Editing default text on placeholder objects

[eLearner22]

Hi Captivate Community,

First, let me just say Captivate 6 is awesome.  Really liking all the new features. 

We are building our master slide themes and want to change the default text on placeholder objects from "Type the caption text here" to something that would give the person using the template an idea of what type of content they would like.  For example, I would like to change the default text for "Type caption text here" to "Type Section Title here beginning with an action verb" 

Is there a setting somewhere where I can make this change.  If I change it on the master slide it comes into the filmstrip as an image that I cannot edit. 

Any insight would be great.

Thanks,

Shawn

[nsukumar]

Hi,

Thanks for your valuable feedback. Presently there is no option present in Captivate 6 to change the default placeholder Text. Please file an enhancement request in captivate wish forum (http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform&product=5) so that we can consider this for the future releases of captivate.

Thanks,

Nimmy Sukumaran.

[Lilybiri]

Hello,

Even for templates, I will rarely use placeholders, why not replace them by a simple text caption, with the proper formatting and styles? Then you are able to type whatever you want. And since in CP6 there is already an applied Theme (with master slides, skin and object styles)...

Lilybiri

[eLearner22]

Hi Lilybiri,

Thanks for your suggestions.  I am adding this as a wish list item.  I love the themes and templates and set them all up with notes to the Instructional Designer (ID) in text captions but when we insert a new slide from the master, those notes to the ID are not editable and come across as a picture.  This is great for logos that won't change but not for blank slides of instructional "how to" information for the end user that change on each and every slide. 

Now, we have the master slides set up with placeholders so the positioning is correct and the text styles and sizes and colors are all correct.  But in addition, we also have in the filmstrip view one of each of the master slides with the notes to the instructional designers as well so it feels like we set the master slides up twice -- once in the master view and once again in the filmstrip view.  It would be awesome if we could just click a button in the properties to say whether or not the text or other object is editable in the filmstrip view. 

[Lilybiri]

I do not understand your work flow very well: text captions are never inserted as images? Even when you insert them on the master slides, the user can still edit them on the master slide view.

BTW: perhaps you are not aware of the fact that you can put instructions in the scratch area (outside of the stage) as well. I use that area a lot and it is crowded with text captions, some of them set to display for the rest of the project. Or you can put instructions on a slide that is hidden, which means that it will  not appear in the published version.

Lilybiri

[grantmfisher]

I know that this is a very old thread, but I am having the same issue as eLearner22. I believe what he/she was referring to with "text captions as images" was referring to their editability within the Filmstrip. If you place a text caption in a master slide, you cannot edit that text caption unless you go back to the master slide, and essentially, it feels like an image. For most use cases that I can think of, that wouldn't be useful. The option to make custom placeholder text would be very useful.

The idea that you could use a text caption in your master slides here simply would not work for most uses. Lilybiri, you are correct in saying that you can edit that text caption on the master slides, but what if you needed to use the same master slide for multiple slides in your project? Different content each time that master slide is used would mess up that workflow.

I'll give my example: I have a master slide I use as a Chapter transition slide. That master slide has a text caption that simply has the word "Chapter." Beside that text caption, i'm forced to add a placeholder text caption. I would love to simply put a "#" in the placeholder caption, but instead, i have the full blown "Type the caption text here." This makes my slide look very strange, and misleading to the end user. So, I am forced to do as you suggested Lilybiri, I utilize the scratch area on the outside of my stage to instruct the users on how to fill in the placeholders. The downside of this, of course, is that the user might miss those notes if they have their stage filling up their screen. For clarity, below is a screenshot of what I mean. On the left is what I currently have in place, the text box starting with "Type" is a placeholder caption. The slide on the right, the "#" is a text caption on a master slide. I cannot edit that text caption in my filmstrip.

If anyone has a better idea for how to accomplish this cleanly and efficiently, please share!! This seems like a no-brainer update for Captivate 8! Fingers crossed.

[RodWard]

Captivate has placeholder objects for text images etc.  Make sure you have a Master Slide selected, then from the Insert menu, choose Placeholder objects and pick one.

These placeholder objects are what you should be using on the Master Slides for any situation where you want to be able to edit the default objects on each new slide. When you insert a new slide and edit the placeholder text, the object turns into a caption or whatever from then on.

[grantmfisher]

RodWard, thanks for your response on this. I am aware that you can add placeholder objects onto a master slide. However, my dilemma is that I wanted to change the default text that is added to that placeholder object on the master slide to something more relevant to that slide(like simply a '#' to indicate that a number belongs in that placeholder object). That is something that I have not found to be possible inside of Captivate. From what I can tell, when you insert a placeholder text caption, you're stuck with the default text that reads 'Type the Caption Text here' until you insert that slide into your Filmstrip. Hope that helps clarify the point I was aiming for. 🙂

[RodWard]

OK.  Then in your situation I would normally create a CPTL template file that has all my slides set up with whatever starter text I want to see, and then spawn new CPTX project files from that template.  Effectively, the slides you set up in your template are just placeholders that you intend to edit anyway, but the text will be whatever you want.

[IDarin]

So are you saying there is no way to change the default text in an object such as a Text Caption Placeholder [in Captivate 8]? I realize you can double click on the placeholder text in Filmstrip View and type whatever you want, but I was just hoping to edit the default text so I could place it in a master slide and have it be uniform across all the slides.

Darin

[rhybeka32]

Doesn't appear so. I'm trying to do it right now on an intro slide.

Normally we provide our end users with a bullet summary list of things they should be able to do once completing the lesson, and how long the course would take them.  I'd love to change the default placeholder caption to having three bullet placeholders so when I use this template over again I just have to fill the bullets in - but it's not letting me edit the placeholder on the master slide.  Also, would like to be able to put a placeholder in for "This course should take XX minutes to complete" so I just have to change the XX.... same issue - can't change the text. Looks like it may need to be an enhancement request unless I'm doing something wrong as well.

[Captiv8r]

So why not insert a typical normal object and not a placeholder?

Just thinking out loud a bit...

[rhybeka32]

Because the text will change for every different training...but it's nice to have something there to remind you that it needs to go there and already be formatted properly. It also helps if you are sharing a template between designers or someone new to Captivate is using your template. Yeah, you know what goes there, but they most likely won't. Having the placeholder there with information on what to do would make it much easier. Could put notes outside of the slide (Like Lilybiri suggested)  but IMHO that's extra work if you could just do it all in the place holder.  Just my 2 cents of course

[Captiv8r]

But you could also make the basic caption (or shape or whatever text object trips your trigger) have the already formatted text that says something like "Double-Click me and change the text." I might think that would accomplish your goal. I mean, don't you have to do the same exact thing with the placeholder?

Cheers... Rick

[Brett_Conlon]

Yes, I have a flat spot on my forehead from this also.

I'm creating multiple quizzes throughout my project that won't be connected to each other in any way so I have turned off the Progress Indicator and made my own "Question X of Y" Text Caption in the master slide only to find I cannot edit it in my slides. So I changed it to a Text Caption Placeholder only to find I can't edit the original text in the master from "Type the caption text here" to "Question X of Y" so that all I have to do is change the X and Y to the relevant numbers for each slide.

Looks like I'll have to manually create the text caption in one slide and then copy/paste/edit it in all other slides.

I'm using Captivate 9 and the behaviour looks like it still hasn't changed.

Chz, Brett

[Lilybiri]

I explained in this (old) article how to create a custom progress indicator without having to do it manually:

Customized Progress Indicator - Captivate blog

[Brett_Conlon]

Hi Lilibiri,

Thanks for the pointer. Because I will have numerous separate quizzes (of varying lengths) in my project I modified your suggestions to the following:

• I created two variables: Quiz_QCount & Quiz_Total
• I created 2 Adv Actions: Quiz_[Label]_FirstSlide (set as the On Enter action of the first slide of a specific [Label] quiz) and Quiz_FollowingSlides (set as the On Enter action of the remaining slides of all quizzes)
• The Quiz_[Label]_FirstSlide action sets Quiz_QCount to 1 & Quiz_Total to the number of slides in that quiz (yes, you have to count them)
• The Quiz_FollowingSlides action incrementally sets Quiz_QCount to Quiz_QCount + 1
• The Master slide has a Text Container with the variables set: "Question $$Quiz_QCount$$ of $$Quiz_QTotal$$" that never has to be changed.

That seems to be working for me. I just have to remember to build an On Entry action for each separate quiz and have it set the correct total number of questions for that quiz.

I'd still like to be able to have a way of changing the text in a Text Caption Placeholder for other purposes, though.

[RodWard]

You need to be aware that as far as Captivate is concerned there is ONLY ONE QUIZ in any single CPTX file.

So although you might be thinking these multiple quizzes in your project are "not connected in any way" that's NOT the way Captivate views them.  You can only have one Quiz Result slide supplied by Captivate and it has to come after the very last scored quiz question or interactive object in the project.  You can certainly create your own faux Quiz Result slides at various points and track the scores for your individual 'quizzes' in the project, but at the end when reporting all of this to the LMS, Captivate will only be reporting a single quiz result.

[Brett_Conlon]

Thanks Rod,

I don't want to hijack this thread about changing placeholder default text but as a quick response, I will be building my own quiz result slide after each quiz. My training package will be an exe file and is to be used as a post-training reference, and, if they wish, they can sit a short Basic, Intermediate or Advanced quiz on the various topics on offer. I doubt anyone will sit ALL of the quizzes in ALL of the levels at one time, hence my desire to have them autonomous from each other.

I doubt it will ever end up on our LMS (famous last words!!! )

Ta, Brett

[Lilybiri]

EXE files rely on Flash Player, hope you are aware of that?

Did you ever try out Branch Aware?

Branch Aware Quiz - Captivate blog