User Guide

Adobe Captivate 13.1 release notes

  1. Captivate User Guide
  2. Get to know Captivate
    1. What's new in Adobe Captivate
    2. Adobe Captivate System Requirements
    3. Download Adobe Captivate
    4. Frequently Asked Questions
  3. Adobe Captivate releases
    1. Adobe Captivate 13
      1. Adobe Captivate (13.1) release notes
      2. Adobe Captivate (13.0) release notes
    2. Adobe Captivate 12
      1. Adobe Captivate 12 summary
      2. Adobe Captivate (12.6 update) release notes
      3. Adobe Captivate (12.5 update) release notes
      4. Adobe Captivate (12.4 update) release notes
      5. Adobe Captivate (12.3 update) release notes
      6. Adobe Captivate (12.2 update) release notes
      7. Adobe Captivate (12.1 update) release notes
  4. Project setup
    1. Slide navigator
    2. Project dimensions
    3. Set preferences
      1. General preferences
      2. Generative AI preferences
      3. Project preferences
      4. Quizzing preferences
    4. Themes
    5. Configure URL access for Adobe Captivate features
  5. Import from PowerPoint
    1. Import PowerPoint presentations into Captivate
    2. Select PowerPoint slides to import into Captivate
    3. Work with text on imported slides
    4. Work with shapes on imported slides
    5. Add media to imported slides
    6. Add interactions and animations to imported slides
  6. Import from Captivate Classic
    1. Import Captivate Classic projects into Adobe Captivate
    2. Import Captivate Classic simulation projects into Captivate
  7. Generative AI in Adobe Captivate
    1. Generative AI overview
    2. Generative AI FAQs
    3. Generative credits
    4. Generate text 
      1. Generate text overview
      2. Write effective prompts for text generation
      3. Generate text using quick prompts
      4. Generate text using custom prompts
      5. Provide feedback to improve text generation
    5. Generate images
      1. Generate image overview
      2. Generate images using prompts
      3. Choose image content type - Photo or Art
      4. Use reference images for Composition and Style
      5. Best practices for effective image generation
      6. Provide feedback to improve image generation
    6. Generate avatar
      1. Generate avatar overview
      2. Customize the avatar
      3. Create transcripts for avatar narration
      4. Generate avatar narration
      5. Provide feedback to improve avatar generation
    7. Generate transcripts
      1. Generate transcripts overview
      2. Generate transcripts for closed captions
      3. Best practices to use transcripts effectively
  8. Add and edit text
    1. Add text to a project
    2. Add Adobe fonts to a project
    3. Add quotes
    4. Author in right-to-left languages
  9. Add and edit images
    1. Add images to a project
    2. Edit the background image on a slide
    3. Add SVGs to a project
  10. Add and edit media
    1. Add videos to a project
    2. Add and edit audio
    3. Add audio for widget interactions
    4. Add closed captions
    5. Add web objects to a project
  11. Interactive components
    1. Add a button
    2. Add an input field
    3. Add a radio button group
    4. Add a dropdown
    5. Add a checkbox
    6. Variables in Adobe Captivate
  12. Create quizzes
    1. Add a Multiple-choice question
    2. Add a True or false question
    3. Add a Match the column question
    4. Add a Short answer question
    5. Add a Sequence question
    6. Add question pools and random question slides
    7. Import questions as CSV
  13. Add widgets
    1. Add a Card
    2. Add Tabs
    3. Add a Certificate
    4. Add a Carousel
    5. Add a Hotspot
    6. Add Drag-and-Drop
    7. Add a Timeline
    8. Add Click to Reveal
    9. Add an Accordion
    10. Add a slider
    11. Add a stack card
  14. Interactions and animations
    1. Add interactions to a project
    2. Create interactive video with overlay
    3. Create a slide-level interaction
    4. Create an object-level interaction
    5. Add animations to a project
    6. States in Adobe Captivate
  15. Enhance your e-learning project
    1. Add padding to content blocks and components
    2. Add a header to a project
    3. Add a footer to a project
    4. Create a long scroll project
    5. Add a conversation slide
    6. Add characters to your Adobe Captivate project
    7. Assets in Captivate
  16. Simulation projects
    1. Simulation overview and setup
    2. Demo mode
    3. Training mode
    4. Assessment mode
    5. Full-motion recording
  17. Timeline and TOC
    1. Timeline panel in Adobe Captivate
    2. Table of Contents in Adobe Captivate
    3. Lock and hide slides in Adobe Captivate
  18. Review and collaborate
    1. Share for review
    2. Create and manage reviews
    3. Add review comments and collaborate
    4. FAQs and Troubleshooting guide for sharing projects for review   
  19. Preview and publish
    1. Preview your project
    2. Publish your project
  20. Accessibility
    1. Create accessible eLearning content in Adobe Captivate
    2. Make a slide accessible
    3. Make slide objects accessible
    4. Make an interactive component accessible
    5. Make a widget accessible
    6. Make a quiz accessible
    7. TOC and Playbar accessibility
  21. Design options in Adobe Captivate
    1. What are design options?
    2. Parts of a design option
    3. Create custom design options
    4. Modify a custom design option
    5. Export a custom design option
    6. Import a custom design option
  22. Additional resources
    1. Top How-tos in Captivate
    2. Captivate Classic vs Adobe Captivate
    3. Upgrade older Captivate projects to the latest version
    4. Create and deploy Captivate packages in Admin Console

What's new and changed in this release

Release date: 15 April 2026

Adobe Captivate 13.1 enhances content creation and reuse with expanded import capabilities, new interactive widgets, and improved localization support. This release helps authors transition existing projects, design engaging layouts, and create multilingual learning experiences more efficiently.

Explore all new features and enhancements on the What's new in Adobe Captivate page or visit the Captivate downloads page and try out the latest release.

Note

Make sure you are on build 13.0.0.16812.0.0.289212.1.0.16, 12.2.0.19, 12.3.0.12, 12.4.0.20, 12.5.0.35, or 12.6.0.63 of Adobe Captivate.

To know the build number of the version, follow these steps:

  • macOS: Select Adobe Captivate > About Adobe Captivate in the main toolbar to check the build number.
  • Windows: Select Help > About Adobe Captivate to check the build number.

Import projects from Captivate Classic (beta)

Reuse existing Captivate Classic projects by importing supported slides, content, and interactions into Adobe Captivate for continued editing.

View Import projects from Captivate Classic (beta) for more information.

Import simulation projects from Captivate Classic (beta)

Bring supported simulation slides and components into Adobe Captivate, retaining key interactive elements created during the original recording.

View Import simulation projects from Captivate Classic (beta) for more information.

Slider widget

Reveal content progressively using a slider to present text, images, or interactions in a controlled, step‑by‑step flow.

View the Slider widget for more information.

Stack card widget

Organize related content into interactive cards that learners can explore at their own pace with flexible layout and playback options.

View the Stack card widget for more information.

Select PowerPoint slides to import into Adobe Captivate

Select specific slides from a PowerPoint presentation when importing into Adobe Captivate. Selected slides are converted into a non‑responsive Captivate project.

View Select PowerPoint slides to import into Adobe Captivate for more information.

Right‑to‑left (RTL) authoring

Create localized courses using right‑to‑left languages with bidirectional text support across components, widgets, and quizzes.

View Right‑to‑left (RTL) authoring for more information.

Bug fixes in this update

Adobe Captivate 13.1 fixed the following bugs:

  • When publishing Captivate 13 projects to Adobe Learning Manager (ALM), learner progress was not reported correctly. The progress xAPI statement was sent with an empty object (e.g., {"result":{}}) instead of including a progress value (e.g., {"result":{"progress":66}}). This caused ALM to fail to track course progress for Captivate 13 content, while Captivate 2019 content behaved correctly.
  • When creating a hyperlink inside a text box and then immediately previewing (without clicking outside the text box), the hyperlink did not appear at runtime. 
  • In some projects with audio or video on slides, playback was cut short by about one second at the end of the slide in preview and published output.
  • In some cases, previewing a project can mark it as modified even if you haven’t made any visible changes. This happens because Captivate updates certain project metadata in the background (for example, font or TOC information) during preview.
  • When you use the Slider widget without including it in the quiz, its feedback caption behaves differently from when it is part of the quiz. You may not see the same confirmation feedback on submit that you see for quiz‑included sliders.

Known issue in this update

  • When importing PowerPoint presentations and using selective slide import, the slide thumbnails shown in the import dialog and/or in the project may differ from the actual slides. You may notice:
    • Some shapes do not appear in the thumbnail preview.
    • Table fill or border colors in thumbnails do not match the original PowerPoint slide.
    • Text in thumbnails can look blurry or lower quality than expected, making it harder to read.
  • On iOS devices, the play button overlay on slide videos that include a web video may intermittently fail to start web video playback when Narrator is enabled.

Known issues for Captivate Classic project import

  • You can currently import Classic projects created in versions earlier than 11.8.3, but these older files are not officially supported. In some cases, they may import with limited functionality instead of showing a clear “unsupported version” message.
  • In projects imported from Captivate Classic, increment/decrement actions on variables can cause the runtime to display NaN (Not a Number) on slides instead of the expected numeric value. This occurred particularly with invalid actions (for example, increment/decrement applied to string‑type variables) that Classic itself did not handle consistently.
  • When importing a Captivate Classic project that contained Likert question slides, the Classic Import workflow failed, blocking migration of any projects that included these question types.
  • Pre-test question slides from Captivate Classic were being imported into the new Captivate as blank or invalid question slides, leading to a sub-optimal experience for authors.

System requirements

Check the System Requirements for Adobe Captivate 13.1.

Update to the latest version

  1. Launch Adobe Captivate and select Help > Check for Updates. The Adobe Captivate Updater appears.

  2. Select Update Now to start installing the update.

  3. When the installation is complete, you can see the Update Complete dialog.

    Update complete
    Update complete

  4. Click Close or to start Adobe Captivate, click Launch. 

    Note

    You must clear the preferences after installing the update. Follow the instructions to clear the preferences:

    • Windows: Double-click the file CleanPreferencesWin.bat in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Captivate\utils.
    • macOS: Double-click the file CleanPreferencesMac in /Applications/Adobe Captivate/utils/CleanPreferencesMac.

After clicking Help > Check for Updates, the error message, Error 184, may display.

Follow the steps below to resolve the issue:

  1. In any version of Captivate 12 or Captivate 13, select Help > Check for Updates.
  2. Once the update is visible, close the Adobe Captivate app.
  3. Select Update now.
Note

After installing this update, verify the build numbers:

  • Windows: 13.1.0.197
  • macOS: 13.1.0.197

Adobe, Inc.

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