Using the Library in Adobe Captivate 2

Adding and inserting objects using the Library

Whenever you add an item to your project (new objects such as slide backgrounds and graphics), they automatically appear in the Library. In previous versions of Adobe Captivate, you had to either copy the object from one slide to another or manually insert the file multiple times. With Adobe Captivate 2, you only need to add the object to the project once and objects become available through the Library, even if you delete the slide in which they were originally located!

As well as the obvious benefit of improving your workflow, the Library helps dramatically reduce the overall size of your source Adobe Captivate files.

To insert an object from the Library, or for that matter a slide background, you just click and drag the selected item into the desired slide. To insert the object into subsequent slides, you can simply follow the same steps again.

Figure 4. Selecting an image from the Library.

Tip: If you want to insert an object, such as a logo, onto a large number of slides, use the following steps:

1. Insert the logo from the Library panel.
2. Copy the logo, and insert on to the slide.
3. Select the various slides you want the object to appear upon (use the Storyboard or Filmstrip / Thumbnails view)
4. From the Edit menu, select Paste.

Managing Adobe Captivate 2 objects

When recording a new interactive simulation or demonstration in Adobe Captivate 2, you will notice that all the background images (that make your project) have been added to the Library panel. Adobe Captivate does this for two main reasons: firstly so that the backgrounds can be edited in an image-editing program such as Adobe Photoshop CS 2; and second, if you inadvertently delete one of the slides, the background image would still be readily available.

Selected unused items

Once, you start inserting additional objects, such as logos, photographs and animations, your Library can start to look slightly unwieldy (due to the file size of Flash Video, these types of objects are not added to the Library panel, but instead are referenced externally by Adobe Captivate).

This is especially true if you have inserted a number of items on slides that you eventually decide to remove from the project.

It is important to remember that deleting a slide does not automatically remove objects from the Library panel. To remove unwanted objects from the Library—something you would probably want to do once you complete a project—you select "Select Unused Items…" located on the Library toolbar. This option automatically selects all the items in your project that you have not inserted on to any slides. To remove the selected items, you simply press the Delete button.

Figure 5. Updating an object.

Object usage

Regardless of the size of your project, there will be many instances when you will need to track object usage. To ascertain this information, the Library panel includes the Usage option. This powerful feature has many applications. For example, let's say that you have been working on a project where a company logo has been placed on a large number of slides. You then find that the client has changed their logo. You have diligently gone through the whole project replacing the old logo with the new one and you are ready to remove the old logo from the Library panel. By selecting Usage options, you have a safety net that enables you to ensure that the old logo doesn't appear on any of your slides. Moreover, Adobe Captivate 2 also includes a really easy way of navigating from one slide to another in the form of the Go to Slide option.

(Edit > Go to Slide...)

This great little addition means you no longer need to scroll through the project to locate the slide you are looking for.

Figure 6. The Usage dialog box.

As well as being able to track an object through the Library panel, Adobe Captivate 2 also has another new feature called Find in Library. As its name implies, you can use this feature to select an object on a slide and get Adobe Captivate 2 to locate it in the Library panel.

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