Adobe Captivate - How to Upload a presentation to Canvas Without Linking to the Gradebook (UW-Madison)

This document describes how an instructor can upload an Adobe Captivate module to Canvas without linking it to the Canvas gradebook.

    There are two methods for uploading Captivate presentations to Canvas. The method you use depends on whether you have quiz questions inside your presentation that you want to connect to your Canvas gradebook. If you want to connect your Captivate presentation and quiz to the Canvas gradebook please see Adobe Captivate - Setting up a project to report a quiz grade to a learning management system using SCORM (UW-Madison).

    This document outlines how to upload a Captivate presentation for viewing inside Canvas with no connection to the gradebook. This document was authored using screenshots from Captivate 2017. First you will need to publish your presentation.

    Publishing your Captivate presentation

    1. With Captivate launched and your project loaded click Publish → Publish to Computer. Alternately you can click File → Publish.

    2. A "Publish To My Computer" widow will open. You may have to click a More button in the lower left to see all the publishing options described below.
      Screenshot showing the Captivate "Publish to My Computer" window with the various pieces of it numbered indicating what part of the instructions are indicated in each screenshot.
      1. Enter a Project Title. 
      2. Select a location to publish your Captivate presentation to.
      3. Check the Zip Files checkbox.
      4. We also suggest you check the Scalable HTML content checkbox:
      5. eLearning output should say Disabled. If it does not, click Enabled. A Preferences window will open. Uncheck Enable reporting for this project:
        A screenshot showing the Captivate Quiz Reporting Preferences window with the "Quiz - Enable reporting for this project" checkbox unchecked and circled.
        Click OK (not shown in the screenshot above - it is at the bottom of the Preferences window) when you are done checking this setting.
      6. Click Publish. You should see a window that says Publish completed successfully. Click OK

    Upload your presentation to Canvas

    1. Launch a browser and login to your Canvas course.

    2. Click the Files tool in the course navigation.

    3. Generally we recommend creating a folder to put your Captivate lectures in and then subfolders for each lecture. In this example you can see that we’ve created a folder at the root level called Captivate Lectures and subfolders for Lecture 1 and Lecture 2. In this example we are going to upload the Captivate zip file into the Lecture 2 folder so we click on Lecture 2 to enter the Lecture 2 folder.
      A screenshot showing the Canvas "Files" tool with a folder for "Captivate Lectures" and a subfolder for "Lecture 1" and "Lecture 2".
    4. Click the Upload button. Navigate to your published Captivate zip file and select it and click Open.

    5. Canvas should display a message that says "Would you like to expand the contents of "Your Captivate File" into the current folder, or upload the zip file as is. Click Expand It. This is why we recommend you upload each presentation into its own folder.
      A screenshot showing the Canvas dialog window asking the user to expand or upload the selected zip file. The cursor is over the "Expand It" option.

    6. Canvas will expand the .zip file in the folder. You will see a progress bar followed by the Captivate files once the .zip file is expanded:
      Screenshot showing the Canvas files area after the Captivate .zip file is expanded.

    Adding your Captivate presentation to a module

    1. Click the Modules tool in the Canvas course menu.
    2. Click the + button next to the module you want to add your Captivate presentation to:
      Screenshot showing a Canvas module with the "+" button next to it and the cursor over the "+" button.
      An "Add Item to [Your Module Name]" window will open.
    3. From the Add drop-down menu select File.
      A screenshot showing a detial of the "Add Item" window with the "Add" drop-down menu expanded and "File" selected with the cursor over it.
      A list of files will display.
    4. Scroll until you find the folder with your Captivate presentation in it. Select the index.html file:
      A screenshot showing the Canvas "Add Item" window with "Add - File", a list of files and a Captivate "index.html" file selected.
    5. Click the Add Item button.
    6. An index.html file item will be added to your module. You'll likely want to rename it. To do this select the three-dot button next to the item and select Edit:
      Screenshot showing a module with the "index.html" Captivate lecture in it and the cursor opening the three dot menu and "Edit" selected.
    7. An "Edit Item Details" window will open. Enter a new Title for your presentation and click Update:
      Screenshot showing the Canvas "Edit Item Details" window with a new Title and the cursor over the "Update" button.
    8. Click on your new module name to view your Captivate presentation in Canvas. The page will still show the old "index.html" name at the top - it will look something like this:
      Screenshot showing a Captivate presentation playing inside a Canvas course