the lock icon
in the layer that you want to lock.
The layer and its corresponding object cannot be edited or moved until you unlock the layer. To unlock the layer, click the lock icon.
Set time for objects and slides using the Timeline
Move the mouse over the left or right edge of the slide or object on the Timeline until the resize pointer appears. Click and drag the edge to the required position in the Timeline.
To set two objects to appear at the same time, align their left and right edges. For example, you can set a highlight box to appear at the same time as an image so that the highlight box can appear over the image.
To adjust the display time of interactive objects (such as text entry boxes, click boxes, and buttons) rest the pointer over the line between Active and Inactive in the bar until the slider handle appears. Drag the slider to adjust the display time.
You can select multiple objects and move them at the same time. Hold down the Shift key and click objects to select consecutive stacked objects in the Timeline, or to select nonconsecutive objects, hold down the Control key and click the objects to move.
You can determine whether keystrokes are played slowly or quickly in a project. If the project has many keystrokes, increasing the speed will make the pace of the project faster. However, if keystrokes are critical in the project, you may want them to play slowly so users can view them clearly. Use the Timeline to change keystroke speed. Keystrokes are contained in a Timeline object named Typing.
You determine the speed at which the mouse moves on any individual slide in a project. A high mouse speed increases the pace at which the project plays. However, if mouse movements are complicated, you may want to decrease the mouse speed so users can view all movements. Mouse movement is contained in a Timeline object named Mouse. To shorten the amount of time it takes for the mouse movement to play, move the mouse pointer over the left edge of the Mouse object until the resize pointer appears. Click and drag the edge to the left.
Preview a slide using the playhead
The red line that moves across the Timeline is the playhead. The playhead moves through the Timeline to indicate how the currently displayed slide appears in the project. It is a quick and efficient way to preview a single slide and check object timing.
To see how the playhead functions, press F3. You can stop a playhead when it is playing by clicking it. To drag the playhead to a required position, move the mouse over its “head” in the area displaying the time. When the pointer appears, drag the playhead to the required position.
Do one of the following to preview a slide:“Scrub” the slide by dragging the playhead to the left or right. As you move the playhead, objects appear and fade as they will when users view the slide. Scrubbing gives you the ability to control the pace and view the slide at any speed from very slowly to very quickly.
With the playhead in any location on the Timeline, press the Spacebar or F3 to begin playing the slide.
With the playhead in any location on the Timeline, press
in the
lower-left corner of the Timeline. (To end playback, press 
, or
to wait, press 
.)
