Adobe Presenter

This tool is great for allowing anyone already familiar with PowerPoint to convey reasonably simple and short content asynchronously. It's quick and easy to learn how to use it and even allows for some basic types of quiz questions.

You can publish it to your company's Adobe server (if you have one) or as a SCORM package to upload to a traditional LMS.

It gives you the choice of recording audio within its own PowerPoint ribbon (not my method of choice) or to import and sync audio created outside of Presenter (which I prefer, because it's easier to edit and maintain.)

I also love that it comes with Adobe Presenter Video Express, which can be used within the Presenter ribbon or as a stand-alone application. It's a very easy way to create short system demos with narration, and allows for zooming and panning, as well as allowing you to intersperse, or even simultaneously show, webcam video.

I don't know if this qualifies as a "con," per se, but it's important not to try and use this as a full-fledged e-learning authoring tool, as the opportunities it affords for effective practice and feedback is minimal. It's a well-named product, since "Presenter" really is best used for "presentations," rather than bona fide training.

There's no real "programming" ability (like being able to use custom actions and variables).

I also wish that, when syncing animations to audio narration, if you make a mistake mid-way through a slide, you could re-do just from where you made the mistake on forward, rather than having to resync the whole slide.

Better audio editing capabilities within the product would make it feel less "necessary" to me to use an external audio editing product.

It's also not the cheapest of the tools that does this kind of thing. For example, SNAP, by Trivantis, does many of the same things at about a tenth the cost.

Incorporates static files

Intuitive interface

Ability to add quiz

Eliminates need for flash programming

E learning news server could be more intuitive

Numerical indicator for updates is confusing

Organization of updates could be better organized

Easy to use.

Fast and effective.

Simplified user interface.

Audio and Video Sync issues.

Video quality.

Option to download the courses.

Ability to add Notes and save them.

It is very easy for faculty to use. Even those who have limited experience in creating online courses feel comfortable using Presenter.

It allows our faculty to have students working in different areas at the same time so we are able to individualize our instruction to meet student needs.

The quiz feature is fantastic to be able to quickly assess student learning to determine if they are ready to move forward.

We have faced some difficulty with Presenter and Adobe Flash. Some of our teachers have grown weary of constant messages of not having the correct Flash player, even though it is.

We wish we had the ability to use more than one quiz in a presentation in order to more accurately determine student success, but we are able to see the number of slides viewed along with the quiz score to help determine mastery.

A pro user can definitely generate an impressive presentation for exhibitions and other networking events.

Converts Powerpoints into learning courses effectively.

The option provided to chat during the presentation is quite useful, especially for trainees.

I feel it is a bit overpriced. That may be because of the Adobe name.

Our team has experienced a few technical issues over time which sometimes limit our use of the software.

Limited features available for our macOS users.

The drag and drop method of Adobe Presenter makes the software really easy to learn and use. It allows me to create presentations that are much more powerful and creative.

I LOVE the YouTube help videos. I feel like there is a help video on every topic I have ever wanted to know more about. I have almost grown to be an expert based on the help videos posted. They are easy to access and user-friendly.

I use the scenario templates. Because I teach programming courses, students can go different ways based on the knowledge that they already have of the content in the courses. The built in scenario templats allow me to create dynamic courses that are different for every learner that uses the course I am teaching them.

Sometimes I feel like Presenter feels too much like Power Point. This may make some users not want to use the software.

I have a hard time when saving presentations and then pulling them up in other locations- it often takes longer than I want to wait, but I am a millennial (I think?).

Adobe Presenter makes it easy to create online training if you do not have programming skills.

Adobe Presenter has good tools available to make an interactive training product, such as the Quiz Manager.

Adobe Presenter can support most of the options in an instructional design plan, including the opportunity to let different users explore different learning paths.

As a Microsoft PowerPoint plug-in, there can sometimes be odd conflicts with the settings used in PowerPoint and how they translate to Adobe Presenter. Often these bugs do not present until the product is published and are difficult to troubleshoot.

SWF files generated when content is published requires a Flash player. This is a problem for some users, particularly those who are viewing content at work and are prohibited from installing anything on their machine. This is also a problem for some mobile devices.

Because it integrates with PowerPoint, it is possible to go from planning outline to storyboard to final output withing a single document and as part of a seamless and logical design process.

Its ability to create videos that capture screens along with web-cam recordings, then edit them within the solution means higher level training recordings can be created versus, say a recorded WebEx training session.

Presenter's ability to create quiz elements similar to Adobe Captivate, add interactions, and interface with Adobe's LMS means it is capable of functioning as a complete e-learning development environment. .

If up front cost is a consideration, Presenter wins hands down over many better known training development and e-learning solutions.

Among its strengths, Presenter is outstanding at demonstrating software. However, it has zero native simulation capability. For that, you also need Captivate. While it's designed to work with that solution, I've yet to find an efficient application in a real-world training environment.

Presenter is a deceptively unintuitive solution. If you know PowerPoint (and who doesn't?), it feels like home. However, it has nuances that aren't readily obvious. For example, it's video recording capability is both built into the PowerPoint add-in and is accessible as a standalone. How they behave is similar but not identical..

Support is surprisingly weak. The version I have is once removed from the latest. I recently discovered that it has a bug. I was surprised to learn that reporting it to Adobe is impossible since the web page where this occurs does not include Presenter as an option. Are they aware and was it corrected? I don’t know. Fortunately, it's not critical, but it does raise several concerns.

Training and on-demand help is also weak. While there are some standalone videos and other help resources on the internet, what’s freely available isn’t complete. As a result, ramp up took several months longer than it should have. Much of my learning was through experimentation and web searches. Those searches were at times frustrating since the community of users doesn't appear to be as great as other training development solutions. The best training I found was on Lynda.com. I highly recommend either Lynda or a similar site if you get Adobe Presenter.