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Add and edit audio in a project

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  1. Captivate User Guide
  2. Introduction to Captivate
    1. What's New in Adobe Captivate
    2. Adobe Captivate System Requirements
    3. Adobe Captivate Updates
      1. Adobe Captivate (12.4 update) release notes
      2. Adobe Captivate (12.3 update) release notes
      3. Adobe Captivate (12.2 update) release notes
      4. Adobe Captivate (12.1 update) release notes
    4. Download Adobe Captivate
    5. Frequently Asked Questions
  3. Add a slide
    1. Slide navigator in Adobe Captivate
    2. Add a conversation slide
    3. Add characters to your Adobe Captivate project
    4. Edit the background image on a slide
    5. Add padding to content blocks and components
    6. Create a long scroll project
  4. Add text blocks
    1. Add text to a project
  5. Add media blocks
    1. Add images to a project
    2. Add videos to a project
    3. Add quotes
    4. Add SVGs to a project
  6. 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
  7. 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
  8. 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
  9. Add audio to a project
    1. Add audio
  10. Interactions
    1. Add interactions to a project
    2. Create interactive video with overlay
    3. Create a slide-level interaction
    4. Create an object-level interaction
  11. Animations
    1. Add animations to a project
  12. Accessibility
    1. Make a project accessible
  13. Customize the timeline
    1. Timeline panel in Adobe Captivate
  14. Customize TOC and Playbar
    1. Table of Contents in Adobe Captivate
  15. Edit project properties
    1. Variables in Adobe Captivate
    2. Preferences
    3. Project dimensions
    4. Themes
  16. Create a simulation project
    1. Simulation
  17. Preview a project
    1. Preview
  18. Share a project for review
    1. Share for review   
  19. Publish a project
    1. Publish your project
  20. Upgrade projects in Adobe Captivate
    1. Upgrade projects to the latest version 

Overview

The all-new Adobe Captivate includes native audio editing capabilities, enabling you to perform audio tasks directly within the software without needing third-party tools. You can use audio in your Adobe Captivate projects for narration, voice-overs, background music, or generate text-to-speech using system or Captivate voices. Additionally, you can add and edit closed captions for your audio.

You can incorporate audio in various ways within a single Adobe Captivate project, such as:

  • Add introductory audio at the start of your presentation or record narration.
  • Including a background track that plays throughout the project.
  • Adding sound to individual slides or objects.

Topics in this page:

Add audio to a slide

You can add audio on a slide in one of the following ways:

  • Add audio from Assets.
  • Add an audio file from your computer.
  • Record a narration.
  • Generate text to speech

  1. Select Audio in the right toolbar.

  2. Click the Import Audio dropdown.

    This is an image that shows how to add an audio to a slide.

Add audio from Assets

Adobe Captivate lets you add an audio clip from Assets and use the clip as background audio.

  1. Select Assets in the Import Audio dropdown.

  2. Select a file in Assets.

  3. Click Insert Audio.

    If the duration of the audio exceeds the slide duration, you view a pop-up to extend the duration of the slide to which you're adding the audio.

    This is an image that shows how to extend slide time

  4. Click Extend time.

  5. Hover on the audio file and click the pencil icon to edit the audio.

  6. You can change these audio settings:

    • Fade in: Enter the time from where you want the audio to fade in. 
    • Fade out: Enter the time from where you want the audio to fade out. 
    • Loop audio: Select the checkbox to make the audio play continuously.
    • Stop background audio: Select the checkbox to stop the background audio when the project ends.
    Edit audio
    Edit audio

  7. In the Closed Captions section, click Add captions to add closed captions on the slide. For more information, view Add closed captions on a slide.

Record your narration

Adobe Captivate allows you to record audio narration and system audio. You can also edit the recorded audio and add it to your slide.

Note:

For recording system audio on macOS, there is an option in Preferences to select Virtual Audio driver.

  1. Select Record in the Import Audio dropdown.

  2. Select the ellipsis icon near Record Audio to choose your microphone. After choosing a microphone from the dropdown, the recommendation is to calibrate the audio. Select Audio Input Calibration and speak into the microphone. If you're satisfied with the audio quality, select Done.

    You'll view a Good message on the audio calibration pop-up if the input volume level is optimal.

    You can also select the microphone via Preferences.

  3. In the Record Audio section, click Start recording.

  4. After recording, click Stop recording.

  5. After you've recorded the narration, you can change these audio settings:

    • Fade in: Enter the time from where you want the audio to fade in. Fade-in always starts from zero. If you enter 5, the audio will be faded between 0-5 seconds.
    • Fade out: Enter the time from where you want the audio to fade out. Fade-out always starts from zero. If you enter 5, the audio's last five seconds will fade.
    • Loop audio: Select the checkbox to make the audio play continuously. It loops the audio till the end of the slide. If the slide audio duration is less than the slide duration, then the audio loops till the end of the slide.
    • Stop background audio: Select the checkbox to stop the background audio when the project ends. It stops the project audio (background audio) when the slide audio plays. It's specific to individual slides.

  6. In the Closed Captions section, click Add captions to add closed captions on the slide. For more information, view Add closed captions on a slide.

Generate text-to-speech

Adobe Captivate enables you to generate audio from closed captions using both Captivate and systems voices. Authors have the option to choose from a range of voice agents for their captions to align with the tone and style of their course, catering to their specific audience. This functionality fosters a personalized and captivating educational experience that maintains learners' interest and motivation.

Here are the download links for additional voices in Adobe Captivate: 

Generate audio for closed captions

  1. Select Audio from the Properties panel on the right.

  2. From the Import Audio dropdown, select Generate Text-to-Speech. This will open the Closed Captions timeline, where you can add your captions. For more information, view Add closed captions on a slide.

    This image shows how to select generate text to speech

  3. Select the caption(s) on the timeline and then select the voice dropdown menu as shown in the figure below.

    This is an image that shows how to add more voices to your captions.

  4. Select More Voices to open the voices panel. This section contains both Captivate and system voices.

  5. Select a voice from the list for each caption individually or apply a voice to all captions at once by choosing the Select all captions option and then the voice agent. 

    This image shows how to select all captions in the voices panel.

  6. Select the   icon to add a voice to the favorites list.

    This is an image to show how to add favorite voices

  7. Once you've added the voice agents to the captions, select Apply to confirm the changes and exit the voice panel.

  8. Select Generate Audio on the closed captions timeline to complete the audio generation for the captions.

    This is an image that shows generating an audio for captions

    After generating the audio, the waveform is displayed, serving as a visual guide to align caption timings with the audio and remove silent segments.

The quick-access menu in the captions timeline displays the currently selected voice, two favorites, and two recently used voices. This feature allows you to swiftly change voices and generate audio for different captions.

This image shows the quick access to voices on the caption's timeline

Update audio after changing captions 

Whenever the text of a caption or its corresponding voice is changed, the audio must be updated accordingly.

  1. Select the edited captions on the timeline.

  2. Apply a new voice to these captions.

  3. Select the Update Audio. This option gets enabled only when you change a caption text or its voice agent. 

    This is an image that shows how to update audio after editing captions on the timeline.

Edit an audio

Select   to edit the audio file.

This is an image that shows how to select the edit icon to edit audio.

In the waveform editor, select the portion of audio that you want to edit. Use the options available in the Edit Audio section to edit the audio clip.

This image shows how to edit the audio waveform.

Make any necessary edits in the Edit Audio section.

You can cut, copy, and paste sections of the audio file, insert periods of silence to lengthen the audio file, adjust the volume, import different audio at the playhead position, and use more options.

  • Cut selection: Cut the selected portion of the audio file.
  • Copy selection: Copy the selected portion of the audio file.
  • Paste selection: Paste information from the clipboard.
  • Delete selection: Remove the selected portion of the audio file.
  • Undo: Undo the last action.
  • Redo: Redo the last action.
  • Insert silence: In the Insert Silence dialog, select the portion of the audio file where you want to insert silence and select Insert Silence. Choose from:
    • Playhead Position: This option is available only when you've not selected a portion of the audio file. Insert the time and position for the silence clip in the audio.
    • Start of Audio: Add silence to the beginning of the audio file.
    • End of Audio: Add silence to the end of the audio file.

If you select a portion of the audio and select Insert silence, the selected portion of the audio becomes silent. To choose the playhead position, Start of Audio, and End of Audio, select Add silence without selecting the portion of the audio.

You can also record or import audio to insert into an existing audio clip on the panel.

Volume settings

Select the ellipsis icon in the Edit Audio panel and click Volume Settings. The Volume Settings dialog contains the following options:

Volume slider: You can manually change volume decibels (dB) using the slider.

Audio Recording options

  • None
  • Normalize: Select this option to have Adobe Captivate adjust the sound volume automatically. Normalizing audio helps keep the sound level consistent between slides and selects the best volume in the audio. Audio normalization applies a constant gain to an audio recording to bring the average or peak amplitude to a target level (the norm). 
  • Dynamic: Select this option to amplify quiet sections of the audio to help compensate for variations in audio volume. It reduces the loudness of the audio. After you select this option, you can further set the following:
    • Ratio: Specifies the maximum amplification to use. The default setting of 2.0 sets the quietest sections of the audio to amplify by a factor of two. A higher setting can improve projects with large differences between quiet and loud sections, but can also amplify background noise.
    • Threshold: Controls the amplification of background noise. Anything quieter than the noise threshold isn't amplified. If background noise is amplified too much, setting a higher noise threshold may help solve the problem.

Add closed captions on a slide

Add closed captions for the audio. You can change the appearance of the caption and apply the change to the slide or all slides.

  1. Click Add captions in the Closed Captions section.

    This is an image that shows how to add captions for a slide audio.

  2. Enter the caption in the placeholder.

    This is an image on how to enter captions in the placeholder

  3. Drag the playhead on the timeline to the point where you want to add the next caption.

  4. Click the   icon to add another caption.

  5. In the Position section of the Visual Properties panel, select a caption's position. You can place the caption at the top or bottom of the video.

  6. Move the Opacity slider in the Visual Properties panel to increase or decrease the transparency of the caption.

  7. Change the caption's background color from the Solid color picker.

  8. Change the appearance of a caption.

    Also, change the color of the caption, add an outline to the caption, or add a shadow.

    View Work with text in Adobe Captivate to know more about changing the appearance of text.

  9. Apply the caption text properties to the slide or all slides in the project.

    • Apply to this slide: Select this option to apply the changes to the text properties to the captions on the selected slide.
    • Apply to all the slides: If there are other slides with captions, select this option to apply the changes to the text properties on all other slides.

Import closed captions

Adobe Captivate allows importing, exporting, and replacing closed captions or subtitles of audio in your Captivate project. Captivate supports .srt and .vtt file formats for captions.

You can format the font style, size, and color or make it bold, italic, underline, and change the position of the caption. Additionally, vtt files support CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) for styling. For srt files, you can format the same, except for the subtitle position.

Note:

If an SRT or VTT file contains a font type that is not compatible with Captivate, the caption text will automatically switch to Arial as the default font.

The import function for closed captions becomes accessible only when there is existing audio on the slide.

  1. Select Audio in the right toolbar.

  2. Select Import captions.

    Import closed captions to slide audio
    Import closed captions to slide audio

    Note:

    Ensure that the duration of the captions does not exceed the duration of the audio for the slide.

  3. Select the captions file (srt or vtt) from the system.

  4. View the captions in the Closed Captions panel.

    Imported captions for a slide audio
    Imported captions for a slide audio

Note:

When both the audio and its corresponding captions share identical file names and are located in the same directory, the captions are seamlessly imported upon adding the audio.

In cases where both SRT and VTT files coexist in the same directory, priority is given to the VTT file, which will be automatically selected as the default.

Export closed captions

You can export closed captions from an existing project for reusability.  If you have used the same audio in another project, you may export these captions to incorporate them into those projects seamlessly.

  1. Select Export from the captions timeline.

    This is an image on how to export captions
    Export captions

  2. Enter the filename and also the destination, where you want the file to be exported.

  3. Select the file format (srt ot vtt).

  4. Select Export.

    Choose the file name and location for exporting captions
    Choose the file name and location for exporting captions

Replace existing captions

You have the option to replace current captions if you have imported an incorrect file, or wish to adjust timing and font styles in the existing file. Make the changes in the caption file and utilize the replace feature to upload a revised version or a different file entirely.

  1. Select Replace from the closed captions panel.

    Replace captions for a slide audio
    Replace captions for a slide audio

  2. Choose another caption (srt or vtt) file from the system.

Troubleshooting closed captions

Error

Steps to mitigate

Failed to import the captions, The duration of the subtitles must not exceed the duration of the audio.

Ensure the length of the audio is more than the caption duration. Open the captions file and check the end timing and ensure it is less than or equal to the audio duration.

Import Failed: Subtitles have conflicting time ranges. Adjust the timing to avoid overlapping with other captions. 

Captions have conflicting time ranges. Check and adjust the timing of each caption in the file. Ensure the start and end times of each caption do not overlap. You can fix the timing in the file and re-import.

Import Failed: Subtitle format is incorrect.

Check the file and ensure the format or syntax is correct and adheres to respective srt or vtt formats.

Import Failed: Subtitle file cannot be empty.

Srt or vtt file must contain caption texts and their timing information.

Import Failed. The end time of a subtitle cannot be less than or equal to its start time.

Ensure the end time is greater than the start time and re-try. Any particular caption's end time should not be less than its start time.

View the closed captions at runtime

Select Project properties in the right panel.

In the Publish Settings section, enable or disable the toggle Show Closed Captions to display or hide the closed captions at runtime.

Import or export project content and closed captions

Export project content and closed captions

If your computer has Microsoft Word installed, you can export project content and closed captions from an existing Adobe Captivate project to a .DOC file.

  1. Select File > Export > Project content and closed captions in the main toolbar.

  2. Select a location on your computer.

The captions are saved as a Microsoft Word document. Navigate to the location where the file is saved and open the file.

Import project content and closed captions

You can import text captions from a DOC file. First, you export the text captions from your Adobe Captivate project. Adobe Captivate creates a DOC file that preserves all the formatting from the text captions. 

Update the column Updated Text caption Data with localized content. Then import the file into the Adobe Captivate project.

  1. Select File > Import > Project content and closed captions.

  2. Select the DOC file that contains captions that you want to import.

  3.  Click Open.

After successful import, the project will be updated with localized content from the doc file.

 Adobe

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