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Hi there
If that's all you want, you need to investigate using Master Slides or Content Master Slides.
Basically, with templates, you create a template project (CPTL file extension) and you add the elements you want to be there for each project you create from the template. Then you create projects based on the template.
Cheers... Rick 
Hello again
Are you by chance a PowerPoint user? If so, when you think of Master Slides, they work in a similar way as they do with PowerPoint. I use PowerPoint 2010. And in that version, I click the View tab and choose Slide Master. At that point, my thumbnail view on the left side (which is equivalent to Captivate's Film Strip) changes to show me nothing but all the different slides available to me in that view.
I'm not seeing where any specific Captivate version is mentioned. But I'm assuming you are using version 8. In this version, the Film Strip is replaced by the Master Slides very similar to what you see in PowerPoint. And, to exit that view PowerPoint offers a button in the ribbon that is labeled "Close Master View". Likewise, Captivate 8 offers a button that is similar and reads "Exit Master".
So my guess here is that you really aren't seeing slides being inserted into your project. Instead, you are seeing available "Content Master" slides that exist as part of the Master Slide View. If you exit that view, I'm guessing they will perform an abrupt disappearing act. 
Cheers... Rick
Hi Gary
Okay, I'll bite.
First, a parallel with Greek Mythology. There was a God named Janus. The God of Beginnings and Transitions. Depicted as having two faces. One looking forward and one looking backward.
So think of Captivate projects in the same way. For the "Beginnings" part, you have a template that is used to begin a project. It has certain things in place and it determines the project resolution.
For the "Themes" part, they assume the Janus role of "transitions". This is because even after a project has been set up initially, you are able to apply a Theme to it to set certain design characteristics. (Caption styles, Background images, etc.)
Master Slides are used when you have images or other elements that you need to propagate to multiple slides.
Hopefully that helps a smidge... Rick
Sorry, although I like Rick's metaphor a lot, you don't get it at all. Maybe Rick can explain even better.
A template is a file, not a slide, with an extension cptl. And I still do not believe that you need a template at all, even less now than before. If I'm not wrong you are simply confusing the main master slide with a template and those are totally different beasts.
Trying again, and I will avoid every strange word.
To start a file in Captivate, you do not need a template, but it will have the default theme applied to it. That means that you have already set up:
- Main master slide (big one at the left in the Master slide panel) that is used for some (but not all) daughter master slides, it can have a background image, logo, text, navigation, whatever you want to appear on all the daughter master slides that do use this main master slide. In the screenshot you see that the main master slide has a black banner on top, that is taken over on several daughter master sides, not on the Blank slide however
- Daughter master slides: number depends on the theme, but you have at least 6 of them (only in the Blank theme). The question slides need to have their specific daughter master slides, you cannot escape from it. The default theme when you start with CP8 is the White theme, see this screenshot. After Introduction, Blank, Caption you see a lot of master slides that have 'placeholders' that you can fill in when adding a slide that uses that master slide; from 17 on you have the typical master slide for question slides and for the score slide. Each slide in a Captivate file has to use a master slide, no escape possible.
- Theme colors used in the theme: you can easily switch from the default colors to another color palette, using the Theme Colors button under the big button Themes
- Object styles (see Object Style Manager) for all possible objects, that are adapted to the theme (they share the same theme colors)
- Skin editor: playbar that is adapted to the theme, borders that use the same colors, TOC set up in the same theme.
Why should you need a template? A template is a bunch of real slides, that are also based on a theme, but have more objects already in place, whether placeholders or not: you can have footnotes (that you don't want in the master slides), dummy slides to replace when using the template. And sorry now for the jargon, you can have a library with assets in a template: graphical objects, audio files, shared actions, variables.
Maybe you understand now why I feel like you are really confused. When you open a Word document, you are indeed opening a template (dot), in which styles, layout ... are set up. The term Template in Captivate has however a totally different meaning, it is a separate file. Create a new Captivate file, without bothering about creating first a template, because you'll have already all you need in place.
I've retraced exactly what I did:
File - New Project - Project Template - OK
Themes - Blank - Yes
Deleted all content - added my content (blue strip at top, logo)
File - Save As (X)
File - Close
.........
File - New Project - Project from Template - (X) Open
Slides - Content Slide - add content- repeat
.......
If I click Slides - Question Slide this slide does not include my blue strip & logo. I think this is what confused me originally, and I still can't see why it has to be like that but then I don't want to use these slides - I'm happy for now to add all my content to the content slides. I don't want quizzes and scoring as my content will be shown in a live class in Connect.
As you like metaphors I hope you agree that, although I don't know the names of the trees, I'm finding my way through the forest. But if there are any grizzly bears waiting for me, please warn me
LOL, I wasn't suggesting your content was dry.
I was just trying to use an example that would hopefully illustrate one possibility for how Themes work.
Sooo, if you don't mind, I'll do a little copy/paste magick here and fill in with some observations.
File - New Project - Project Template - OK
Cool, you created a new template. Just like creating the blueprint I mentioned.
Themes - Blank - Yes
Okay, so you selected to use the Blank theme. So far so good.
Deleted all content - added my content (blue strip at top, logo)
At this point it might beg the question as to where you deleted and added the content. From the slide(s) or did you edit the Master Slide?
File - Save As (X)
File - Close
.........
File - New Project - Project from Template - (X) Open
So far so good. You just created a project using the blueprint you designed. At this point the new project should look identical to your template. The main difference is that if you clicked Save, you are now saving as a .CPTX file and not a .CPTL file.
Slides - Content Slide - add content- repeat
.......
If I click Slides - Question Slide this slide does not include my blue strip & logo. I think this is what confused me originally, and I still can't see why it has to be like that but then I don't want to use these slides - I'm happy for now to add all my content to the content slides. I don't want quizzes and scoring as my content will be shown in a live class in Connect.
You should be set then. But if you want to know why the Question slides don't follow what your color scheme has, we need to explore what (if anything) was done in the Master Slide view. Note that when you choose to display that view, you see a large "Primary" master slide and several "Secondary" or "Content" master slides. In the example screen capture below, I inserted a bright red rectangle on the large Master at the top. Because it is on the large Master, it also appears on all the Content master slides. But you also see that I inserted a bright blue rectangle on only one Content master. As you can see, there are "Content" masters for each Question type. So if you didn't add the colors and whatnot to the large Master, that's why you don't see them on any Question slides you insert.
Cheers... Rick
Hi Gary
Trying again with a different analogy to explain Templates VS Master Slides VS Themes.
***** Templates *****
Imagine you are a house builder. You have created a blueprint for creating a specific type of house. The blueprint is very much like the Template. As each new house is constructed, it follows the design specified by the blueprint. The size, the placement of rooms, etc.
Likewise, in Captivate a Template is used to create a project. Perhaps you know that all the projects you will create should be a specific pixel dimension. Maybe it'sx768. And for every project you create, you always want a Splash page that presents the Course title. Maybe the second slide always has the course synopsis stating what the learner will see and the third slide always has instructions on how to navigate the course. Then perhaps you will always follow that with a recording. After the recording, there will usually be a quiz to test the learner to ensure they absorbed what you intended.
Now, without Templates, you would have to manually create each of these slides, add the recording, add the questions, etc.
But if you create a Template, all these items are already in place. So when you create a project based on a template, all the slides and placeholders are present and just waiting for you to make some tweaks that make the new project unique.
Perhaps on that Splash page you have a placeholder object that would ultimately present the course title. That's what a placeholder does. You insert it into a Template slide and it will be changed by you down the line when you create the project based on the Template. For example, the Recording Slide placeholder just offers a "Click Me" sort of deal to commence recording. Likewise, with the Question Slide placeholder, you click it and poof! The Questions dialog appears.
***** Master Slides *****
Master Slides can be used at any point in the process. Either when you are creating a Template or later, after you have created a project.
For example, let's say that your boss wants you to add the text "This is a draft - Not for public consumption" to the bottom of each slide until it is ready.
You create a Master Slide and insert a Text Caption or a Smart Shape that contains this text. And you then make sure all the slides are associated with that Master Slide. Poof! Now all slides have that text. And if you need to change it. Perhaps to add a Copyright symbol and information, you just update the Master Slide and all the slides would then present copyright information. The neat part is you would only update it ONCE. In the Master Slide. All associated slides would then have the information!
***** Themes *****
Perhaps you have some information that is really "dry". Maybe SOX Comliance (Sarbanes-Oxley - Regulatory information). Nothing but page after page of pure text. Ugh!
If you created a project that simply had blank slides, then you added some Text Captions to each slide to present this, it would look really ugly in a hurry. This is where Themes come into play. You choose to apply a Theme and that dry information is now at least formatted a bit differently. The backgrounds change to match the Theme. The Text Captions change their look and their font. All because the Theme changed.
You know how in Microsoft Windows, you can change the whole look of Windows by entering that "Personalize" mode, where the Title Bar colors, The Text Elements and dialogs change based on what you selected? Think of Themes as being nearly the same. It's just that they apply only to your Captivate Project.
Cheers... Rick
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