User Guide Cancel

What's New in Adobe Connect

  1. Adobe Connect User Guide
  2. Introduction
    1. What's New in Adobe Connect
    2. Adobe Connect meeting room basics
    3. Adobe Connect Capabilities in HTML Client
    4. Adobe Connect application for desktop
    5. Adobe Connect technical specifications and system requirements
    6. Keyboard shortcuts in Adobe Connect
  3. Adobe Connect Meeting
    1. Start, attend, and manage Adobe Connect meetings and sessions
    2. Host and Presenter Area in Adobe Connect
    3. Adobe Connect application for desktop
    4. Adobe Connect pre-meeting diagnostic test
    5. Adobe Connect Central home page
    6. Share content during a session
      1. Screen sharing in sessions
      2. Share pod
      3. Screen sharing on browser
      4. Share system audio
      5. Share a document
      6. Share a presentation
      7. Share a whiteboard
      8. Share files
      9. Share web URLs
    7. Update and manage Adobe Connect meetings
    8. View meeting reports and analytics data
    9. Work with Pods
      1. Pods in sessions
      2. Notes pod
      3. Chat pod
      4. Q & A pod
      5. Poll pod
      6. Quiz pod    
    10. Accessibility features in Adobe Connect
    11. Keyboard shortcuts in Adobe Connect
    12. Create virtual meeting rooms and arrange layouts
    13. Breakout rooms in Adobe Connect meetings
    14. Manage meeting attendees in Adobe Connect
  4. Adobe Connect administration and maintenance
    1. Enabling Adobe Connect HTML client
    2. Enabling single sign-on in Adobe Connect
    3. Change the timeout period
    4. Configure audio providers for Universal Voice
    5. Create and import users and groups in Adobe Connect
    6. Enhance Adobe Connect account security
    7. Generate usage reports in Adobe Connect Central
    8. Administer and manage Adobe Connect accounts
    9. Manage users and groups
    10. Set permissions for library files and folders
    11. Back up user data, database, and settings of Adobe Connect server
    12. Build custom reports from the Adobe Connect database
    13. Maintain disk space and clean cache on an Adobe Connect server
    14. Manage and monitor Adobe Connect server logs
    15. Start and stop Adobe Connect services
  5. Adobe Connect Events
    1. About Adobe Connect Events
    2. Manage Adobe Connect Events
    3. Attend Adobe Connect Events
    4. Create and edit Adobe Connect Events
    5. Event analytics for webinars
  6. Adobe Connect Training and Seminars
    1. About Adobe Connect courses and curriculum for training
    2. Conduct trainings with Adobe Connect
    3. Create and manage seminars
    4. Create training courses in Adobe Connect
    5. Create and manage training curriculum in Adobe Connect
    6. About Virtual Classrooms in Adobe Connect
    7. Adobe Connect reports to monitor training features
    8. Participate in Adobe Connect training sessions and meetings
    9. Closed captioning in Adobe Connect
  7. Audio and video conferencing in Adobe Connect
    1. Audio in Adobe Connect meetings
    2. Record and play back Adobe Connect meetings
    3. Video in Adobe Connect meetings
  8. Manage user content in Adobe Connect
    1. View reports and usage information about uploaded content
    2. Work with content in the Content library
    3. Work with Adobe Connect library files and folders

 

Learn about the latest offerings in Adobe Connect. This article summarizes the new features and enhancements.

new

Adobe Connect enables you to create state-of-the-art digital training, webinar, and collaboration experiences. For an overview of Adobe Connect, see www.adobe.com/products/adobeconnect.html.

The sections below summarize the new features and enhancements available in the various releases of Adobe Connect.

What's New in Adobe Connect 12.8

The Adobe Connect 12.8 release expands access to the analytics dashboard to every license type (hosted only), adds improvements to the event analytics dashboard, introduces more expressive and animated reactions, adds support for popping out video cells from the video pod, improves the discovery of breakout rooms, enhances pod switcher experience, includes user experience and accessibility improvements, and fixes for various issues

SESSION Analytics DASHBOARD (Hosted Only)

Building on the base of the event analytics dashboard introduced in 12.7, the Session Analytics Dashboard will be available to users of all license types with meeting rooms, training rooms, and seminar rooms. The dashboard will provide a consolidated view of participant activities, interactions, and engagement during the session. The dashboard will also allow hosts to download various reports without having to enter the room after the session. The dashboard can be accessed by navigating to the By Sessions sub-section of the Reports section for rooms.   

Session Summary

A screenshot of the Session Analytics Dashboard
Note:
  • The dashboard will only be available for sessions held on Adobe Connect version 12.8 and above.
  • The dashboard will be available only in hosted deployments.

Event Analytics Dashboard Improvements

The existing Event Analytics Dashboard that was launched with Adobe Connect 12.7, will have multiple improvements including:

  • A collapsible side navigation menu.
  • An updated event summary tab with more information like event name, event date, list of hosts, company widget with top company names, and a recording widget with recording viewership metrics.
  • A detailed quiz report in the Interactions tab including 4 different views for each quiz: Question List, By Question, Leaderboard, and Individual Response.  
  • An expanded list of reactions in the reactions report in line with 12.8 changes to the list of reactions (See below section More expressive reactions and de-linking raise hands and reactions for details)
  • Enhanced UI for Participant Activity report.
Detailed quiz report which will be available with the event analytics dashboard and the session analytics dashboard

Detailed quiz report in the event analytics dashboard 

More expressive reactions and de-linking raise hands and reactions

Raise hand has been delinked from the actions and requests have been removed. Existing graphics have been replaced with more expressive emojis. The new set of reactions available are: Like, Laugh, Love, Applause, Surprise, Agree, and Disagree.  

Behavior of Raise Hand
:

  • Attendees can raise hands by clicking on the hand icon in the menu bar. Clicking on the raise hand again will lower it. It will stay raised unless the host lowers it or the attendee lowers it.
  • Hosts will see an indicator with the number of attendees who have raised their hands.
  • On clicking on the dropdown with raised hands, hosts will be able to see all the attendees who have raised their hand in the order in which they have raised their hand.
  • Existing notification of raised hands will be removed for hosts.
  • Hosts can lower the hands of all the attendees by clicking on “Lower hands for all”.

Behavior of Reactions (other than Agree and Disagree):

  • Selecting a reaction (Like, laugh, love, applause, surprise) will show the reaction animation to all the attendees in the room.
  • The reactions will continue to show in the attendee pod with the same logic being used today.

Behavior of Agree and Disagree:

  • When an attendee agrees or disagrees, the emoji will be shown and persist on the reaction icon.  
  • Agree or disagree will not be shown as an animation to all attendees.  
  • Hosts can clear the agree/ disagree status of the attendees by clicking the reaction icon and within the dropdown clicking on “Clear for all”.
  • Hosts can individually clear the agree/ disagree from the attendee pod.

Behavior while Screen Sharing

  • A hand icon will be displayed in the mini-controller when screen sharing.
  • If there are raised hands, the number of raised hands will appear in an indicator.
  • Clicking on the hand icon will show a popup with list of raised hands.

Menu Preferences

  • Removed the menu bar preference “Disable step away notification”
  • Added a preference for allowing attendees to use reactions.
  • Retained the preference for allowing attendees to raise hands. 
Reactions: Participants view in the menu bar

Participants view of menu bar
Reactions: Participants view of list of reactions

Participants view of updated list of reactions
Reactions: Hosts view of raised hand dropdown

Hosts view of Raise Hand dropdown

Reactions: Hosts view of updated list of reactions

Hosts view of updated list of reactions

Note:
  • Mobile application will also support the updated list of reactions and animations with 3.8 versions which will be available starting November second week. 

Popping out video cells

A host will be able to pop out individual video cells from the video pod, up to a maximum of two video cells. 

Behavior of popped-out video cell:

  • The popped-out video cell will not have title bar.
  • The popped-out video cell will always be initiated in the right-hand bottom corner of the screen.
  • The popped-out video cell can be moved and resized by the host, while retaining the aspect ratio.  
  • The popped-out video can be of a host, presenter, or a participant.
  • A video cell that has been popped out, will be visible in a layout which does not have a video pod.
  • In the absence of a video pod, any attendee whose video cell has been popped out will be able to switch off their camera from the menu bar, as well as the video cell menu.
  • Breakout rooms will not support popped out video cells.
  • When an attendee whose video has been popped out enters a Breakout Room their camera will be popped back into the video cell.    
  • In session with Broadcast control enabled, video cells can be popped out even before broadcast has started.
  • Video cells of mobile users will also be allowed to be popped out. Mobile users will continue seeing the popped-out video cells in the video pod, even in the absence of a video pod on the layout.
  • The popped-out video cell will always open in the main room and cannot be moved into the backstage area.
  • The host can restore the popped-out video back to the video pop by clicking on “Restore” within the video cell menu. 
Pop out video initiation

Popping out a video cell

Popped out video cell

Popped-out video cell

Note:
  • Mobile application will also support popped-out video cells with 3.8 versions which will be available starting November second week. 

Breakout room discovery and transition experience

Hosts will be able to switch between different attendee pod views without going into the attendee pod menu. This will improve the discoverability of the breakout room feature. Attendees (including presenters and participants) can also switch between the list view and status view from the attendee pod without navigating to the pod menu.

Breakout room transition

When the host starts the breakout, attendees will see a 6 second timer along with a message indicating that breakouts are about to be started. Attendees will be assigned respective breakout at the end of the 6 second timer.

When the host ends a breakout, attendees will see a 6 second timer in the breakouts bar on top. Attendees will be moved to the main room once the 6 second timer ends. 

Breakout Room Transition

Breakout room transition while starting breakouts

Breakout room ending transition

Breakout room transition while ending breakouts

Note:
  • Mobile application will also support breakout room transitions with 3.8 versions which will be available starting November second week. 

Improved pod switcher experience

Main Room

To improve the experience of switching pods, the pod switcher will now have a heading “Switch Pod Instance”.

The copy of the “Add new PodName” has been replaced with “+ New PodName pod”, where PodName stands for the type of pod. For example, in a Notes pod, the host will see + New Notes Pod. Pods that cannot be added to the layout (if they are already in the layout or in the backstage), will appear in gray at the bottom of the switcher. 

Pod Switcher Main Room

Pod switcher in main room 

Breakout Room

In the breakout room, the pod switcher will now have the heading “Switch Pod Instance”, like the main room pod switcher.

The copy of the “Add new PodName” has been replaced with “+ New PodName pod”, where PodName stands for the type of pod.

Additionally, Main Room pods and Breakout Room pods will be separated by sections. 

Pod Switcher Breakout Room

Pod switcher in breakout room

Note:
  • Any Main Room pod already used in a breakout room or in the backstage will be greyed out in that breakout room.
  • Main Room pods used in any other breakout room will not be greyed out in current Breakout Room. 

Replace externally edited recording

If a host would like to edit an Adobe Connect recording in an external application and replace the recording link, they can now navigate to the list of rooms and access the Replace Recording action.  The host can select an MP4 file from their computer to upload, and the same file will act as an edited recording post upload. 

Behavior of uploaded recording:

  • The transcript and closed captions will be removed.
  • The file size of uploaded MP4 can be a maximum of 1.5 times the size of the original recording.
  • The uploaded recording won’t be editable by the Edit Recording workflows. 
Replace recording - initiation

Updated dropdown with Replace Recording action with each recording.

Replace recording modal

Replace recording modal

Miscellaneous changes and fixes

  • Poll pod will now show a message to the users when their response has been recorded or updated.
  • The room exit button UI has been updated to make it more discoverable.
  • Fixed an issue where the participants could not reply to private chats initiated by hosts when private chat was disabled for participants.
  • The shimmer shown when landing on recording playback pages has been updated. Transparency has been introduced to display the recording thumbnail in background.
  • The Fit Page display for PDFs has been updated to display only one page at a time. PDFs can now be used as presentations.
  • The "Turn on camera" button will become active and can be selected as soon as the camera menu opens. Currently users have to wait for the camera preview to load before the button can be selected.
  • Strings for various notifications have been updated for simplicity.
  • Participants will now be able to reply to private messages from hosts and preseters even when the "Allow Participants to Chat Privately" setting is disabled.
  • Universal Voice/Mixed Audio in breakout rooms will now be supported for Conference America adaptor. When launched with 12.6 release, this was supported only for Meeting One adaptor.
  • Improvements to SSO
    • Signed SAML request.
    • Skip Adobe Connect’s login page if the account is SSO enabled (browser only).
    • Auto provision groups for SSO accounts. 
  • Third-party library updates:
    • JDK will be updated to ver 1.8.0_421
    • Tomcat will be updated to ver 9.0.93
    • Spring.jar will be updated to ver 5.3.39

What's New in Adobe Connect 12.7

The Adobe Connect 12.7 release introduces a new events analytics dashboard, custom virtual video backgrounds, multiple updates to simplify the in-room controls, revamped room customization UI for admins, accessibility improvements and fixes for various issues.

Event Analytics (Hosted Only)

A new dashboard with a consolidated view of participant activities, interactions, and engagement during the event, will now be available. The dashboard will also allow hosts to download various reports without having to enter the room after the session. The dashboard can be accessed from the Reports tab of any event.

Screenshot of the new Event Dashboard

A screenshot of the Event Dashboard
Note:
  • The dashboard will only be available for events held on Adobe Connect version 12.7 and above.
  • The dashboard will be available only in hosted deployments for both Adobe Connect and Interactive webinar customers.

Custom Virtual Video Backgrounds

Account admins can upload up to 9 custom virtual backgrounds which will then be available inside the room for selection. Admins can also control the availability of the default Adobe Connect virtual background images. The option will be available under the Customization settings within the Admin tab in Connect Central.

Connect Central screen with the Virtual video background upload feature

Connect Central screen with the virtual video background upload feature
 
Custom backgrounds available for selection within the room

Custom backgrounds available for selection within the room
 

Revamped Customization UI for Admins

  • The UI for Customization settings under the Admin tab in Connect Central has been redesigned for an updated and fresher look.
  • The logos and background images will support SVG vector images.
  • A new alternate text field has also been added for the logo shown inside the room.
Room interface customization screen for Admins

Room interface customization
 
Intermediate screens customization screen for Admins

Intermediate screens customization
 

Simplification of in-room controls

Adobe Connect rooms provide hosts with multiple settings to customize the experience for participants. Over time some of these settings have become redundant, use non-standard terms, or have been duplicated across multiple places. With the 12.7 release we have removed redundant and duplicate settings, renamed them using industry-standard terms, and have reorganized them along with UI touchups to improve navigation across the room. 

  • Room name
    The room name has been removed from the desktop client menu bar and has been replaced with a hamburger menu icon. The room name can be viewed in the browser tab title and the desktop application title bar.
Current vs New look of the menu bar after removing the room name

Room name before and after 12.7 release
 
  • Room Menu
    • Host and Presenter area has been renamed to Backstage.
    • The Layouts Panel option to toggle the availability of the Layouts Panel has been moved to a new checkbox setting under General Preferences.
    • Switch to prepare mode option has been removed. The prepare made will continue to be accessible from the Prepare mode icon in the Layouts Panel.
    • Speaker & Microphone setup option has been removed. Speakers and microphones can be setup and tested from the respective options menu in the menu bar.
    • Manage meeting information option has been renamed to View room information.
    • Manage access & entry
      • The Invite participants option has been removed. This option will be replaced with Copy room URL option (as mentioned in #7 below).
      • The Block guest access option has been removed. Guest access can be disabled by unchecking the option Accepted guests may enter the room from the Edit Information page for the room on Connect Central.
      • Block incoming attendees option has been renamed to Block incoming participants.
      • Tooltips have been added for the three remaining options.
    • A new option Copy room URL has been added under the room menu which can be used to copy the room URL to share it with participants.
    • A new icon has been added to View room information option. This icon indicates that the option will launch a link in a new browser window.
Room menu before and after 12.7 release

Room menu before and after 12.7 release
 
  • PODs menu
    • The PODs Menu has been updated to add icons for the different pods and group pods into cohorts for easier identification. Tooltips have also been added for the various pods.
    • The Move and Resize pods option has been removed. This option will continue to be accessible through its duplicate Lock layouts option under the Layouts Panel menu.
    • The Custom pods option under the Help menu has been moved to the PODs menu as Explore custom pods.
Current vs New look of the PODs menu

PODs menu before and after 12.7 release
 
  • Speaker options menu
    • The Adjust volume option has been removed. The speaker volume can be controlled from the Windows/Mac OS volume controls.
    • The Hear attendee audio option will be visible only in rooms using telephony for audio.
  • Microphone options menu
    • The Adjust volume option has been removed. The microphone volume can be controlled from the Windows/Mac OS microphone device control settings.
    • A tooltip has been added for Single speaker mode.
    • The state of the Allow participants to use microphone option will now persist across sessions in the room.
  • Camera options menu
    • Enable webcam for participants has been renamed to Allow participants to use camera.
  • Pod three dot menus
    • The pod menus have been re-organized, and options have been grouped under headings.
    • Maximize option has been renamed to Maximize for all. A tooltip has also been added for this.
Poll and Chat pod menus before and after 12.7 release

Poll and Chat pod menus before and after 12.7 release
 
  • Share Pod
    • The Sync navigation icon has been removed from Share pod title bar. It will continue to be accessible from the Share pod options menu.
    • The Limit video scaling option available when sharing MP4 videos has been removed. The MP4 videos will always be scaled to fit the share pod.
Share pod menus before and after 12.7 release

Share pod menus before and after 12.7 release
 
  • Notes Pod
    • The icons for Bold, Italics and Underline have been replaced with the industry standard icons.
Current vs New icons in notes pod for Bold, Italics and Underline

Notes pod icons before and after 12.7 release
 
Notes pod menu before and after 12.7 release

Notes pod menu before and after 12.7 release
 
  • Attendees Pod
    • The Edit information option in Attendee menu has been renamed to Edit display name.
Notes pod menu before and after 12.7 release

Attendee menu before and after 12.7 release
 
  • The settings within the Preferences modal have been reorganized. 
    • General Preferences
      • A new setting Show layouts panel to hosts (relocated from the room menu) to control the availability of the Layouts Panel has been added.
    • Menu bar Preferences
      • Show activity ticker setting has been renamed to Show activity monitor.
      • The notification settings for the Raise hands feature (shown when screen sharing) have been reorganized.

 

Menu bar preferences before and after 12.7 release

Menu bar preferences before and after 12.7 release
  • Audio Conference Preferences
    • The Audio Conference tab in Preferences will now only be shown for accounts which have at least one active audio profiles available in Connect Central. This will ensure accounts which only use VoIP for audio will not see the telephony audio related settings inside the room.
    • The Allow participants to use microphone setting has been removed. The state of Allow participants to use microphone option present under the microphone options menu will now persist across sessions in the room.
  • Attendees pod Preferences
    • The attendee pod sorting options have been moved to the Display name tab.
    •  The Mask telephone numbers option has been moved to the Audio Conference tab as this option is only relevant when using telephony audio.
    •  The Attendees pod Preferences tab has been removed as it did not have any setting left under it.

 

Display name preferences with attendee pod sorting option

Display name preferences with attendee pod sorting option
  • Video Preferences
    • The default aspect ratio for camera videos has been changed to Wide screen (16:9) from Standard (4:3).
    • The Disable webcam preview option has been removed. The webcam preview will always be shown when trying to turn on the camera for the first time during a session. From the next instance during the session, the camera will turn on with a single click without a preview. The preview if needed will be accessible from the camera options menu.
    • The Highlight active speaker option has been removed. The active speaker will always be highlighted in the video pod if more than one active video is being shared.
Video preferences before and after 12.7 release

Video preferences before and after 12.7 release
  • Share pod Preferences
    • The low and medium screen share quality options have been removed.
    • The standard quality setting will be the default share quality.
    • The high screen share quality setting was used to increase the frame rate of the share. This led to higher network bandwidth requirements but is particularly useful when screen sharing videos or any other such fast-moving content. This option has been removed from Share pod preferences and moved to the screen share modal of the Share pod.
    • The Show application cursor has been removed from the UI and has been enabled by default.
    • The Start buffering videos automatically for participants has been removed from the UI and has been enabled by default.
Share pod preferences before and after 12.7 release

Share pod preferences before and after 12.7 release
 

Improved discovery of share system audio feature

The option to include system audio has been moved to the Start sharing popup shown on selecting the Screen sharing option in share pod. This was earlier available as a menu option in the drop-down menu next to the Screen button.

Option to share system audio on the desktop app

Option to share system audio in the desktop app
 
Option to share system audio in a browser

Option to share system audio in browsers
 

Optimize screen sharing for video clips

A new option checkbox Optimize for video clips will be available when sharing screen via the desktop applications (Refer image for desktop app sharing above). This option increases the frame rate of the screen share. Use this option when screen sharing video clips (like a video clip on YouTube). A higher frame rate will ensure the screen share appears smooth and less jerky to participants.

Note:
  • This option can lead to higher CPU and network bandwidth usage. It is therefore not recommended to use this option when screen sharing static, text heavy content (like Word / PDF / PPTX documents) which does not require a higher frame rate.
  • This feature will be available with a desktop application release which will follow the 12.7 release.

Request to unmute

To improve the privacy for attendees, the Unmute option shown against attendee names in the Attendees pod has been removed and has been replaced with Request to unmute option. When a host selects this option, the participant will receive a notification informing about the request. The microphone will be unmuted only if the participant accepts to do so. The host will be informed if the participant declines the request.

A screenshot of the request to unmute mic shown to participants

Note:
  • This option is only shown for participants who have joined audio using VoIP.
  • Participants on mobile apps need to update to version 3.7 to view the notification

Miscellaneous changes and fixes

  • The camera video will be mirrored by default. The mirroring state can be toggled using the mirror option located in the Video pod title bar.
  • The toast message informing participants that the session is being recorded and transcribed, will be shown now to participants who join after the recording had started.
  • The new Mac OS uses a nonbreaking space character in the filename when saving screenshots. An issue, where uploading such files in Share pod failed, has been fixed.
  • A confirmation popup will now be shown when attempting to revert edits made to transcripts.
  • Recordings can be made to start playback from a specific timestamp by affixing the url parameter "archiveOffset=timeInMilliSeconds" to the recording URL.
    Example: To start the playback of the recording "https://my.adobeconnect.com/ph4e68pd7kvz/" from the 2nd minute onwards, share the url as "https://my.adobeconnect.com/ph4e68pd7kvz/?archiveOffset=12000"
  • Multiple fixes to aria-labels, and roles to improve accessibility of in-room options.
  • Third-party library updates:
    • JDK will be updated to ver 1.8.0_411
    • Tomcat will be updated to ver 9.0.87

What's New in Adobe Connect 12.6

The Adobe Connect 12.6 release introduces a new broadcast control for sessions, short answer type questions in quiz pod and diarized transcripts (beta). The release adds support for import/export of quiz questions, closed captions in breakout rooms, mixed audio in breakout rooms. The release also brings in improvements to simplify closed caption workflow, PDF document sharing, and room accessibility.

BROADCAST CONTROL for Adobe Connect sessions 

The Broadcast control provides an explicit button for the host to start broadcasting to the entire audience. Until then the presentation team can confer amongst themselves without being heard by the audience and test their audio/video feeds. Even when the session is not live, participants will be able to enter the room and see the active layout, but they will not be able to see or hear the hosts and presenters till the broadcast is started. In effect, the broadcast control results in creating a “virtual green room” for the presentation team.

  • To activate the feature, turn ON the toggle for Enable broadcast control under the Broadcast control tab of the room Preferences dialog. 
Screenshot of Broadcast Controls in Room Preferences Dialog

 
  • The virtual green room will come into effect and a Broadcast Control pod will be available in the Host & Presenter area
Host view when green room is in effect at the start of session

Host view when virtual green room is in effect at the start of session
 
Participant view when green room is in effect at the start of session

Participant view when virtual green room is in effect at the start of session
 
  • The broadcast can be started for participants by clicking the Start broadcast button in Broadcast Control pod and selecting Confirm in the subsequent popup.
Broadcast Control pod before the start of broadcast

Broadcast Control pod during a live session

  • The session can be paused to briefly enter the virtual green room again by selecting Pause from the Broadcast Control pod. Session can be resumed from a paused state by selecting Resume from the Broadcast Control pod. 
  • To end the broadcast at the conclusion of the session, select End from the Broadcast Control pod. Participants will not be able to hear or see the presentation team and can start exiting the room. The presentation team can use this time to review the session, thank any co-hosts, guest speakers etc.
  • To exit the room and close the meeting room, select End session for all from the Exit menu on top right.
Note:
  • This feature will be supported only on mobile app version 3.6 and above. Participants trying to join a session, with Broadcast Control enabled, from an older app version will need to update their app or join from a mobile browser.

Short answer question type in Quiz pod

A new question type, Short answer will be added to the Quiz pod. A short answer type question only has question text and there are no answer options. The response to short answer questions will not be evaluated when computing scores. The responses to the short answer type questions will be included in the current quiz pod reports available in Connect Central.

Evaluation example: If a quiz has 10 questions and 2 of them are short answer type questions, then only the 8 non-short answer type questions will be counted towards scores (and score percentages). The score for someone who gets all 8 questions correct will be 8 out of 8 (100%).

Host view of short answer question setup in Quiz Pod

Host view of quiz leader board for a quiz with short answer questions

Short answer question type in Quiz Pod and Quiz Leaderboard with a short answer type question
 
Participant view of a short answer type question

Participant view of quiz evaluation screen for a quiz with short answer type question

Participant view of the short answer question and the final score
 
A participant’s response to short answer question available on Connect Central

A participant’s response to short answer question available on Connect Central
 

Quiz pod import/ export questions

Controls to import / export quiz questions have been introduced to make is easier it to setup up the quiz pod. The feature supports GIFT and CSV file formats for both import and export.

Screenshot of quiz pod showing the import quiz button

View on successful import of quiz questions

Import quiz button and the confirmation screen after a successful import
 
Export quiz option within quiz pod

Quiz export format selection popup

The Export quiz menu option and format selection popup
 

Diarized Transcripts for recordings (beta)

Transcripts will be generated for all meeting recordings if transcription is enabled from the room preferences. The transcripts will be diarized i.e., it will show the speaker’s name.

  • To enable transcription, enable the toggle against Enable automated closed captioning and transcription.
Screenshot of toggle for enabling automated captions and transcriptions

 
  • Transcription will start automatically whenever the session recording is initiated.
  • To make the transcripts available during recording playback
    1. Open the Recording Information page for the recording in Connect Central. This can be done by clicking the name of the recording in the Recordings widget on Connect Central Home Page. Alternatively, visit the Recordings tab for the room and click on the recording name.
    2.  Click on Actions and select Edit Information from the dropdown menu.
  • Check the Show transcript viewer (Beta) option and select Save.
Screenshot showing the checkbox to enable viewing of transcript for a recording

  • The transcripts can now be displayed and hidden by selecting the Show Transcript icon from the bottom right corner during the recording playback.
Transcript Viewer during recording playback

  • Clicking on any line in the transcript will navigate the video to that timestamp. The search bar can be used to search the transcript for keywords and then jump to the relevant point in the recording.

Editing automatically generated transcripts

The hosts will be able to edit the automatically generated transcripts.

  • To enable editing of the transcripts, check the Show transcript viewer (Beta) option for the recording.
  • Launch the Recording Editor for the recording. This can be done by clicking Edit Recording (pencil) icon for the recording from the Recordings widget on Connect Central Home Page. 
  • The Transcript Editor can be displayed by selecting the Show Transcript icon from the bottom right corner of the window.
  • Double click on any line of text to start editing it. Click the blue tick to submit changes. 
  • Click on Save edits button in the top right corner to save all the edits and generate the updated transcript.
  • The Revert to original icon, can be selected to revert to the originally generated transcript file.

NOTE: Any edits made to the transcript will automatically reflect in the closed captions also.

 

Transcript editor available during recording editing

Transcript Editor displayed inside the Recording Editor window
 

Closed captions inside Breakout Rooms

Closed captions will be available inside breakout rooms. Since breakout rooms are not recorded, these captions will also not be available with recordings.

Note:
  • Breakout rooms in Adobe Connect mobile apps do not support Closed Caption currently. The support will be added with a future app release.

Privacy improvements and Simplification OF Automated Closed Caption workflow

  • To improve the privacy, Closed Caption workflow has been improved to make closed captions available only for the live audio - last couple of sentences. Participants will not be able to scroll and view past captions.  Presently, participants were able to scroll and view past captions.
  • Since captions will only be for live audio and to ensure privacy, Closed caption will not be available for download. Transcript (Beta) downloads will be available with an upcoming release.
  • The Stop automated captions option has been removed, from the Closed Caption dropdown menu, to reduce the ambiguity with Hide captions.  The host can disable the toggle for Enable automated closed captioning and transcription in room preference to make the captions unavailable to participants
  • Attendees on browser or the desktop app, who join the session after the closed captions are enabled in the room, will now be notified about the captions being available. This notification was already available for participants joining sessions on mobile apps.

Mixed Audio in Breakout Rooms

Universal Voice/Mixed Audio will be available within Breakout Rooms. Universal Voice/Mixed Audio is a way to build a bridge between telephony communication and VoIP communication so that users connected from VoIP can communicate with users connected from telephony and vice versa. Presently, the UV functionality is limited to the Main room only.

Note:
  • With Adobe Connect 12.6, only Meeting One will support mixed audio in breakout rooms. The support for Conference America and more adaptors will  be added with future releases.
  • Creation of UV sub-conferences for breakout rooms can take about a minute. Hosts and the participants inside the breakout rooms will be alerted, when the sub-conferences are ready, through a notification. Hosts can also monitor the progress within the Attendees pod.

Engagement Dashboard to report data for participants by default

The Engagement Dashboard will only report the participant engagement by default. The roles to be used for engagement calculation can be customized by visiting the Tracking option from the Engagement Dashboard pod menu.

Role based engagement tracking in Engagement Dashboard

Recording playback speed control

A setting to control the playback speed of recordings will be available. The setting will offer different speed options to slow down or fasten the playback speed.

Recording Playback speed controls

Playback speed control options
 

PDF document sharing zoom enhancement

PDF documents sharing in share pods has been improved to optimize the use of the space available. Earlier the documents did not scale up to occupy the maximum possible space available and this hindered the sharing of documents especially presentations in PDF format.

Presentation in PDF format rendered before the 12.6 Release

Presentation in PDF format rendered before the 12.6 Release
 
Improved rendering of presentation in PDF format with 12.6 Release

Improved rendering of presentation in PDF format with 12.6 Release
 

Classic Mobile Applications Decommissioned

Adobe Connect classic mobile applications (‘Adobe Connect Classic’ on Android and ‘Adobe Connect’ on iOS) are being retired, and going forward only the new and enhanced versions of the mobile applications (‘Adobe Connect’ on Android and ‘Adobe Connect New’ on iOS) will be supported.  Users can no longer enter sessions held on Adobe Connect 12.6 version, from the classic mobile applications. Any user accessing Adobe Connect 12.6 rooms from classic mobile applications will be prompted to install the new application. 

For more information, see Upgrade from classic to new Adobe Connect mobile application

Note:

On 31st May 2024, Adobe Connect classic mobile applications will be removed from the Google Play and Apple App Store. While current users can still access the application on their phones, new users won't have the option to download and install it any longer. 

Miscellaneous changes and fixes

  • Adobe Connect will remember the speaker & mic device preferences and will intelligently switch to the right device.
  • The icon for unread private chat messages has been updated to improve the discoverability of unread messages.
  • Multiple fixes to aria-labels, and roles to improve accessibility of in-room options.
  • Storage quota alert notifications will be available for admins to setup in Connect Central.
  • A meeting room will be created automatically for new users provisioned with named host license. This will ease their onboarding to Connect.
  • Third-party library updates:
    • JDK will be updated to ver 1.8.0_391
    • Tomcat will be updated to ver 9.0.84

What's New in Adobe Connect 12.5.1

The Adobe Connect 12.5.1 release is focused on stability and brings in improvements to the microphone rights request and raise hand workflows, supports additional languages for Automated Closed Captions, introduces enhancements to Adobe Connect Central home page, adds an option to room access settings to augment security, and fixes to various issues.

Delinking controls for requesting microphone and raising hand

  • Controls for participants to request microphone rights and raise hand have been delinked.
    1. Requesting Microphone Access
      1. Hosts will now have an option to allow participants to request microphone rights. 

 

Allow participants to request microphone access menu option

 

                 b. When enabled, participants will be able to request microphone rights.

Request mic access button

 

                 c. Hosts will be able to approve/reject the requests for microphone rights.

Microphone access host notification

 

         2. Raise Hands

                  a. Participants will continue to be able to raise their hands as today.

Raise hand control

 

                 b. Hosts will see a notification when any participant raises their hand. The host can clear the status or let the hand be raised. Raised hands can also be viewed in the Attendees pod.

Raise hand host notification

 

Additional languages available for Automated Closed Captions

The Automated Closed Captions will now be available for these languages as 'Beta': Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish, Korean, Portuguese, Chinese, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Danish. The host can select the captioning language from the room preferences menu.

Menu dropdown for additional closed caption languages

 

Share system sound on Mac desktop application

Users on Mac devices will be able to share system sound when sharing their screen from Adobe Connect application for Mac. This feature was already available on the Adobe Connect application for Windows.

NOTE: This feature will only be available from MacOS 13.0 (Ventura) onwards.

Share with system audio option on Mac OS

 

Enhancements to Adobe Connect Central Home Page

The new Adobe Connect Central home page introduced with the Adobe Connect 12.4 release has been enhanced to be more actionable.

  1. Quick action options will be available for the rooms, recordings, and events widgets.
  2. The home page will show a small list of the most recent entries in each widget. A complete list of rooms, recordings, and events will be accessible through the ‘View All’ option.
  3. The home page will also start listing the rooms, and events where the user has been assigned a co-host role. Prior to this release only rooms and events created by the user were shown to them.
  4. Hosts will also be able to view a calendar widget displaying the past and upcoming events.
Connect Central New Homepage - Recent Room and Recordings View

Connect Central New Homepage - Recent Events and Calendar View

 

Room access changes

A new access option “Account members may enter the room without host being present” has been introduced for meeting rooms, virtual classrooms, and seminar rooms. When this option is enabled, only account members will be able to enter the room (as participants) and access the shared content without needing the host to start the room.

New room access setting option

 

Miscellaneous changes and fixes

  1. Enhanced A/V recordings display corrected in mobile devices.
  2. Quiz Pod – The Questions card in the ‘Show All Questions’ view is now clickable.
  3. Various bug fixes and performance improvements. For more information on the bug fixes in Adobe Connect 12.5.1, see Adobe Connect 12.5.1 Release Notes.

 

 

What's New in Adobe Connect 12.5

SIMPLIfication of microphone and camera controls

  • Microphone controls have been simplified to only show muted or unmuted states, in place of the current disconnected, connected, muted, or unmuted states.
  • Camera controls in main room menu have been simplified to show ‘Turn camera on' or ‘Turn camera off’.
Simplified camera controls

 
  • Pause camera option is now available only on individual video cells.
Pause video menu

Clear content from all pods

  • A new action has been added in Pods menu to allow hosts to clear all in-room session specific data in a single click (chat history, poll results, etc.)
  • This will clear content history from all pods present in various layouts (does not close pods or affects pods which are not present in any layout).
Clear content from pods

POD switcher

  • A new easier way to switch pods has been introduced which allow hosts to change/switch pods easily.
  • This option will be available on all pods which support multiple instances - Chat, Notes, Poll, Share, File share, Weblinks, Quiz.
Pod switcher options

CHAT PANEL

This release introduces Chat Panel — an in-room chat for more collaborative experience within room.

  • Chat Panel will be present in a fixed location in a room and will not be tied to different layouts.
  • Hosts will have option to enable/disable Chat Panel from room preferences. This will be turned off by default for all rooms.
  • When enabled, each individual attendee will be able to open/close it as per their convenience without affecting the view of other attendees.
Chat Panel - Meeting room availability preferences

  • Chat Panel will not be recorded and will not be present for playback in recordings.
  • It will have same capabilities as a chat pod (including accessibility features like increasing font size)
  • It will be supported in breakouts. However, the Chat Panel content will not be available outside breakouts.
  • In case a host wants they can ‘Force presenter view’ in Chat Panel for making sure that each attendee has the same view.
Chat panel - Force presenter view menu option


  • Chat Panel can also be turned off for the entire account by account administrators from Adobe Connect Central.

 

Chat panel - admin control options

recording view stats

  • Recording view stats will be available for Enhanced Audio/Video recordings.
  • This will available only for recordings moved to content folder.
  • The ‘Time viewed’ is actual time the recording was played/viewed (not skipped or fast forwarded).
  • The ‘Time viewed’ It could be more than the recording duration if viewed multiple times in single session.
Recordings View Stats

accessibility fixes

Multiple accessibility issues mostly related to keyboard access and a few related to contrast ratio have been fixed.

 

MISCALLANEOUS IMPROVEMENTS AND FIXES

  • Various Adobe Connect Central home page fixes
  • New Training and Webinar room templates added.
  • Upload for .flv and .f4v files is now blocked in Adobe Connect Central pages.
  • Fixes for latency/lag issues introduced in edited recordings
  • In-Room menu labels have been updated to have capitalization consistency.
  • Library upgrades:
    • Tomcat has been updated to ver 9.0.76.

 

UPDATED INSTALLER FOR ON-PREMISE CUSTOMERS

An installer will be available for on-premise customers to upgrade to 12.5.

 

What's New in Adobe Connect 12.4

NATIVE QUIZZING

Live quizzes are an important element of a virtual instructor led training.  In this release, a new Quiz pod is being introduced which will allow trainers (hosts) to conduct and monitor quizzes natively in Adobe Connect virtual classrooms, seminar rooms and meeting rooms. 

  • The quiz pod supports up to 10 questions in a single pod. Multiple quiz pods can be opened in a single room.
  • Four types of questions are supported by the Quiz Pod - multiple choice, multiple answer, fill in the blank and yes/no questions.
A multiple choice question in the Quiz Pod

  • Hosts and Presenters will be able to monitor the live progress for each participant when a quiz is in progress.
  • Various configurations options are supported like quiz time, allowing participants to review their quiz submissions and more.
  • Gamification option is also present by showing a live leaderboard to attendees.
  • Multiple quiz reports like quiz summary, question level summary, learner transcript are available after the session in Adobe Connect Central pages. These reports are available also via webservice apis or exportable in csv format.
Quiz Report - Leaderboard view

 

ENHANCED EVENT TEMPLATES AND CATALOG 

With the increasing usage of Internet browsing on mobile devices, there are more chances that a visitor discovers an event while using a phone. Therefore, it becomes important to allow users to register for events easily, even if they are on a smaller screen.

To address this need, the Events Module of Connect has now been enhanced to enable creation of responsive event registration pages and event catalog.

The event templates and event catalog have now been enhanced to take advantage of the responsive design features supported by Adobe Experience Manager 6.5. In addition, we are making additional fonts available for users to design their event microsites.

  • When editing a template in the authoring view, the user can customize the design for mobile devices as well as desktop.

  • A new default event template and event catalog are now available, which are responsive by design.

  • User can clone these new responsive templates to customize it for their organizations, as before.

Authoring Event Registration Page - Desktop

Authoring Event Registration Page - Mobile

Note that the old components and the old templates in an account will still be available. The event administrator has been provided two options to plan on when they want to introduce the new responsive templates.

  • A new option has been provided to Event Administrators to choose whether they want new events to be created only based on the new default event template. 

  • Similarly, another option has been added to allow Event Administrator to use the new catalog, when they are ready

Note: On Premise customers will have to upgrade to AEM 6.5 to use this feature

 

RECORDING EDITOR

Hosts will be able to edit recordings for Enhanced Audio Video enabled rooms. The new recording capability works from browsers and allows hosts to edit out sections of recording without needing to download the desktop application. 

  • The new recording editor will have various usability enhancements to allow the host to easily navigate to a specific point in time on the seek bar for granular editing. 

  • The recording editor playbar will also show thumbnail preview allowing the host to edit at the right frames.

  • The recording url will not change after edits have been done. The recording URL will always point to the most updated edited version of the recording. 

  • The host can revert to the original recording at any point in time.

Recording Editor

 

SUPPORT FOR 1080P SCREEN RESOLUTION IN RECORDINGS

  • Hosts will now have the option in Adobe Connect room preferences to increase the resolution of recordings to 1080p from 720p. 

 

AUTOMATIC CLOSED CAPTIONS (BETA)

Automated closed captions are now available withing all Adobe Connect rooms. The host will have an option to enable it for the room. Once enabled by the host, participants will be able to turn on closed captions display. Hosts will also be able to email the generated closed captions to themselves or download it as a text file. The automated closed captions will also be visible in the recordings (if the closed captions was turned on for the room when recording was started).

Setting automated closed captions

 

MODERNIZED ADOBE CONNECT CENTRAL HOME PAGE AND NAVIGATION

  • The Adobe Connect Central home page has been modernized and simplified.  The modernized home page will have the dashboard view for hosts which provide them a quick glance of their sessions – upcoming webinars or trainings, recently completed webinars or trainings, recently used rooms and recent recordings. In addition, the host can also see a calendar view. 

  • For first time users a ‘Quick Overview Widget’ has also been introduced to provide contextual help guides for Adobe Connect Webinar and Training workflows.

  • The host and learner views have been segregated to give de-cluttered experience for the host.

New Home Page

 

NEW LICENSING STRUCTURE FOR HOSTED DEPLOYMENTS 

  • With this release, we are introducing more flexible and competitive licensing for hosted deployments.

  • The existing customers can move to the new structure at the time of their license renewal.

  • For more details, please reach out to your respective partner or sales contact.

VIRTUAL VIDEO BACKGROUND

This 12.2 beta feature is now fully supported. Please check the system requirements for the publisher sharing video with virtual backgrounds at Adobe Connect technical specifications and system requirements.

ACCESSIBILITY FIXES

Multiple accessibility issues mostly related to keyboard access and a few related to contrast ratio have been fixed.

UPDATED INSTALLER FOR ON-PREMISE CUSTOMERS

An installer will be available for on-premise customers to upgrade to 12.4.


What's New in Adobe Connect 12.3

SELF SELECTION in BREAKOUT ROOMS

With this new feature, we are extending the capability of Breakout Rooms, by allowing hosts to specify if participants would be able to self-select the rooms that they wish to participate in.

Until now, the Breakout Room functionality was available by clicking on the Breakouts icon in the application bar. In this release we have replaced this icon with a Breakout Bar just below the application bar.

A new option has been added in the Preferences that allows host to indicate whether participants should have this flexibility of choosing the breakout room they want to join.

Option for enabling Self Selection of Breakouts
Option to enable breakout self selection

When a host enables this option and starts the breakout rooms, participants are notified that breakouts have started, and they will also see the new Breakout Bar below the application bar. 

Breakout Bar
Breakout Bar

At the centre of this bar, the current room of the participant is displayed; and the participant can also select another breakout room they want to enter from the dropdown list. A participant can switch rooms at any time, and as often as needed.

Choose the Breakout Room
Choose the Breakout Room

Once the host ends the breakout session, the participants are notified and brought back to the main room.

 

NEW OPTION TO DISABLE HYPERLINKS IN CHAT, Q&A, POLLS AND NOTES PODS

Some hosts consider live URL’s in some pods like the Chat Pod as a security risk and would like to mitigate the same by disabling participants from clicking on them.

A new option has been introduced in Compliance and Control under Pods Management that provides hosts the option to disable participants from clicking on hyperlinks shared in Chat, Q&A, Notes and Poll pods.  If disabled, URL’s will be displayed just like any other string.

Option to Disable Hyperlinks in various pods
Option to Disable Hyperlinks in various pods

What's New in Adobe Connect 12.2

redesigned entry screen

The Room Entry Screen where Attendees select the audio and video devices they want to use before joining the session has been redesigned and following improvements have been made:

  • The microphone, camera, and speaker buttons have been replaced with switches for better visible indication of On or Off state improving accessibility.
  • The Test Speaker and Test Microphone buttons have been replaced with icon buttons for preventing mis-interpration of Entry screen as a test screen.
  • The button to join the room has been moved into the dialog to make it more obvious and easier to click.
  • The Top bar has been added to indicate the profile the user has used to join the Adobe Connect room.
  • After clicking the ‘Join Room’ button, a new loading screen is shown indicating the status of user's selected audio and video devices.
  • A new administrator and room level option has been added to disable the Entry Screen for the entire account or for individual rooms.  

PAUSE CHAT

  • A new option is available to the hosts for pausing the chat in a chat pod. While a chat is paused all attendees will continue to see the chat but they will not be able to add a new message.

VIRTUAL VIDEO BACKGROUND (BETA)

  • Users will be able to select a virtual video background from the Entry screen or from within the room (if they have camera rights). 
  • Users will be able to blur their background or use one of the 9 preset images as their background.
  • This feature is available for the users joining from either the desktop applications or from one of the supported desktop browsers.

MISCELLANEOUS IMPROVEMENTS AND CHANGES

  • Support for a new .pod extension for Custom Pods.
  • Additional columns in Meeting Reports to summarize time spent in a room – even if users come and go.
  • Improved instructions in empty Share pods.
  • Changes to the 'Rate your experience' dialog shown after exiting a room.
  • The in-room menus and labels have been standardized to sentence case capitalization.
  • The account update in-room notifications will now be shown only to hosts and not to all attendees.
  • Registered users will re-join in the assigned Breakout room after re-connection (if they are disconnected while the session is live).
  • The browser re-direct message shown after the room opens in the desktop app has been improved.
  • Host created chat pod in the breakout room will now be editable from the main room as well.
  • Sharing system audio from a browser tab while screen sharing will now be available when sharing Google Chrome/Chromium or Microsoft Edge browser tabs (Mac,  Windows, ChromeOS, and Linux).
  • A new account and room level option has been added to open the Adobe Connect room in browsers by default (even if the user has the desktop applications installed).
  • For Enhanced Audio/Video enabled rooms the telephone conference audio will now be present in the recordings even if the broadcast has been turned off.
  • The following 12.1.5 beta features are now fully supported:
    • Enhanced Noise Suppression
    • Share system audio while screen sharing from Windows desktop application
    • Prompt shown while speaking with muted microphone
  • LoopUp conferencing has been added as a supported audio conferencing provider.
  • Mac OS 13 (Ventura) has now been added as a supported operating system for Adobe Connect.
  • A new XML-api has been added to programatically shutdown a room.
  • Upgraded the JDK security baseline to 1.8.0_351.
  • Tomcat version has been upgraded to 9.0.68.

What's New in Adobe Connect 12.1.5

POOR NETWORK QUALITY DETECTION

  • A new prompt to pause incoming cameras will be shown to the users when poor network quality is detected on their end. The prompt will be shown in Enhanced Audio/Video Experience enabled rooms only.

CHROME OS SUPPORT

  • Chromebook users will be able to join Adobe Connect sessions through supported browsers and share their screen if allowed.

BETA FEATURES

  • Enhanced Noise Suppression: Hosts will be able to enable 'Noise Suppression' for their rooms from Adobe Connect Central room information screens.
    • Noise Suppression is only available for Enhanced Audio/Video Experience enabled rooms and is disabled by default.
    • Individual attendees will be able to turn it on/off for themselves from the microphone menu if the host has enabled beta features for the room.
    • Noise Suppression will work for users joining from browsers or desktop applications only. Currently not available for mobile application users.
  • Share system audio while screen sharing: Users will be able to screen share with system audio. 
    • This beta feature will be available only for Enhanced Audio/Video Experience enabled rooms.
    • This will be available only for Windows desktop application users and visible
      when beta features are enabled for the room.
  • Speaking while muted prompt: Users will see a new prompt when they are trying to speak but their microphone is muted.
    • This beta feature will be available only for Enhanced Audio/Video Experience enabled rooms and visible
      when beta features are enabled for the room.

MISCELLANEOUS IMPROVEMENTS AND CHANGES

  • Added support for conversion of ink shapes in uploaded PowerPoint files.
  • 'HTML Client Settings' section in Adobe Connect Central administration section has been changed to 'Client Settings'.
  • Added 'Accessbility' menu item to room Help menu and Adobe Connect Central Help menu linking to accessibility help documentation.
  • Mini-control panel will not appear as a black box to attendees viewing the shared screen.

What's New in Adobe Connect 12.1

Enhanced Audio/Video Recordings

  • Enhanced Audio/Video recordings now support Closed Captions including:
    • Moving and resizing the caption display while viewing the recording
    • Choosing font size and text/background color combination
  • A new account-wide option has been added to anonymize all recordings by default. This option will not impact existing rooms but only newly created rooms. Also, hosts will still be able to override this option for their rooms. 
  • A new setting is now available to hosts to prevent recording downloads by viewers. This setting can be set for each recording separately.

DIAGNOSTIC TEST PAGE

  • The Adobe Connect diagnostic test page has been updated to allow users to test connectivity to Standard and Enhanced Audio/Video enabled rooms.
    • The diagnostic test page will check user's browser, operating system, reachability to Adobe Connect servers and data connectivity with Adobe Connect servers.
    • A successful test will indicate that the user will be able to join rooms with either Enhanced Audio/Video enabled or disabled.

MISCELLANEOUS IMPROVEMENTS AND CHANGES

  • Search in Attendee Pod: Ability to search and filter names has been added in Attendee Pod.
  • A new room URL parameter ?html-view=true allows users to force open a room in a browser instead of the desktop application.
  • The selection icon in the Whiteboard menu has been changed to differentiate it from the pointer icon in the Share pod.
  • Enhanced Audio/Video Experience option has been reworded as Enhanced Audio/Video in room setup screens and administration settings screens.
  • Email address is now pre-populated when exporting Q&A via email.
  • 'Disable SWF uploads' has been removed from account settings in Adobe Connect Central administration section.
  • Accessibility: 
    • Screen readers will now read only the last chat message instead of the last 10 messages.
    • Table headers in Adobe Connect Central pages updated to be more screen reader friendly.
    • While scheduling a meeting, users can now enter time as HH:MM instead of selecting from a dropdown list to prevent excessing tabbing.
  • Library upgrades:
    • Tomcat has been updated to ver 9.0.65.
    • JRE has been updated to ver 1.8.0_341.

 

What's New in Adobe Connect 12

Enhanced Audio/Video Experience

Adobe Connect 12.0 introduces an entirely new Enhanced Audio/Video Experience. Adobe Connect’s backend media server infrastructure has been upgraded to a modern cloud-native technology stack which is optimized for delivering a highly scalable and reliable high-quality audio & video experience for users joining from any device

The Enhanced Audio/Video experience is now the default experience for all existing and newly created rooms. Here are the various new capabilities and improvements available in Enhanced Audio/Video Experience.

Enhanced audio/video experience new capabilities

  • Richer Audio: Enhanced Audio/Video Experience brings significant improvements in audio clarity, speed, and reliability with reduced latency.
  • 1080p webcam resolution support: For a single video turned on in the Video pod the maximum supported resolution with Enhanced Audio/Video experience is 1080p. Hosts will be able to select a new ‘Full HD (1080p)’ option from the Video preferences in their Adobe Connect rooms.  
  • Support for up to three high-resolution (720p) webcams in the Video pod: If more than three videos are turned on, then the display will auto-adjust to a lower resolution.
  • Single Speaker View: A new video layout option has been added to the Video pod to display a single video at a time. When selected, a host has the option to choose the video to be displayed in Single Speaker view from the Attendees who have turned on their webcams.
  • Spotlight Speaker: A new Spotlight Speaker mode is now available when using ‘Filmstrip view’ and ‘Single Speaker view’ in the Video pod. When enabled, the main video will automatically switch to show the video of the person currently speaking.
  • Video limit and Pagination Support: The Video pod can now show upto a maximum 50 videos in a room. If the number of active videos in the Video pod goes beyond 25 then additional pages of 25 videos each will be created (upto a total of 50 videos).
  • Screen share support from browsers: Hosts and Presenters joining from browsers in Enhanced Audio/Video Experience enabled rooms will be able to share their screen without requiring the Adobe Connect desktop application. The mini-control panel will not be available when screen sharing from a browser. Account Administrators can disable screen sharing from a browser from the Compliance and Control settings in Adobe Connect Central.
  • Server-based MP4 recordings: When a session is recorded in Enhanced Audio/Video Experience enabled room, an MP4 version of the recording is automatically created and is available shortly after the meeting recording is stopped. The recordings created are not available in interactive format. For more information on see Mp4 recordings vs Interactive recordings.
  • Anonymization in Recordings: Hosts can choose to anonymize attendee names in the Attendee, Chat, and Q&A pods and have them replaced with anonymous labels in a recording. Hosts can select the anonymization option for all recordings of a room or for can select this option for each time a recording is started in a room. For more information, see Anonymize recordings.
  • New exit survey: When the host ends a meeting, all participants can rate their audio/video experience in the session via a feedback survey. This survey can be turned off by administrators, if required. For more information, see Starting and attending meetings.

For more information on Enhanced Audio/Video Experience vs Standard View capabilities, see Capabilities and Limitations.

ENFORCE ENHANCED AUDIO/VIDEO EXPERIENCE OR STANDARD VIEW

Account administrators have the option to either force Enhanced Audio/Video Experience for all rooms or force Standard View for all rooms or let hosts decide for each room (default option).

Force rooms
Force rooms

Switch existing rooms

Account administrators can also choose to Switch all existing rooms to the Enhanced Audio/Video Experience or the Standard View. This option is only visible when the 'Application and browser interface settings' is set to Let the hosts decide for their room.

Switch rooms
Switch rooms

Choose view

When the Account administrator has set the Application and browser interface settings to Let the hosts decide for their room, then the hosts can choose between the Enhanced Audio/Video Experience or the Standard view for each room.

Choose mode
Choose mode

Ease of Use Experience

Adobe Connect 12.0 introduces improvements to many commonly used workflows to enhance ease of use for all users. Here are the workflows which have been improved in this release:

Login and Joining

  • The login page has been redesigned to improve joining as a registered user or as a guest user.
  • The preferred mode of joining an Adobe Connect room is via the Adobe Connect desktop application. If the Adobe Connect desktop application is installed on user’s device, then the login screen will open in desktop application (if the user is not already logged in). If the user is already logged in the desktop application, then user is directly taken to the Adobe Connect room (without having to login again). If the desktop application is not installed on user’s device, then the login screen and the meeting room launches in the browser.
  • The new login and joining experience is available for both Enhanced Audio/Video Experience enabled rooms as well as Standard View enabled rooms. For more information, see Login and joining experience.

New SETUP screen on entry for Speaker, Microphone, and Camera selection

  • After a user has successfully logged in they are taken to a new setup screen before joining the Adobe Connect room. From the setup screen the user can see the current selected speaker, microphone, and camera. Users can change the selection, mute/unmute, and test their speaker, microphone, and camera choice before joining the Adobe Connect room.
  • New setup screen for speaker, microphone and camera selection is available only for Enhanced Audio/Video Experience enabled rooms. For more information, see Mic, speaker and Camera selection experience.

In-meeting Speaker, Microphone, and Camera selection

  • The in-meeting speaker, microphone, and camera menus are more powerful and easier to use.
  • New in-meeting speaker, microphone, and camera selection is available only for Enhanced Audio/Video Experience enabled rooms. For more information, see Mic, speaker and Camera selection experience.

Video Pod Improvements

  • The design and layout of the Video pod has been optimized to support up to 50 cameras (25-per-page).
  • The 'start camera' and 'camera preview' options have been moved from Video pod to the webcam menu in the room menu bar.
  • The design of the Video pod has been overhauled to give more space to video. Camera actions (pause camera, stop sharing, etc.) have been moved to the video menu.
  • In full screen mode a black background color is used instead of gray.
  • The new Video pod improvements are available only in Enhanced Audio/Video Experience enabled rooms.

Exit room

  • Hosts now have two options in the room menu bar for exiting an Adobe Connect room – ‘Exit Room’ and ‘End session for all’.
  • Participants and Presenters now see an icon to ‘Exit Room’ in the menu bar.
  • The new room exiting options are available only for Enhanced Audio/Video Experience enabled rooms.

Raise Hand Improvements

  • Raised hand notifications shown to hosts have been improved to let them grant or deny microphone rights to participants who have raised their hands.
  • New raise hand notification improvements are available for both Enhanced Audio/Video Experience enabled rooms as well as Standard View enabled rooms.

Mobile access

  • Hosts can now restrict mobile users from joining Adobe Connect meeting rooms. This option is available in both Enhanced Audio/Video Experience enabled rooms as well as Standard View enabled rooms. For more information, see Enable mobile access.

Classic View End of Life (EOL)

The option to access an Adobe Connect room with Classic View has been removed from all room launch workflows. With the release of Adobe Connect 12.0, users will not be able to join any Adobe Connect rooms with the Classic View.

For more information, see Adobe Connect Classic View End of Life (EOL).

Other enhancements and changes

  • To improve audio and video performance for large sessions (with more than 200 attendees), a new High-performance option is present in the Room setup screen for Concurrent User license customers who have purchased more than 200 concurrent seats.
  • To improve the overall experience these limits have been introduced in Enhanced A/V rooms (these could be relaxed in upcoming releases). The limit is based on the number of attendees present in the room and the number of attendees with a connected mic or camera. Hosts will see notifications when 80% or 100% of the limit is reached. Once the limit is reached any new attendees will not be able to enter the room and existing attendees (who have not connected their mic or camera) will not be able to connect their mic or camera unless hosts disconnect mic/camera of one or more attendees who have already presented from the Attendee pod.
    • For rooms with 100 attendees present, up to 100 simultaneous mic/camera connections are allowed.
    • For rooms with 200 attendees present, up to 110 simultaneous mic/camera connections are allowed.
    • For rooms with 500 attendees present, up to 44 simultaneous mic/camera connections are allowed.
    • For rooms with 1000 attendees present, up to 22 simultaneous mic/camera connections are allowed.
    • For rooms with 1500 attendees present, up to 15 simultaneous mic/camera connections are allowed.
  • A new room preference option is available to disable the 'User has stepped away' notification.
  • VoIP is now the default audio conferencing option for any newly created room.
  • Improved highlighting of private replies sent in Q&A pod.    
  • Accessibility: When a user navigates to a chat pod, screen readers will now read only the last chat message in the chat pod.
  • Library upgrades:
    • Tomcat has been updated to ver 9.0.62.
    • JRE has been updated to ver 1.8.0_331.

What's New in Adobe Connect 11.4

Play MP4 files embedded on slides

  • Meeting hosts and presenters can now upload PowerPoint presentations with MP4 files placed on slides. The MP4 files will play for all participants when the slides are advanced.
  • Hosts and presenters can enable the Presentation Playbar for greater control over play/pause and playback scrubbing.

New Compliance and Control settings for greater security

Account Administrators can now remove the public access options for rooms and recordings to ensure greater security.

  • New option to remove the access choice of "Anyone who has the URL may enter the room" for all meeting rooms, seminar rooms, and virtual classrooms in the account.
  • New option to remove the ‘public’ access choice for all recordings in the account.

Limited Beta for improved Audio/Video Experience{BETA}

Adobe Connect 11.4 introduces an entirely new audio/video delivery experience as a beta feature. The new audio/video beta feature is available to customers upon request by the account administrator.

  • Ability to turn on the new Audio/Video Experience per room.
  • Support for one full-resolution (1080p) webcam in the Video pod. Hosts will be able to select a new Full HD (1080p) option from the Video preferences in their meeting rooms.  
Room Preferences
Room Preferences

  • Support for up to three high-resolution (720p) webcams in the Video pod - if more than three videos are visible then the display will auto-adjust to a lower resolution.
  • Focus View - a new view option has been added to the Video pod to display a single video at a time. When selected, a host would have the option to choose the person to be displayed in Focus view from the Attendees who have turned on their webcams, or they can choose the new ‘Active Speaker’ mode.
  • A new ‘Active Speaker’ mode is now available when using ‘Filmstrip view’ and ‘Focus view’ in the Video pod. When enabled, the main video will automatically switch to show the person speaking.
  • Pagination Support – if the number of active videos in the Video pod goes beyond 20 then additional pages of 20 videos each will be created.
  • Server-based MP4 meeting recordings - when a session is recorded, an MP4 version of the recording is automatically created and is available shortly after the meeting recording is stopped.
  • Screen share support from browsers - hosts and presenters joining from browsers in new A/V experience enabled rooms will be able to share their screen without requiring the Adobe Connect desktop application. The mini-control panel will not be available when screen sharing from a browser. Administrators can disable screen sharing from a browser from the Compliance and Control settings in Adobe Connect Central.
  • Entering meetings: new A/V enabled rooms will currently launch in a browser by default. However, a user can choose to open these rooms in the desktop application by entering the meeting URL in the application home screen (Supported application version 2021.9.28.64, posted on 4-Oct-2021).
  • Reporting a problem - Users will now be able to report a problem regarding audio or video quality from within the meeting room. The ‘Report a problem’ option is available in room menu bar.
  • New exit survey - when the host ends a meeting, all users will be shown a feedback survey to rate their audio/video experience in the session. 

Some of the existing features like telephone-based audio integration, mobile app support, and the creation of interactive recordings, are not yet available when the new audio/video experience is enabled in a room. For more information see Capabilities and Limitations.

What's New in Adobe Connect 11.3

Greater Accessibility - Improvements to Closed Captioning

New Closed Caption providers (1CapApp, Ai-Live, and VITAC) are now built-in, persistent provider tokens can be created, and we've improved the provider integration workflow. For more information, see Closed Captioning in HTML client.

Focus on Accessibility - Chat and Polls

Chat and Poll pods have had significant updates to better support screen readers, numerous UI elements have been fixed, and keyboard navigation has been enhanced. 

What's New in Adobe Connect 11.2

Adobe Connect 11.2 is available for all server deployment environments - hosted, managed services, private clouds, and on-premise servers. This document describes what’s new for all customers 

New Meeting Application for Mac 

Enhanced Audio

Greater Accessibility - Native Closed Captioning

Standard View and Classic View Segregation

Miscellaneous Improvements

New Meeting Application for Mac

The new Adobe Connect Mac application allows hosts, presenters and participants to enjoy the new user interface across all meeting types, including virtual classrooms and seminar rooms. Presenters can access all features, including HD cameras and screen sharing, with superior meeting performance. Improvements include a new launch experience, greater ease of entry, and an updated screen sharing palette.

Enhanced Audio

With Adobe Connect 11.2, hosts and administators can choose to enable the Enhanced Audio experience for all users in their rooms using Voice over IP, Universal Voice, and Integrated Telephony. The Enhanced Audio experience will be delivered using modern audio codec (Opus) for rooms set to Standard view only. The Enhanced audio is supported in the latest versions of Adobe Connect applications for Windows and Mac and HTML client. It is not supported in the Classic Adobe Connect applications. It is also not supported in the mobile applications yet.

For more information, see Create meetings.

Greater Accessibility - Native Closed Captioning

Adobe Connect 11.2 now includes a built-in Closed Caption display option in every meeting room. Meeting hosts can either integrate professional captioning services from third-party captioning providers, or they can choose anyone in the meeting to be a captioner. Meeting participants can choose to view or hide the captions and can customize the caption font size and color for better readability. Each participant can change the size and placement of the floating caption window to best meet their needs. Multiple simultaneous captions can be provided to support multiple languages, or to provide separate captions during breakout sessions. Captions from live meetings can also be displayed in recordings.

For more information, see Closed captioning in HTML client.

Standard View and Classic View Segregation

From Adobe Connect 11.2 onwards, meetings will need to be in either Standard view or in Classic view only.  The option to have a mix of views within a single meeting room will not be available.

This will allow the hosts to better prepare and deliver meetings – knowing that the content will display consistently for all users, that each user will have the same user interface and experience, and that the capabilities will be the same for everyone. This will also remove the potential problems introduced by the need to support ‘hybrid’ content.

A new set of configuration options will be available at the account level and at room level allowing Account admins or Hosts to choose from amongst the below options. 

  • Standard View: In this mode, the meeting room will allow users to join from the HTML client in browsers or new desktop applications only. Users joining from browsers are taken to the HTML client (if the desktop applications are not installed). Users coming from old browsers (for example,  Internet Explorer 11) or older desktop application are asked to either join from a modern browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Edge) or upgrade to the latest version of the desktop application. Mobile users can also join using the current mobile apps.
  • Standard View with Enhanced Audio: In this mode, Opus audio codec will be used in the meeting room to give Enhanced audio experience to all the attendees. Only users joining from modern browsers in HTML client and new desktop applications are able to join this mode. Mobile users will not be able to join using the current mobile apps.
  • Classic View:  In this mode, the meeting room will allow the users to join from old desktop application only. The users coming from browser are asked to install/join using desktop application. Mobile users can also join using the current mobile apps.

For more details see Key changes in Meeting Launch & Recording Playback workflows with upcoming Adobe Connect 11.2 release

Miscellaneous Improvements and Changes

Q&A Pod Improvements

  • The name of the submitter and question now appear on a single line to conserve space, and allow for a greater number of questions to be displayed.
  • The answered questions are indicated by a large checkmark.
  • The questions being answered by another moderator are now clearly indicated.
  • The broadcast messages to everyone are now indicated by a mail icon.
Image of Q&A Pod

Additional Improvements

  • Hosts can now use 'Select All' and 'Clear All' when selecting users in the Attendees Pod and Breakout Room View.
  • While editing recordings, the start and end 'cut' points can now be snapped to the playhead location.
  • The Ellipsis (•••) and Help (?) menus have been combined and updated into a single Help (?) menu.
  • All users can enlarge both the UI and text content in Standard view using CTRL (or CMD) +/-.
  • Adobe Connect application for Mac now supports silent installation for enterprise deployments.
  • Tomcat version has been upgraded to 9.0.37.

What's New in Adobe Connect 11.0

Adobe Connect 11.0 is available for all server deployment environments - hosted, managed services, private clouds, and on-premise servers. This document describes what’s new for all customers – some features may have been available in previous limited releases. 

Browser Client for Hosts and Presenters

New Meeting Application for Windows

Improved Voice over IP (VoIP) Audio

Greater Accessibility

Connect Central Updates

Additional Improvements

Browser Client for Hosts and Presenters

With Adobe Connect 11.0, hosts and presenters can now start and manage meetings with only a web browser, and without downloading additional software.

From a browser, hosts are able to: 

  • Start and manage meetings, virtual classrooms and webinars (seminar rooms)
  • Start and manage audio conferencing
  • Start/pause/stop recordings
  • Create, edit, and manage layouts and pods
  • Create, manage, and start breakout sessions
  • Manage all meeting preferences

Additionally, both hosts and presenters will now be able to:

  • Upload and share all supported content types - PowerPoint files, PDF documents, MP4 videos, MP3 audio, JPG/PNG images, GIF animations, interactive Captivate presentations, Adobe Presenter files (HTML or hybrid formats), and custom pods
  • Use whiteboard tools for drawings or annotating on content
  • Share their camera
  • Manage Q&A
  • Access the host and presenter area

Participants who have been granted enhanced rights, or are participating in breakouts, will also be able to share their cameras, use the whiteboard drawing tools, edit notes, and share content.

Browser limitations for all users include screen sharing and video camera display. Users will need to install and launch the new Adobe Connect meeting application in order to share their screen or to view more than two live camera streams during meetings.

All users may continue to join through the Adobe Flash player in a browser, however many new features will not be available to Flash users.

For more information on what is supported, see Adobe Connect Capabilities in HTML Client.

Account administrators and room owners can choose whether to enable or disable the HTML client for participants at the account or room level. For more information on how to enable these settings, see Enabling Adobe Connect HTML Client.

New Meeting Application for Windows

The new Adobe Connect 11 Windows application allows hosts, presenters, and participants to enjoy the new user interface across all meeting types, including virtual classrooms and seminar rooms. Presenters can access all features, including HD cameras and screen sharing, with superior meeting performance. Improvements include a new launch experience, greater ease of entry, and an updated screen sharing palette.  

Improved Voice over IP (VoIP) Audio

Significantly improved audio output in browsers. Microphone audio, broadcast telephony, and Universal Voice audio all benefit from critical updates to audio delivery. This applies to all meetings, virtual classrooms, webinars (seminar rooms), and recording playback in HTML. 

Greater Accessibility

Participants can now access subtitles and additional audio tracks embedded in MP4 videos. Uploaded PDF content can now be read by screen readers. The new interface offers new keyboard shortcuts, improved tab navigation, and better support for screen readers. 

Connect Central Updates

All Flash-based interfaces have now been updated to HTML including the home page calendar, recording editor, diagnostic test page, seminar calendar, event reporting, course content players, and all other dashboards and charts.

More improvements

  • Ability to add hyperlinks in Notes pod
  • Ability to rename breakout rooms
  • Ability to rotate participants through breakout rooms
  • Support for animated GIF files in Share pods
  • Improved whiteboard performance
  • Drag-n-drop file upload to File Share pod
  • 'Manage Layouts' view added to support multi-column layout view
  • Ability to search for and select layouts in 'Manage Layouts' view
  • Ability to lock layouts to prevent accidental pod movement during meetings
  • Host and Presenter area can now be restricted to hosts only
  • Added a preference for recording reminder
  • Added a preference for automatic MP4 video buffering 

What's New in Adobe Connect 10.8

Adobe Connect 10.8 is a limited release and as such will only be available for on-premise and Managed services deployments. It will not be rolled out to the Hosted services.

HTML Client for Hosts and Presenters

HTML Client Improvements

Meeting Launch Workflow

Enhanced Rights for Participants

Adobe Connect Central Pages

Miscellaneous Improvements and Changes

HTML Client for Hosts and Presenters

With Adobe Connect 10.8, the hosts and presenters will be able to seamlessly start a meeting, a virtual classroom, or a webinar with HTML client in their web browser without downloading additional software.

Inside the HTML client, hosts would be able to 

  • Start and manage meetings, virtual classrooms and webinar sessions.
  • Upload and share supported content types - PowerPoint files, PDF documents, MP4 videos, MP3 audio, Captivate and Presenter files (HTML or hybrid formats).
  • Use Whiteboard for drawings and annotations on content.
  • Share their camera.
  • Start and manage audio conference.
  • Create, edit, change and manage layouts and pods.
  • Access the hosts and presenter area.
  • Switch to prepare mode.
  • Get host controls for all pods.

The only restriction of the HTML client is that the hosts cannot screen share from the browser. They will need to install and launch the existing Adobe Connect meeting application in order to share their screen.

Apart from the HTML client, hosts and presenters can continue to join through the previously supported methods—the Adobe Connect desktop application and the Adobe Connect Flash-based browser client.

For more information on what is supported, see Adobe Connect Capabilities in HTML Client.

Account administrators and room owners can choose whether to enable or disable the HTML client for participants at the account or room level. For more information on how to enable these settings, see Enabling Adobe Connect HTML Client.

HTML Client Improvements

Following improvements and new features will be available to hosts and presenters in the HTML Client:

 

Notes Pod

  • Ability to add hyperlinks in Notes pod.
  • The Notes pod title is also included while exporting Notes pod as text file or emailing Notes pod.

Chat Pod

  • Emailing chat history will now include the Chat pod title.
  • The email chat option will also include the chat transcript from various open conversation threads that the host is part of,  including Everyone tab, Chat with hosts, and any private chats.
  • The chat pod display has been further optimized to display more messages in a given screen area.

Attendee Pod

  • Various attendee pod menu controls have been optimized for better access.
  • Added full screen option in Chat Pod for enhanced accessability. 

Breakout Rooms

  • Added the ability to rename breakout rooms. (Note: when a breakout room is renamed, all associated pods titles reflect the new name).
  • Added the ability to rotate participants in various breakout rooms.

Share Pod

  • Added support for gif files in Share Pod (Note: gif files are still not supported when viewed directly from Adobe Connect Central pages).
  • Hosts can now drag-n-drop supported content from their local machine in the share pod. 

Whiteboard

  • Improved the whiteboard performance overall including when drawing long patterns and when multiple users are drawing simultaneously.

File Share Pod

  • Hosts can now drag-n-drop files (upto 5) to File Share pod.

Layouts

  • Added ability to search for layouts in 'Manage Layouts' view.
  • Added ability to lock layouts to prevent fat finger errors during live presentations.
  • Enhanced 'Manage Layouts' view to support multi-column view.

Host and Presenter Area

  • Presenter only area is renamed to Host and Presenter area.
  • Host and Presenter area can now be made visible to either only hosts or to both hosts and presenters.

Prepare Mode

  • Prepare mode has been visually enhanced to show the live pods distinctively

Miscellaneous Improvements

  • Added full screen option in Chat, Attendee, Q&A, Poll, File share and Weblinks pods for enhanced accessability. Host have the option to enable or disable the full screen option for all attendees at room level. 
  • Added a new Recording reminder prefence to prompt hosts to start recording during a new session.
  • Added a new preference for automatic buffering of mp4 videos at participants end.

Meeting Launch Workflow

Option now shown to all browser users joining a virtual classroom, a meeting, or a webinar session to join through browser (with HTML client or with classic Flash client) or Connect desktop application meeting.

Enhanced Rights for Participants

The participants can now be given enhanced rights for various pods including webcam rights and drawing rights in the HTML client. The participants in HTML client will now get presenter rights when moved to breakout rooms.

Adobe Connect Central Pages

The content uploaded and shared from Adobe Connect Central pages will now open in HTML format.

Miscellaneous Improvements and Changes

  • Added the following legal disclamer in login page - 'The Adobe General Terms of Use will govern use of Adobe Connect'.
  • A "What's New' information dialog is now shown to let users learn more about new features and improvements in the new release version. The information dialog is shown only once to the users joining through HTML client.
  • Any new flash only Adobe Captivate and Adobe Presenter content cannot be uploaded  from either Connect Central or from within meetings.
  • The video published from HTML client is set at 180p.
  • When screenshare is present in the meeting, the video feed will drop to 180P for all publishers (flash or html)
  • Inactive video cells in Video Pod when in Grid layout are automatically paused.
  • Upgraded JDK to version 1.8.0_231
  • Upgraded log4j to version 2.12.1
  • Upgraded spring.jar to version 5.2.4
  • Upgrade Tomcat version to 9.0.27

What's New in Adobe Connect 10.6

Recordings playback in HTML

With Adobe Connect 10.6, users can now watch HTML versions of Adobe Connect recordings in an web browser on most platforms and try a new 'beta' HTML viewer for mobile browsers.

Benefits of HTML-based recordings include:

  1. Recordings retain the interactive features of Adobe Connect meetings. While watching a recording, users can scroll through and copy text from Notes, Chat, or Q&A. Viewers can download a file from a Files pod, or click links in Chat, Q&A, Web Links, and on slides. Share pods can be made full-screen for optimal viewing. Quizzes and other interactive content created in authoring tools such as Adobe Captivate and Adobe Presenter also retain their interactivity - enabling a user to participate in a quiz even if watching a recorded version of the session. 
  2. HTML recordings are now more accessible. HTML recordings show the content in the same way it was shown during the live meeting. Users can navigate the meeting interface, and the text in Chat, Notes, Q&A, and even PDF documents can be read by a screen reader - even when watching the recording. 
  3. Existing recordings created with Adobe Connect 9 or higher will also be available through the HTML viewer. 

The new HTML viewer for recordings is only available if the HTML client has been enabled for the meeting room where the recording took place, or if the recording has been moved to the content library.

Note:

Any non-hybrid custom pods or non-hybrid content (i.e. SWF, FLV, Presenter, Captivate, etc...) present in the recordings will not be visible in the HTML viewer. To view this content, users should switch to the classic view.

HTML-based Curriculum Viewer

With the 10.6 release, the curriculum viewer has also been redesigned in HTML, creating a faster and more accessible experience with a modern user interface.

Alt text

Miscellaneous improvements and changes

  • Users joining through HTML client on mobile (beta) now have an option to make individual pods full-screen (except notes pod).
  • Keyboard shortcuts for HTML clients have further enhanced.
  • Tomcat version upgraded to 9.0.22.
  • JRE version upgraded to 1.8.0_221.
  • A host of fixes to known issues in HTML client.

What's New in Adobe Connect 10.5

With the HTML client, participants can seamlessly join a meeting, a virtual classroom, or a webinar in their web browser without downloading additional software. Inside the HTML client, users can view shared screens and content, interact with notes, leverage VoIP in the form of transmitting and receiving audio, and view a shared live video. Users can also participate in polls, chat, and Q&A.

Apart from the HTML client, participants can continue to join through the previously supported methods—the Adobe Connect desktop application and the Adobe Connect Flash-based browser client.

The HTML client supports the most commonly used features for attending and participating in meetings, virtual classrooms, or webinars. However, the HTML client in its current form does not contain every capability that the other Adobe Connect meeting clients possess. For more information on what is supported, see Adobe Connect Capabilities in HTML Client.

Account administrators and room owners can choose whether to enable or disable the HTML client for participants at the account or room level. For more information on how to enable these settings, see Enabling Adobe Connect HTML Client.

HTML client content support

HTML client now supports viewing various content types shared by Hosts:

  • PowerPoint (sync and unsync modes)
  • PDF (sync and unsync modes)
  • MP4
  • MP3
  • Presenter
  • Captivate
  • Images

HTML client content support improvements

  • Rewritten the entire PowerPoint conversion engine to address various known PPT/PPTX conversion issues in both HTML client and Flash/Meeting application.
  • PowerPoint conversion engine now converts an uploaded PPT/PPTX file to both HTML- and Flash-friendly formats.
    • PowerPoint conversion is expected to take longer than previous versions due to dual conversion.
    • The conversion progress bar has been updated to show more information about various conversion steps.
PPT enhancements

  • PPTX files can now be directly uploaded to meetings.
  • New PDF viewer for HTML client that addresses various known issues is available.
toolbar

  • Ability for Hosts to hide the playback seek bar for MP4 and MP3 content for HTML client-based participants.

Existing user content support

  • Run-time conversion for existing PowerPoint user content to HTML-friendly format supported to display in HTML client for participants.
conversion

  • New workflow in Flash client/meeting application to seek Hosts’ permission for initiating new run-time PowerPoint conversion. (Note: The conversion could take a few minutes.)
  • Information prompt for Hosts in case existing content cannot be converted into an HTML-friendly format (valid mostly for existing Presenter and Captivate non-hrybrid content).
    • If a Host chose to show such content, participants who joined in HTML Client are shown an option to switch to classic view (Browser flash client or desktop application).
  • New ‘HTML compatible’ Flag in Adobe Connect Central administration pages to let Hosts validate if the existing content can be viewed in HTML.
  • Users are shown a warning prompt when they share an already uploaded Presenter and Captivate content from unsupported versions. Supported versions are Presenter 11.0 and above, Captivate 9.0 and above.

New content support

  • A warning prompt is shown when a Host uploads an SWF-only (Flash-only) Presenter or Captivate content.
  • Hosts cannot upload any new content from unsupported versions of Presenter and Captivate while in a meeting or in Connect Central. Supported versions are Presenter 11.0 and above, Captivate 9.0 and above.

HTML client Whiteboard support

Added support for display of annotations done by Hosts and Presenters, to participants joined via HTML client:

  • All new and existing Whiteboard annotations are visible in HTML client.
Whiteboard

  • All new annotations done on supported content types—PowerPoint, PDF, MP4, MP3, Presenter, and Captivate—are visible in HTML client.

HTML client custom pods support

Custom pods are now supported in HTML clients. However, the existing custom pods need to be converted to hybrid format (HTML and Flash) to be able to work in the HTML client. The latest SDK to build HTML-friendly custom pod is made available to existing development partners.

A new Account-level setting is added in Connect Central administration pages for HTML client under Compliance and Control to let adminstrators enable or disable custom pod in HTML client.

HTML client miscellaneous improvements

  • Host cursors are now visible to participants in HTML client.
Host pointer

  • Meeting Launch workflow changes (applicable for HTML client-enabled rooms only):
    • Option shown to all browser users joining a training, a meeting, or a webinar session to join through browser (with HTML client or with classic Flash client) or Connect desktop application meeting.
Launcher

Connect meeting URL parameters

  • Various parameters can be appended to the Connect meeting URL to default the meeting client choice for the participants:
    • ?html-view = true Use to force a participant in HTML view (works only when HTML is enabled for the meeting room).
    • ?proto = true Use to force attendees (participants, hosts, presenters) to join through the Connect desktop application.
    • ?launcher = false Use to join through Flash in browsers (works only when Flash is enabled in the browser).

Changes to ‘Turn on HTML client for participants’ flag

  • At Room: If HTML is turned ON for an account
    • All new rooms will have HTML enabled by default.
    • For all existing rooms, the HTML flag state is the same, that is, if HTML was disabled, it will remain disabled and vice versa (same as the existing behavior in 10.2).
  • Hosts can also enable HTML client for participants while in a meeting session from the meeting menu option 'Manage Access & Entry'.
Room level

  • At Account: The default state of the HTML Client flag is ON for all accounts (same as the existing behavior in 10.2).
    • A new option to force-enable HTML client for all existing meeting/training/seminar rooms is available to Account administrators.
    • When the force-enable option is selected by the administrators, the HTML Client Flag in room settings is shown as uneditable with an information note displayed.
Account level

Other enhancements

  • Mobile browsers (Beta feature): Users are given an option to join through browsers or mobile app. The HTML client for mobile browsers is a beta feature.
  • HTML client users can now see all the supported keyboard shortcuts by pressing the ? key in HTML client. 
  • Poll Pod: HTML users can edit already submitted answers (for Short answer polls).
  • Chat Pod: Minor UI improvements to increase the number of chat messages displayed in a smaller area.
  • The maximum length of the message that HTML participants can send to a Host while in Breakouts is now set to 1024 characters.
  • A host of fixes to known issues in HTML client.

Connect Central - HTML client customization

HTML meeting client customization

  • Customer account administrators’ can now customize HTML meeting client also through Connect Central.
  • Both Flash and HTML client can be independently customized with different color combinations.
  • All currently supported customization options available for Flash client are also available for customization in HTML client except menu text and highlight colors.
  • Colors of various icons used in HTML client app menu bar and pod menu bar (including hover, non-hover, and default states) are also changed when foreground text colors are changed.
  • Examples added in Connect Central administration pages to showcase client customization variations.
  • Warning shown if chosen foreground and background colors in customization does not adhere to Webaim’s recommended contrast ratio for accessibility (WCAG AA for normal text).

Search

  • New improved Search in Connect Central using HTML technologies.
Search

  • Simplified search filters. Users can now further filter search results by categories, content types, and date range.
Search filters

Reports

  • Reports Tab in Connect Central is redesigned using HTML technologies.
Reports

  • Following new reports are added:
    • All Content Usage - Shows usage statistics for all content used within a period of time.  
    • Training Status and Score - Lists all trainings used within a period of time with the score and completion status of each trainee.
    • Attendance Report - Lists all attendees and the time they spent for each meeting room, virtual classroom, and Seminar room for a given date range.
    • All Cost Center Usage - Details cost center members' activity and meetings billed to the cost center for all cost centers for a given date range.
    • Peak Concurrent Users Per Day - Shows peak concurrent users per day for a given date range.

Miscellaneous improvements and changes

  • A new access type is now available to Hosts during room creation –“Only registered users and account members may enter the room”. This lets a Host invite all account members to the room.
New access option

  • HD Video slot – In grid mode, Hosts can now change the video feed (from live feeds) to be displayed in HD.
  • By default, the HD Video feed slot is given to only Hosts and Presenters. The first Host or Presenter to turn on the video in HD-enabled room is given the HD video slot.
  • HD video parameters optimized for better performance and quality.
  • Selecting 'Use Predefined size' in Event template components now shows the size that will be used.
  • HTML-based user management control enhanced to allow administrators to view user details and edit user group membership. 
  • In chat pod, Hosts are now shown a warning message when the chat pod text is approaching the maximum retention limit to take chat backup.
  • 'Recordings Usage Report' shown in System Usage Report section in Connect Central has been deprecated. This report showed server side MP4 conversion usage, which was deprecated in 9.5 release.
  • Logo image is shown on the login page only when a custom logo has been uploaded by the account administrator.
  • Now License Agreement is not shown during Connect server installation.
  • Improved performance of 'Seminars by sessions' report.
  • Tomcat version upgraded to 9.0.19.
  • JRE version upgraded to 1.8.0_212.
  • Other smaller improvements and fixes to various known and customer-reported issues.

What's New in Adobe Connect 10.1

HTML Client improvements

The HTML client includes the following changes for an improved user experience:

  • Video pod: The video displayed in the Video pod is optimized to suit the user device. Based on the display area of a particular device, the layout of the Video pod is adjusted for an improved video experience.
  • Chat pod: The Chat pod text is displayed in grey font. The system does not select any font color by default. 
  • Meeting room: Participants who join a meeting using the HTML client on Firefox or Edge browsers now have the option to open the meeting room in the browser or the desktop application.
Open meeting room

  • If participants select the Remember my choice in this browser option, the system remembers the choice for future launches from the same browser. Participants can also reset launch preferences to enable both choices to be displayed again during launch. However, this option is visible only if the cookie/preferences are set for the browser.
Reset launch preferences

  • Meeting room menu bar speaker menu: Tooltips for the menu items are more descriptive. Icon states for Mute Attendees and Mute All Sounds are changed for easier differentiation.
Tooltips for meeting room menu items

Login screen improvements

The login screen components are streamlined to reduce load time. You can customize the login screen, if necessary.

Login screen improvements

 Here is a list of changes:  

  • Reduced recommended banner size for faster login screen load times
  • Customizable font color for default text in login/password text boxes
  • Customizable font color for login screen text
  • Updated logo sizes and default display

Connect Central web application improvements

  • UI improvements to check box and text block type event registration questions.
UI improvements

What's New in Adobe Connect 10

HTML client for participants

Adobe Connect now includes an HTML-based meeting client for desktop participants. The new client provides a more responsive and accessible experience for participants who join Adobe Connect meetings, virtual classrooms, or webinars.

HTML Meeting Client
HTML Meeting Client

With the HTML client, participants can seamlessly join a meeting, virtual classroom, or webinar with their web browser. They need not download any additional software. Inside of the HTML client, users can view shared screens, interact with notes, leverage VoIP in the form of both transmitting and receiving audio, and view shared live video. Users can also participate in polls, chat, and Q&A.

In addition to being able to join via the HTML client, participants can continue to join through the previously supported methods: the Adobe Connect desktop application and the Adobe Connect Flash-based browser client.

The HTML client supports the most commonly used features for attending and participating in meetings, virtual classrooms, or webinars. However, the HTML client in its current form does not contain every capability that the other Adobe Connect meeting clients possess. For more information on what is supported, see Adobe Connect Capabilities in HTML Client.

Account administrators and room owners can choose whether to enable or disable the HTML client for participants at the account or room level. For more information on how to enable these settings, see Enabling Adobe Connect HTML Client.

HD Video

A new HD (720p) option is now available when setting your video quality in Adobe Connect 10.

HD video
HD video

For more information on this feature, see Share HD video from webcam.

Single Sign-On (SSO)

Adobe Connect 10 has out-of-the-box single sign-on (SSO) capabilities to link accounts with third-party SAML 2.0 based identity providers (IDP). This feature greatly improves the entrance and security workflows when accessing one’s account.

For more information on this feature, see Enabling single sign-on in Adobe Connect.

Miscellaneous Improvements

  • New Login Page experience.
Login page

  • UI improvements to the Adobe Connect desktop application
  • The Chargebacks and Event Leads Generated pages in Adobe Connect Central have been redesigned in HTML5.
  • Option to add check box question as a type of Registration question in Event Manager
  • Option to add text block supporting some HTML elements in Registration questions in Event Manager

What's New in Adobe Connect 9.8

You can now select a connected speaker using the new Select Speaker option in the Audio Setup Wizard. The wizard is available in the Meeting menu from inside a meeting room and from the pre-meeting test page when Adobe Connect application for Windows is installed.

Select speaker when configuring audio using the wizard
Select speaker when configuring audio using the wizard

When recording a meeting, if the audio is disabled, you can now easily enable it by selecting Turn On Audio Conference. Alternatively, you can record the meeting without audio by clicking Record Without Audio.

Turn on audio conference when recording without audio
Turn on audio conference when recording without audio

Tomcat is upgraded to version 8.0.50. JRE is upgraded to version 1.8.0_162.

What's New in Adobe Connect 9.7.5

Adobe Connect application for desktop improvements

  • Support for optional Start Menu and Desktop shortcuts (Windows only). Users can opt to create or not create Start menu and desktop shortcuts while installing Adobe Connect application for Windows. This option is available in both Windows installer for users and MSI installer for administrators.
  • Ability to select an audio output speaker in meeting (Windows only). Users of Adobe Connect application for Windows can choose an audio output device from the meeting room. This option is not available from the Adobe Connect Flash client for browsers or in the Adobe Connect application for Mac.
  • Option to remember a user session in the Adobe Connect application for a computer. Users can choose to allow the Adobe Connect application to remember their session on a computer. While a session is active, users need not re-enter login credentials when joining a meeting from the Adobe Connect application for desktop .
  • Open a new application session using the Ctrl + N shortcut (Windows only). Users can launch a new session of the Adobe Connect application by pressing the Ctrl + N shortcut keys while using the Adobe Connect application for desktop .
  • PPT content support in the Adobe Connect application. Users can open a shared PPT content directly from the Adobe Connect application home screen by entering the content URL.
  • Users can join a meeting room by double-clicking the meeting from the Recents or the Favorites list in the Adobe Connect application for desktop .
  • Users can clear all items from the Recents and Favorites list in the Adobe Connect application for desktop .
  • The Adobe Connect application for desktop auto-populates the last-visited Adobe Connect meeting's domain URL in the home screen. Users can join a meeting by entering only the meeting room name from the Adobe Connect application home page.

For more information, see the following pages:

Connect Central web application improvements

  • The Audio Profiles setup page in Adobe Connect Central has been redesigned in HTML5. Users can create new or edit existing audio profiles. 
  • From Adobe Connect Central Home Page > My Recordings tab, users can go to recording details screen from the recording list.
  • From Adobe Connect Central Home Page, users can access the old experience, which includes the older Calendar Control, My Training, Training Catalog, My Meetings and Resources tabs. 
  • From Adobe Connect Central Home Page > My Meetings tab, users can access the newly added Start date column.
  • From Adobe Connect Central Home Page > My Meetings tab, users can filter the meetings created by them through a newly added filter.
  • From Adobe Connect Central Home Page > My Recordings tab, users can access recording details from the recordings list.

For more information, see Adobe Connect Central home page.

Miscellaneous improvements

  • AEM upgraded to version 6.2 SP1.
  • Support for the new Adobe Presenter 7 content is discontinued. An error message appears while attempting to upload content created using Adobe Presenter 7 or an earlier version.
  • Seminar room deletion also deletes the associated Event.
  • MSI installation is complete without the need to log off and re-login.
  • MeetingOne adapter upgraded.
  • JRE upgraded to version 1.8.0_152
  • Tomcat upgraded to version 8.0.47

What's New in Adobe Connect 9.7

Adobe Connect application for desktop

Adobe Connect 9.7 offers an application for desktop that is available for both Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh users. Now you can easily join and manage meetings from your desktop. The Adobe Connect application is a stand-alone application that replaces the old add-in. With the new Adobe Connect application, users do not need Adobe Flash Player installed or enabled in browsers to join or conduct meetings.

The new stand-alone application is available to all users. Also, users who have Adobe Flash fully enabled in their browser, can continue to attend sessions in browsers.

Using the Adobe Connect application, users can bookmark frequently visited rooms and view the history of recent meetings. For more information, see Adobe Connect application for desktop.

Adobe Connect desktop application for Windows

Enhanced diagnostics and pre-meeting tests

Users can now run pre-meeting diagnostic tests to check if their system meets the requirements necessary to attend an Adobe Connect session without using Flash in their browsers. The test prompts  users without Flash to install the new application in advance.

For users using Adobe Connect’s built-in Voice over IP (VoIP) features, the new test page has an option to pre-configure and test microphones and speakers before they join a meeting. For more information, see Adobe Connect diagnostic test.

Adobe Connect pre-meeting diagnostic test page

Adobe Connect Central home page in HTML5

The Adobe Connect Central home page has been redesigned using HTML5. Users can seamlessly find and manage meetings, recordings, and training catalogs without enabling Adobe Flash Player. Users can find the recordings created by them or shared with them, directly from the home page. For more information, see Adobe Connect Central home page.

Adobe Connect Central home page in HTML5
Adobe Connect Central home page in HTML5

MSI installer for the Adobe Connect application

Adobe Connect 9.7 includes a new MSI installer for the Adobe Connect application for desktop. Administrators can manage the enterprise-wide distribution and deployment of the Adobe Connect application using SCCM.

The MSI installer for IT administrators can be downloaded from: http://www.adobe.com/go/Connectmsi. For more information, see Install Adobe Connect application for desktop.

What's New in Adobe Connect 9.6

Breakout room enhancements

The Presenter Only Area remains open when starting a Breakout session. This allows the Hosts to retain the pods available in the POA during the Breakout session. When the attendees are in breakout rooms, the Hosts can continue to work with the pods they opened in POA. See Create and manage breakout rooms for more information.

Engagement Dashboard in meetings

Hosts and Presenters can use the Engagement Dashboard to view participants’ attention and interactivity levels in a session. Now the Dashboard is available for Meetings without the need for Events or Training modules. See the article View meeting reports for more information.

Install the latest Help

An archive of the how-to help articles is now hosted at www.adobe.com/go/AdobeConnect_Offline_Help for on-premise customers. Administrators can download and update the local help files so their users get the latest help content.

Java 8 support

Adobe Connect 9.6 now supports Java 8 to continue to provide a secure experience to its customers. Java 7 is no longer supported and further security patches will not be available.

What's New in Adobe Connect 9.5

Adobe Connect 9.5 comes out with a new, refreshing logo that replaces the existing logo. It is the first thing you notice when logging in to Adobe Connect.

New logo of Adobe Connect
New logo of Adobe Connect

Meeting-related enhancements

Offline recordings in MP4 format

Adobe Connect 9.5 onwards, the conversion to MP4 format happens directly on the user's machine and there is no server-side queuing. You can control the quality and the size of the final output file using the available settings.

Options to convert a recording to offline MP4 format.
Options to convert a recording to offline MP4 format.

The actual resolution of the output MP4 file depends on the screen size and the supported resolution of the machine used to create the offline recording.

See Record and playback Adobe Connect meetings for more information.

Smarter Video pod

The Filmstrip mode is enhanced to ensure a better webcam video experience inside Adobe Connect. Filmstrip mode is especially useful when many users share their feed and the active speaker is in the focus. Adobe Connect 9.5 onwards, the Video Pod better recognizes the visible feeds and automatically pauses the feeds not visible to a user. This change translates in to lesser bandwidth and processing power requirements improving the overall quality of the meeting experience. When the user shuffles the feeds and brings in view the previously hidden and paused streams, Adobe Connect 9.5 automatically starts playing the now visible feeds.

New meeting connection status icon

The meeting connection status icon, found in the upper-right corner of a meeting room is redesigned () to indicate the quality of the available network connection. It depicts the meeting room connectivity status.

See Adobe Connect meeting room basics for more information.

Virtual Classroom-related enhancements

Support for Adobe’s HTML5 content

Virtual Classroom users can now share the HTML content created using Adobe Captivate and Adobe Presenter as long as they use the add-in. The user experience to share content remains at par with other content types in the Share Pod, as this content type supports syncing, quizzes, and recording, and the supported reporting capabilities.

A few requirements to use this functionality are:

  • Adobe Connect 9.5 supports the HTML content published via Adobe Captivate 9 or later and Adobe Presenter 11 or later.
  • The HTML content is supported only in Virtual Classrooms.
  • The Presenter sharing HTML content in a VC and the attendees consuming HTML content in a VC must install the Adobe Connect add-in only once.

To use HTML content in a VC, all attendees are required to upgrade to the latest add-in. Adobe Connect prompts users to download the add-in when HTML content is shared.

Notifier to Hosts and Presenters when sharing HTML content in a VC
Notifier to Hosts and Presenters when sharing HTML content in a VC

Note:

To avoid a prompt in the middle of a VC session, pre-install the new add-in.

The Adobe Connect notifier prompts the Host or the Presenter sharing HTML content, to check if all users in the classroom are ready to view the shared HTML content. Users who cannot view the shared HTML content are marked in the Attendee Pod with  icon against their name. The components required to display the shared HTML content automatically downloads. Participants are able to view the shared HTML content in some time. The automatic download of the required components is a one-time activity that happens without any intervention required by the user. Similarly, Adobe Connect automatically downloads the required components when a user attempts to view, for the first time, a VC recording with HTML content shared in it.

The Virtual Classroom email notification now includes instructions and the add-in download link for attendees to prepare for the session in advance. You can modify these email notifications and the instructions as required.

See About Adobe Connect courses and curricula for training for more information.

Reporting-related enhancements

Adobe Connect 9.5 offers two new reports that allow Administrators to understand the usage of their Adobe Connect accounts. These reports are part of the System Usage reports in the Reports tab. You can download either report in CSV format for further analysis.

The Meeting Sessions Usage report provides a summary of Meeting, Seminar, or Virtual Classroom sessions that happened over a user-defined period and provides start and end time, duration, session type, total and peak participants, and so on.

The Meeting Usage report provides a summary of meeting activity over a period. For each date, it provides Peak Concurrent Meeting users and Total User Minutes.

See Generate usage reports in Adobe Connect Central for more information.

 Adobe

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