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Adobe Captivate Review
Updated October 12, 2022

Adobe Captivate Review

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 4 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Adobe Captivate

Courseware development that solves the training needs of multiple departments in the company.
  • 360 View
  • Video insertions
  • Take-home license option
  • The top issue is with Adobe Captivate vaporware - several years of Adobe promises of updates. Adobe Captivate is still called "2019". I've reviewed the prototype on several occasions over the course of 2 years, yet nothing is coming to market.
  • Since Adobe dropped 360 view support in Photoshop, how are we supposed to edit 360 photos in Captivate? I feel this is very disappointing since Adobe Captivate's 360 feature is amazing. We've had to use non-Adobe products like Affinity to support the 360 feature.
  • Adobe Captivate courses frequently lock up in SumTotal LMS (SCORM 2004 v3), while other products like Articulate work flawlessly.
  • PowerPoint import is a big problem for us. In my experience, Adobe Captivate maintains hooks into the original PPT file, causing many problems and fails if the referenced PPT is updated or moved.
  • No easy way to darken previous bullets after they have passed to the next bullet unless we use complicated scripting.
  • Adobe Captivate is not part of Creative Suite, even though it depends on Creative Suite for many editing tools (imaging editing, video editing, etc.). It also makes licensing a challenge for the company.
  • In my opinion, the timeline is clunky and buggy, especially when adjusting the end position. Some blocks in the timeline jump around instead of moving and/or truncating with the end-point adjustments.
  • 360 view
  • Video insertion
  • Take-home license
  • In my experience, Adobe Captivate courseware failures in SumTotal LMS have resulted in our aircraft mechanics not meeting qualifications, prohibiting them from repairing aircraft and resulting in delays in releasing the aircraft to service.
  • In my experience, it is very difficult getting a hold of an Adobe technical service agent who speaks clear English, causing long delays in resolving problems.
Adobe Captivate is superior in 360 view courseware development. It's outstanding and a delight to work with. That's about it. Unfortunately, Articulate dominates in everything else.

Do you think Adobe Captivate delivers good value for the price?

No

Are you happy with Adobe Captivate's feature set?

Yes

Did Adobe Captivate live up to sales and marketing promises?

No

Did implementation of Adobe Captivate go as expected?

No

Would you buy Adobe Captivate again?

No

Well suited for developers who need a short learning curve and if using Adobe's LMS. Not appropriate if LMS is something other than Adobe's LMS.

Using Adobe Captivate

6 - Training development.
1 - Adobe Licensing specialist, SumTotal Administration experience.
  • Recurrent training on technician qualifications
  • Standalone CBT/WBT courses
  • Quizzes/Exams
  • 360 view
  • When vaporware becomes real-ware, our leadership will be able to re-consider the product for 2023.
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.

Evaluating Adobe Captivate and Competitors

  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
Consider showing us a comparison table of competitor products and we can put rankings on features/functions (Adobe Captivate, Storyline 360, Rise 360, etc).

Adobe Captivate Implementation

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.
  • Implemented in-house
  • Course lockups in SumTotal LMS

Adobe Captivate Support

Respectfully, I cannot understand the agents' English - they have a very thick accent. Agents also do not have any information for us on the estimated release dates of Adobe Captivate updates. Also, long hold times. I've gotten more help from other users in the Adobe Captivate forums.
ProsCons
Knowledgeable team
No escalation required
Immediate help available
Need to explain problems multiple times
I actually don't know if our level of support is "premium" or not. Sadly, in my opinion, Adobe should not be asking this question. ALL support should be "premium."
Yes - No - not in a timely fashion. In my experience, Adobe Captivate stopped working across the enterprise a little over a year ago and throughout the users in the Adobe Captivate forums. In my experience, Adobe's first response was to blame Microsoft's update. Then later, it became evident there was something wrong with Adobe's license server. We never liked how Adobe handled a system-wide outage like that.
Right now - taking the risk of asking users at this conference for frank reviews and opinions of the product. This is the most attention I've gotten from Adobe regarding what I think about the product, and I appreciate it very much.

Using Adobe Captivate

Relatively low learning curve. Reasonable price.
ProsCons
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Familiar
Inconsistent
Feel nervous using
  • 360 View - love it!
  • Timeline
  • Bullet color animation effects
  • SCORM settings