Adobe’s popular e-learning authoring tool is currently at version 7.0.1.
But in reality, our customers still have a variety of versions on their systems, so we should support all of them.

In this series, I will elaborate on the different versions of Captivate, and the issues my colleagues and I encounter when using these different versions.
Recently, Adobe changed their subscription plan. This issue is not discussed in this series.

Let’s first take a look at the different versions:

Captivate 6.

This version comes in two flavors:

• 6.0.1 – A non subscription version. The main features (on the top of my head) are HTML5 support for the first time and the use of object grouping. There are a lot more features, but these come to mind immediately.
• 6.1 – A subscription version. This version has better HTML5 support (more question types are supported), and the ability to create Drag and Drop exercises out of the box. (Again, main features for me.)

Adobe says these versions can be used together (for supported features, apparently). In a next post, I will provide you with my findings about the mixed use of these versions.

Captivate 7.

There are as we speak two version of Captivate 7 around:

• 7.0.0 – The first released version. Main features are better HTML5 support, shared actions, Drag and Drop support,… The full list can be found here: http://www.adobe.com/be_en/products/captivate/features.html
• 7.0.1 – The first patch for version 7. I am particularly fond of the possibility to copy advanced and shared actions from one slide/project to the next. Full changelog here: http://helpx.adobe.com/captivate/kb/captivate-7-patch.html

Again these versions can be used together, if you do not use the features of the newer version.

On top of that, you can open and edit Captivate 7 projects with Captivate 6. More on this in one of the next posts.

This ends the first post in this series. You got an overview of the different versions. In the next post, I will discuss any issues and Lessons Learned when using the two version 6 flavors.