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Publishing with a trial version

Aug 6, 2012 4:23 PM

I was using the trial version of Captivate 6 for a while, and I'm now seeing published files that won't display - just a black bar in the middle of the screen with a Captivate logo.

 

Is this because I was publishing from the trial version?  I've republished some of the files in the licensed version of V6 that I now have, and they seem to be fine.

 

Does anybody know what's going on?

 
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 7, 2012 12:25 AM   in reply to MarionJD

    The Trial version of Captivate 6 has a forced expiration date for publishing that can't be changed (usually a month) so you might want to go back in these captivate projects and chech Preferences -> Start and End and you will probably see an expiration date that has already occurred. You can change the date on your computer and the file will still run but if you delivered it to the public that might not be an option.

     

    I had the same issue and found out the hard way.

     

    I am sorry to say but so far CP6 has been a huge dissapointment. I have purchased a license because I am developing iPad apps for my programs and thus far CP6 has completely crashed on my Mac, (it wont publish at all anymore). The user interaction (insert interaction) widgets take for ever to load and then once loaded fail instantly. (found this out after 12 hours of work on my pc yesterday).

     

    The only reason I purchased CP6 is because Adobe killed the SWF to HTML5 converter they had put online for developers to force people to buy CP6.

     

    It is in my opinion that it is highly unprofessional for a company like Adobe to deliver a software that has more bugs than good things. I will now not be able to meet my customers dead-line and will probably have to restart from the beginning using a different software to develop my apps.

     

    I am the owner of a small company, but I still like to deliver programs and apps that actually do what I say they are supposed to but maybe that is just me.

     

    Good luck to you I hope you don't face the same issues I am facing.

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 7, 2012 9:35 AM   in reply to MarionJD

    I am having this exact same issue today. I have several Adobe licenses and Adobe Captivate 6.0 is the newest. I have delivered several courses to a client and those courses no longer work as of today! I had the trial of Adobe Captivate 6.0 but purchased the subscription version while in development and published with that version. Apparently, the course did not change that expiry to "None."

     

    I am now on hold with Adobe.

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 7, 2012 9:58 AM   in reply to MarionJD

    My expiry date is clear too.

     

    (I'm still on hold with Adobe, too.)  I had these original courses loaded in SCORM Cloud for testing, so I'm going to republish and test there and then maybe change the date on my computer for 35 days out and test again.

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 7, 2012 10:01 AM   in reply to RobinDR

    Perhaps the expiry date just "appears" clear because this is the full version but the course is somehow retaining the expiry date from the trial? (I can't even remember which courses I may have started out with in the trial version prior to getting the 6.0 license. Using Captivate trials and converting those to the licensed version has never been a problem before.)

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 7, 2012 10:44 AM   in reply to MarionJD

    Do I understand correctly that if you use the TRIAL version of AC6 - the TRIAL time is timestamped in the published files - so they'll expire?

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 7, 2012 11:05 AM   in reply to airazabal

    I just got off the phone with Adobe Captivate technical support. They are unsure of why this is happening and are going to take a look at my .cp file and see if they can figure out the problem.

     

    When I republish, those courses look fine - but for how long?

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 7, 2012 11:16 AM   in reply to MarionJD

    Marion, no I'm not using a template. Also, what's odd is that I didn't create all of my courses on the same date and yet they all expired sometime last night/this morning. It's as if there was an expiration date pre-loaded  - not just set for 30 days out - and then carried over to my licensed AC6. (Like you, I have multiple licenses. Perhaps that's an issue?)

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 8, 2012 5:58 PM   in reply to MarionJD

    We started out testing Captivate in our project this summer with our small staff and we are hitting the same wall. We bought license all the way around for everyone, but with assuming the trial was a full working version and no warning that we would need to republish we are scrambling to back track to figure out what ones need to be republished. One is further ahead in the process than the rest of us and even projects that she has made since getting the full version are showing up as expired. Arggg.

     

    I have had 2 weeks of dawn to midnight, 7 day work week hours to work in enrollments for the upcoming school year, so I haven't even had time to start looking at mine until this evening. I had a massive build intensive during the time of the trial because that was when I would hev the best chunk of time to work on my new materials for this year's classes. I have done a hard drive search and found I have 136 Captivate files. Now I am going to try to figure out what dates I was using the trial version so I can narrrow that number down. I am tired and frustrated that instead of getting a much needed rest this weekend I will be republishing and re-uploading files to the LMS.

     

    I don't have a problem with crippling the output, but with that there needs to be a warning so you will know to track your projects to make it easy to find the ones that need to be republished and you will know not to distribute them. I shared my projects that I built widely including at the Adobe Educator's Forum so I don't even know who downloaded those that may be counting on them working in their classes.

     

    About a week ago, just before all this came to light, I had downloaded the eLEarning Suite with the intention to trail the features in it to see if I may want the full suite license. I hadn't had time yet to install it, but I was hoping to have time after the enrollments butbefore classes started up. I think I will wait because I don't want to risk the trail version from that messing up the output from my fully licensed Captivate 6 copy that isn't a part of the suite. If I activate the suite, wouldn't I end up not having trully working output again because of the expiration setup? I cannot risk making SCORMs for my students that will expire with half of the class having test results and the other half still needing to take it. If I have to republish and reupload, I will lose student data from students that have already taken it. To my mind, crippled output causes more frustration than what Adobe Captivate meant to have in this expiration date design for their trail.

     

    Looks like I will try out the eLearning Suite when school is out next summer instead of the fun I was anticipating in trying it out in the week or two before classes begin.

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 9, 2012 5:02 AM   in reply to Tammy Moore

    I am finding that some of my projects that were not created or modified in the trial period but were made after are showing up as expired too. Some of them are based on templates/themes I built during the trial, but the settings are showing that they don't have an expiration date in the project settings. Has anyone figured out what the problem is? I am going through all 136 of my projects to check on them. Someone said they were going to turn their clocks forward in time to test to see if the republish solved the problem. Any news on if that test confirmed that the republish worked? I am hoping to get a confirmation that therepublished ones can be trusted.

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 9, 2012 6:34 AM   in reply to Tammy Moore

    Tammy, some of my courses were created after I had a licensed version and those expired too. It's almost as if Captivate didn't recognize that I'd converted from the trial version to a licensed version. The republish worked fine - those courses now display properly. However, my concern is "for how long?".  When I changed my system date and retested, that newly published course still worked.

     

    I sent a sample of my course to an Adobe team member. As soon as I hear back, I will post the reply.

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 9, 2012 6:39 AM   in reply to MarionJD

    Marion,

    Interesting that ours timed out on the same day. To make it more interesting, I can't find anything significant about that date. It wasn't 30 days from my trial, it wasn't 30 days but the publish dates (which varied), it wasn't 30 days from my licensed purchase.

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 9, 2012 11:36 AM   in reply to MarionJD

    Marion,

     

    CP6 was released the 15th of June, so expiration message appeared earlier.

     

    Have the same issue, was first on trial and then converted to a licensed version.

     

    Lilybiri

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 9, 2012 2:36 PM   in reply to MarionJD

    I just checked my Adobe open cases and Adobe has closed my case as "withdrawn." I'm not sure why as I didn't withdraw the issue. I emailed my tech support rep to re-open. I'll update if I hear back.

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 9, 2012 2:39 PM   in reply to Lilybiri

    Lilybiri,

     

    Do you know what date your first expiration appeared?  Did all courses expire at once? My client uses an LMS and users access the courses on Monday 8/6/12 and then could not access them that evening.

     

    Thanks,

     

    Robin

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 9, 2012 4:16 PM   in reply to RobinDR

    I have created a project in V6 trial version, and am still awaiting the upgrade to be installed on my work PC.  Is there anyway I can open the file in V5.5 and re-work it so it is usable at least.  As it may be while before the upgrade gets installed, IT seem to be taking their time with this.

     

    Had I know that it would expire I would NEVER have even contemplated using this to create the project.  A full version means just that, not one that will time out and make your files unusable in 30 days.

     

    Thanks

    Barbara

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 9, 2012 4:26 PM   in reply to Bgerbich1

    Can I export the file content, so it is accessable, so I can if need be re-create it in version 5.5? Even if it is just screen shots?

     

    Thanks

    Barbara

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 9, 2012 4:39 PM   in reply to Bgerbich1

    Hi there

     

    You should be able to export the screen captures from the Library. But stuff like Text Captions and other objects will, unfortunately, have to be manually added back into the lower version project.

     

    Pity, really, that Adobe sees no value in providing any ability to work like we are accustomed to using Microsoft products.

     

    Cheers... Rick

     

    Helpful and Handy Links

    Captivate Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form

    Adobe Certified Captivate Training

    SorcerStone Blog

    Captivate eBooks

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 9, 2012 4:41 PM   in reply to Bgerbich1

    Barbara, you could publish to print instead of Swf. When you click publish, change the output to print and then select what you'd like printed (handouts, storyboard, caption, etc).

     

    Sadly, you cannot open 6.0 files in 5.5 as Captivate is not backwards compatible.

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 9, 2012 11:38 PM   in reply to RobinDR

    Hi Robin,

           If I understand it correct,

    1) Created a project in Cp6 trail version.

    2) Bought the subscription.

    3) Opened the project created with trail version and republished it.

     

    Output generated after you republished in licensed version is expired?

     

    If so, Can you send us the caprivate project as well as published output with licensed version?

     

    You can upload to Acrobat.com and send it to sankaram@adobe.com.

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 9, 2012 11:46 PM   in reply to MarionJD

    Hi,

        In Captivate 6 Trail version, published projects will expire in 30 days from the date of Captivate project creation. If you re-publish the same project in licensed version, the expiry will be removed.

     

    If you need anymore clarification you can send me a mail at sankaram@adobe.com

     

    Thanks,

    Sankaram.

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 10, 2012 12:31 AM   in reply to Sankaram

    Hi,

     

    This is really an embarassing situation, because it occurred without any warning. Just an example: the 5th of July I did a webinar for Adobe about advanced conditional actions and offered published SWF's, created with the trial version, got a license number only after that webinar. All participants, if they will now look again at the published files, will see the Expired message....

     

    Lieve

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 10, 2012 12:41 AM   in reply to jeanrouge

    Hi jeanrouge,

         Are you accessing HTML5 content through webserver? to view interactions, you need to access the content through webserver. Let me know if you still have any issues accessing interactions?

     

    Thanks,

    Sankaram.

    
     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 10, 2012 1:20 AM   in reply to Sankaram

    No directly on an IPADas part of the APP. Lucas

    Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2012 01:41:53 -0600

    From: forums@adobe.com

    To: jeanrouge@live.com

    Subject: Re: Publishing with a trial version Publishing with a trial version

     

     

     

     

     

     

          

               

               

               

        Re: Publishing with a trial version

     

     

        created by Sankaram in Adobe Captivate - View the full discussion

     

     

     

    Hi jeanrouge,     Are you accessing HTML5 content through webserver? to view interactions, you need to access the content through webserver. Let me know if you still have any issues accessing interactions? Thanks,Sankaram.

     

     

         Replies to this message go to everyone subscribed to this thread, not directly to the person who posted the message. To post a reply, either reply to this email or visit the message page: Re: Publishing with a trial version

         To unsubscribe from this thread, please visit the message page at Re: Publishing with a trial version. In the Actions box on the right, click the Stop Email Notifications link.

          

         Start a new discussion in Adobe Captivate by email or at Adobe Forums

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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 10, 2012 5:09 AM   in reply to MarionJD

    I realize that the tact being taken here by Adobe Captivate is merely a publishing of the statement that the "published items coming out of the trial version expires in 30 days" as if it is common knowledge and everyone shoudl have already known this.

     

    I am sorry, but I really believe that this issue needs to be responded to in a different way. The expiration is not a common knowledge issue even by peopple who have used Captivate for many releases. People using the trial had no idea this was in place and people should not feel 'shamed' if they used the trial to create real world use projects whil ethey trialed the software. If you are going to test out software you want to test it out in the real use case not just some fun little sandbox outside of a real workflow. We are too busy to have time to play in the sandbox here. Change this crazy idea to cripple the output and not tell your customers. If you are going to cripple it is your responsibility to inform those that are trying the product.

     

    I realize that text cannot convey emotions and I am not hopping up and down mad - I am too exhausted for that, lol. I am camly stating the obvious that I think everyone here that is being impacted by this sees clearly and Adobe seems to be brushing off. Yes, we realize we are stuck with the hunting down of files, republishing, and re-uploading, and contacting of students or clients and eating the crow of shame that we are in this position, but come on Captivate and 'man up' to do your part and acknowledge this was mishandled. The 30-day cripppling of output should have been stated in the trial version and made clear to users. I think it would help those of us out here that are having to do unexpected emergency clean up and having to face the 'manning up' to the embarrassment with our staff, students, and clients.

     

    A truly commited fan of Captivate that is hoping to see response in kind of loyalty from Adobe staff

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 10, 2012 9:09 AM   in reply to MarionJD

    Marion - Can you ask someone using another computer to give it a try? If you don't know anyone with Captivate 6 on their computer I am willing to jump in to help you out in this emergency. Of the ones I have replublished, it looks like the ones that are stubbornly hanging on to the expirey notice are ones that had a trial version timed template/theme build. I am not 100% positive because I haven't had enough time to get very far in to the republishing. I have had some successful republishes though. It is worth a shot trying it on another system.

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 10, 2012 9:45 AM   in reply to MarionJD

    Hi Marion,

     

    Up till now all  filles I republished with the licensed version are doing well. I'm also available to help if necessary. This is so frustrating, I have been helping on this forum since 3 yrs and never experienced this kind of treatment; feeling personally ashamed.

     

    Lilybiri

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 10, 2012 10:59 AM   in reply to MarionJD

    Hi Marion,

     

    I can help too if you want to test. (I'm out of the office for the next couple of hours though.) The files that I republished on Tuesday are working.

     

    This is terribly embarrassing and frustrating all the way around. Marion, are you using the subscription? It might bs worth a try to uninstall and reinstall 6.0.

     

    Robin

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 10, 2012 1:38 PM   in reply to MarionJD

    I may do the same this weekend if e-mail will slow down a little bit. I am answering the e-mail as fast as it is coming in. I am not gaining ground yet, but at least I am not losing ground. Oh the joy fof running an all 100% volunteer (me too) non-profit where so few hands do so much work. There are 14 of us serving about 500 live classroom students and about another 300 at-your-own pace students so far this year. Since I am admin, secretary, volunteer trainer, and teach most of the classes, I am up to my eyeballs in dawn to midnight work load right now. The Captivate issue could have been worse though. Had this hit after the live classes were all up and running it would have been a much bigger disaster. As it is, I think I can get everything fixed up before my classes officially start if I can ever get my head above water for a gasp of air. lol

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    Aug 12, 2012 9:28 AM   in reply to Tammy Moore

    Hi Tammy,

    I’ve followed your participation in the past on our various forums, and value your feedback, and your continued support. I agree, we could have communicated this change in policy better. And I’m sorry this has resulted in so much confusion and rework.

    This is being rectified, and our trials download page will now clearly call out that content will expire in 30 days.

    If anyone on this thread would like our assistance in extending the validity of your published content for a few more weeks post the trial expiry, please write to Sankaram ( or wish-captivate@macromedia.com<mailto:wish-captivate@macromedia.com>)

    That said, this is an important change for us to curb misuse of trial policies and product piracy. Also, as per our EULA, content created using trial products should not be used for commercial purposes.

    Regards,

    Shameer

     

    Shameer Ayyappan

    Sr. Product Manager - Captivate | eLearning Suite | Presenter

    http://blogs.adobe.com/captivate

    http://facebook.com/adobecaptivate

    Adobe Captivate Forum<http://captivate.adobe.com/

     
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