With Adobe Captivate, you can import existing slides from a PowerPoint presentation, narrate a lecture, publish the presentation, and then upload it into Blackboard. Captivate can output in a variety of formats, including Flash (.swf) and downloadable MP4 videos (.mp4) as well as Windows and Mac executable files (.exe and .app formats).

Opening a PPT in Captivate
Recording in Captivate
Editing Narration
 

   Opening a PPT in Captivate

1. Open Captivate and click From Microsoft PowerPoint in the Create New window.
   
   
   
   If you do not see the Create New window, click File > New Project> Project From MS PowerPoint.
   
   
   
   
2. Locate your PPT presentation and click Open.
   
   
3. You can adjust the presentation size and remove any slides at this point. (The default size is based on the size of the presentation in PowerPoint. It is recommended to maintain this size).
   
   
   
   

   Recording in Captivate

1. To record narration, click Audio > Record to... You can choose to record to each slide individually, to a range of slides, or as background (which plays the duration of the presentation).
   
   
   
2. For recording and editing purposes, it may provide the smoothest transitions if you select Audio > Record to... > Slides and specify the range as your first slide to your last slide. If you check off SWF Preview, your slides will appear in the audio recording window; you can record a slide and easily navigate to the next slide.
   
   Click the red record button to begin recording your narration.
   
   
   
   
3. When you are done with each slide, you must click the black square stop button, and then the right facing arrow to advance to the next slide. Click the red record button to record the audio for the next slide. Repeat this process for each of your remaining slides.
   
   
   
   
4. When you are finished with your whole presentation, click Save, and then Close.
   
   
5. You can preview your project to make sure you are satisfied with your audio by clicking File > Preview > Project.
   
   
   
   
6. You are now ready to publish your presentation and upload it to Blackboard. Please follow the steps found in the Create a Downloadable Narrated PowerPoint Lecture tutorial for steps on how to accomplish this.
   
   
   NOTE: Make sure you have your Captivate file saved (.cptx extension) on a flash drive or other personal storage system; this is your source file which will be used if you ever need to edit or replace any of the audio you have already recorded.
   

   Editing Narration

1. Open the Captivate file. Click on the slide which you would like to edit; this will bring it to the active window. Double click anywhere in the audio track in the Timeline. (If you do not see the Timeline, in the Menu Bar, click on Window > Timeline).
   
   
   
   
2. This will bring up the Slide Audio window where you can edit your recording.
   
   a. From the Add/Replace tab, you can rerecord the audio for an entire slide in the same manner you originally did. The newest recording will overwrite the previous audio.
   
   
   b. From the Edit tab, you can use the play button to preview your audio. You can then highlight portions of the audio and cut them out entirely. Click and drag until the area you wish to remove is highlighted in gray. Click the scissors icon to cut the audio out.
   
   
   
   
   
   When you are done rerecording and editing, click the Save button. You can then close the window. (If you do not want to save any adjustments you made, just click Close, and when asked if you would like to save audio changes, select No).
   
3. When you are finished editing your audio, you must republish your project. If you save it with the same name, you will be asked if you want to overwrite your previous file. If you no longer need your first version of audio, select Yes. If you would like to save both versions, select No and type in a new file name.