Likelihood to Recommend Captivate is well suited for instruction designers who want to build attractive, personalized, interactive, energetic lessons. It's also a good choice for someone who wants to build something innovative because Captivate gives the developer so much control over so many aspects.
But if someone wanted something built quickly, generically and didn't care about holding the viewer's attention, then Captivate might be an expensive tool. That person might be more satisfied with a cheaper and easier to learn authoring tool.
Read full review It is very well suited as a web based LMS. They have excellent customer service and support. Ask about the reporting features - these are challenging in many LMS applications. The training they provided for administrators is also very good. Overall a great company, and they are constantly working to improve the product
Read full review Pros Quickly adding in graphics, text, and interactive buttons. Has extensive variables and branching for additional customization, beyond the competition. Has 360 degree capability which competitors don't offer (I have not used this feature). High degree of customization and personalization. True responsive screen display on all devices, viewable as you are creating the training. This is different than some competitors - some just shrink the screen, but Adobe Captivate allows actually removing or moving or changing items at different screen sizes. If you like Flash, it has Flash output, although it's going away in 2020. Personally, I think this is an outdated technology. Many advanced capabilities. I chose this product due to the capabilities. Comes with assets, templates, people, head shots, and full body—excellent. Adobe Captivate is the authoring tool. It integrates with Adobe Captivate Prime - which I highly recommend if you want to truly take advantage of all of its features in reporting, administration, compliance, and social learning. (I didn't use Prime because you essentially need 100+ students to affordably use Prime.) If you look at my chart of what Captivate is capable of, I can't say that Captivate has a lot of the reporting features because they are part of Prime/SCORM, although, with Captivate's customization, you might be able to do most of them if you are up to it, but I did not. Read full review GreenLight is very good at keeping track of employee requirements through the use of qualifications. It is the backbone of how courses, classes, requirements and activities are assigned and monitored. The content objects (development) portion of GreenLight is robust. It allows you to mix various content objects from different sources. For instance if you import a SCORM ecourse, an AICC ecourse and want to add an HTML page as an introduction, the software will allow you to combine all seamlessly into one course. In addition, the navigation and sequencing tools offer considerable functionality. The reporting feature of this software is very good (but not best of class). The number of standard reports is fairly extensive and cover most needs. Having the ability to output files for further analysis and manipulation in Excel takes care of a number of areas where the standard reports fall short. Read full review Cons Clunky interface, it takes a lot of extra clicks to get places compared to other Adobe apps and competitor's eLearning software. Would be nice if it was part of creative cloud, or at least in the group of apps you can add through Creative Cloud. More regular and meaningful updates. Compared to flagship apps like Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. Captivate is like the read headed step child. Competitors excel at providing regular updates with clear change documentation. How are we still using Captivate 2019 in 2022? The interface feels like it is still stuck in the 90s, would be nice if it was more modern and better in-line with flagship adobe offerings. Variables and associated menus are a nuisance to work with vs some of the clever drop down and content-sensitive options in Articulate Storyline. Read full review 'my profile' has been a little glitchy for us but we are a very small team and don't use that element much, photos don't load or stay loaded Sometimes the main list with due dates, type of training etc. seems hard for people to completely understand some more customizable sections here would be useful for us On the whole, is not a customizable as other platforms we've used. Is good at tracking but not so much the kind of cataloging we need. Read full review Likelihood to Renew We have hundreds of courses that were created in Adobe Captivate. It will take us a while to convert to
Articulate . We'll need a license for another year and/or until Adobe comes out with a true update to the software.
Read full review Our training director has determined that the customer service and ease of use is too difficult. She intends to check into other LMS systems and end our contract with Silkroad.
Read full review Usability Adobe Captivate does take some getting used to. There are features that are much more convoluted than they need to be, but overall it is a great product with a some excellent features. Being in a pretty small market, Adobe Captivate and
Articulate Storyline dominate the space. They are not the same software, but allow for eLearning authoring. Each has their benefit and their downside, but, for me, Adobe Captivate edges out Storyline.
Read full review I have a better understanding of the system and so it is easier for me to use. The student side is very easy and simple for anyone to use.
Read full review Reliability and Availability There have been many times when the site was unavailable for a short time. Also, glitches and unexplained ed activity such as sending training notifications out to terminated employees.
Read full review Performance It works well most of the time.
Read full review Support Rating It is difficult to get in touch with Adobe Captivate support. With a seemingly limited number of resources, mostly outsourced, getting in contact with someone to help troubleshoot an issue is challenging. Typically wait times are long, and the desired path to resolution is to use an existing knowledge base or a self-help guide. It is certainly not a user-friendly experience.
Read full review The questions regarding how to implement in the system are answered quickly and efficiently. If there is an issue with the technical side or integrations it takes forever to get results and after much escalating.
Read full review Online Training some are thorough and others are not. I like that they are available for review.
Read full review Implementation Rating I'm only aware of the problems Adobe Captivate had with SumTotal LMS and Upside LMS, requiring extensive contact with both internal and external support staff to fix the problems. We had no problems at all with
Articulate .
Read full review Alternatives Considered I think that Articulate360 is more user-friendly and has a cleaner, more updated look. If you can edit a PDF, then you can use
Articulate 360 . Adobe Captivate may be more challenging for the designer, but it has more features. We chose Adobe Captivate because we want the option to create interactive learning environments. Adobe Captivate plays well with the other Adobe design products including Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premier. Additionally, Adoe Captivate is highly compatible with Cornerstone, our preferred Learning Management Systems.
Read full review SilkRoad Learning is much easier to customize and roll out globally. The Skillsoft product was expensive, cumbersome, and required a large ramp up time. When working with clients on Skillsoft, too much had to be predetermined, the languages were not fully developed and learners had to pay each time they accessed a module and get reimbursement from the company - it was not effective.
Read full review Scalability The system went down/offline for 5 or 6 days in January. This is the month we have 3400 employees taking annual required training. It had several glitches afterwards that took months to correct.
Read full review Return on Investment Adobe Captivate has allowed our instructors to engage students in ways we never have before. Instructors who have used Adobe Captivate in our organization have reported higher levels of engagement with their courses and their students, theoretically leading to improved assessment of student performance. Read full review GreenLight has provided an easy route for our users to receive training online and in-class. They can quickly and easily search and sign up for anything on the catalog. Being in healthcare, we provide a lot of training on a constant basis. GreenLight has provided a great foundation for our company to accomplish it's training needs and goals. Employees can quickly access and complete online trainings so that they can get back to their jobs. Read full review ScreenShots