The all new Intelligent Print Widget for Adobe Captivate offers you a lot of possibilities to modify and customize your print-out from Adobe Captivate 6.x, Adobe Captivate 7, Adobe Captivate 8, Adobe Captivate 9 and the newly released Adobe Captivate 2017.
From version 3.0 the Intelligent Print Widget for Adobe Captivate now features a PDF generation functionality.
What does it do?
This print widget will print any slide from Adobe Captivate and force the print to landscape mode without the user having to select it in the print dialog. The widget will also automatically rescale the printed slide so it will fit on the paper selected in the print dialog box. The rescaling is done dynamically and will keep the original proportions and adjust to whatever paper size the user selects (or the default size if the user just clicks ok) in the print dialog prompt.
In March 2014 the widget was updated to version 3.0 adding a feature that has been requested by a lot of developers. Now you have the option to generate the print as a PDF file. The widget handles the PDF generation so there are no requirements on the users’ computer or on your server. It is completely self-contained.
The Widget Parameters and options:
The Intelligent Print Widget for Adobe Captivate Properties Panel allows you to make several adjustments to the print functionality.
You can use the widget on a Master Slide in Captivate and choose to use your own button on a slide to initiate the Print. Simply enable this in the Widget Properties and add the suffix _print to your button name in Captivate. The widget will handle the rest.
If you choose to generate the print out as a PDF instead of a regular print you must define the “paper size”. You can choose between A4, Letter, and Legal. When the PDF is generated it will either open in a new browser window or prompt the user to save the PDF on their computer depending on what you selected in the Widget Properties. If you choose to open the PDF in a new browser window this requires a PHP script. I have provided a PHP script on my server, which you are welcome to use, but I highly recommend you upload the script to your own server.
Requirements:
Version 3.0 of the Intelligent Print Widget requires that you use Adobe Captivate 6 or above. It is fully compatible with Adobe Captivate 2017.
Limitations:
The widget will not work with content published to HTML5 from Adobe Captivate.
Live demonstration:
You can try a demonstration of the Intelligent Print Widget for Adobe Captivate here.
Other information:
Printing from Adobe Captivate can be tricky business – especially if you are delivering content locally (by CD‐ROM, USB etc.). Most computers will allow you to print content played locally but some may have higher security settings that disallow printing from Flash content played locally on your machine. Content printed from an internet based location (website, server, LMS etc.) will typically not cause any problems.
I highly recommend that you download the fully functional demo version of the widget found below to ensure that the widget works as you expect before purchasing the widget.
Demo Version Intelligent Print Widget (1018 downloads)Buy the widget:
The widget is $20 which gives you the right to use it for one Adobe Captivate Developer in your company. If you have multiple developers who will be using the Widget then simply update the number of widgets in the Cart to match the number of developers you have.
01 x Single Developer License – $20
03 x Single Developer License – $54
05 x Single Developer License – $80
10 x Single Developer License – $140
25 x Single Developer License – $300
Frequently asked questions:
Question: When I insert the component in Adobe Captivate all I see is a blank box. Is that normal?
Answer: Yes that is perfectly normal if you opted to use your own Print Button in the widget settings.
Question: Can I use this component in a course delivered through an LMS?
Answer: Yes
Question: I cannot see the Widget Parameters tab when I have inserted the widget in Captivate.
Answer: Chances are that you imported it as an “Animation” by mistake. Try and import the widget again as a widget.
Question: What if I buy it and it doesn’t work. Can I get a refund?
Answer: No if you purchase the product you can’t get a refund since it’s a digital delivery. The widget has been tested extensively on all types of systems, browsers etc. without any issues. If you are unsure if the widget will work for you or not then download the demo widget first to try it out.
Question: I would like to have some modifications done to the widget – is that possible?
Answer: Sure thing – just send me an email through the contact section here on my site.
55 Comments
For some reasons, the paypal link for checkout DOES NOT work!
Can this be used to print if we have the user fill in text on the slide?
I need to be able to print from Captivate 6. I’ve tried the demo and it works in 5.5 but not in 6.
Has the full version been set up for 6 yet?
Thanks.
Hi Chris,
No the widget is not yet compatible with Captivate 6. A lot of internal stuff was changed in CP6 and as this widget goes well beyond the regular Captivate Widget API framework, I need to change a lot of code.
It will be updated to work with CP6 as soon as possible.
/Michael
I’ve purchased the last two versions of this widget and love it. However, I’ve converted everything to Captivate 6. Please let me know as soon as an update is available to support CP6!
Thanks,
Phil
Hi Phil,
The update is causing me some grey hairs because of the way that the widget calculates the height and width of the project. In Captivate 6 it seems like there has been added some extra “padding” around the slides, which confuses the widget.
Once the widget is updated you will receive an email with a download link to the updated version.
/Michael
Hi will this when project is publishedb as HTML 5
M
Currently this will not work in Adobe Captivate 6. I am working on an update of the widget. However, it will only work with projects published to SWF. I don’t plan on making an HTML5 version of the widget.
/Michael
Is there any update on this widget working with Captivate 6. I have a lot of courses depending on this. Thanks!
Doug
oops. Never mind. Once I previewed with F12, all worked fine.
Thanks!
Hi Michael,
Is it possible to make the widget transparent so the user can print out the certificate by clicking anywhere on the certificate?
Thanks,
Ping
Hi Ping,
Unfortunately not in its current form.
/Michael
Never mind. I set alpha to 0 and it worked. Thanks!
Hi, I can’t make the demo widget work on captivate 6, is that normal?
Hi Didier,
If you are using Captivate 6.1 (subscription version) then the Demo Widget will not work as I haven’t updated that yet. The full version of the Print widget is updated to work with Captivate 6.1 though.
/Michael
Hi Michael,
I have downloaded the Full Print Widget and I am using
Captivate 6.1.0.319
I have inserted the widget and ticked the following properties:
*Hide print button from printout
*Im using a Static/Separate TOC (250)
*Hide Static TOC etc
I have published the project AND previewed using F12.
Neither method allows me to print or to save as PDF
Thoughts?
Keith
Hi Keith,
Sounds to me like you inserted the Print Widget for
Captivate 5 and 5.5 in your project instead of the Print Widget for Captivate 6.
Make sure it is the widget for Captivate 6 and above you have inserted.
/Michael
I need to print a certificate slide – but needs to be compatible with HTML5 output. I really fail to understand why this should be so difficult. There must be many developers with this requirement as the Captivate Certificate wizard is so rubbish. Am I missing something obvious?
I just want to create a slide – add a username from a variable and have a button that says Print!!
Help
Jo
Hi Jo,
Maybe I’m not understanding this correctly but if you are deploying to HTML5 then the user could simply print the HTML page directly from their browser.
This is one of the reasons why I’m not planning on updating my Print Widget to HTML5.
Anyone viewing an HTML5 project from their computer can print directly from the browser. People viewing the project from an iPad wouldn’t be able to print regardless of if the widget was HTML5 compatible or not.
/Michael
Hi Michael
Many thanks for the reply.
I don’t want to rely on the user having the savvy to print from the browser and fiddle with the settings (sad but true). I really, really just want a button. Have kind of got something which is acceptable by messing with the flash source files for the widget that comes with captivate, but really want more control than this. i.e. design my own certificate from scratch and print landscape and control the page size.
Best
Jo
p.s. Don’t understand why you say users wouldn’t be able to print from a tablet?
Hi Jo,
I never ever use the “Certificate Widget / Interaction” in Captivate because it.. well.. sucks.
What I do instead is to construct my own certificate on a regular slide using my own graphics. The users name, score, date, course name etc. can be pulled from variables and then you have your own custom built certificate.
I of course use my own Print Widget as that prints the slide in landscape mode.
As for printing from tablets – Now I’m curious – how would you go about doing that? I certainly can’t print from my iPad or Samsung Galaxy tablets. I know that there are some HP printers that have an “ePrint” function that also should work with tablets, but if you don’t have such a printer how would you print from a tablet?
/Michael
I don’t think there is an easy way unfortunately, but you might want to look into HTML5Shiv (https://github.com/afarkas/html5shiv) which adds functionality to printing HTML5 pages. I don’t know if this will mess up Captivate HTML5 projects though.
Hi. I’ve just purchased this widget and can find no field to enter the ‘Print button name’ or ‘Continue button name’ as in the screen shot above. The version i have is 2.5. Am I missing something?
Hi Xanthe,
The _print or _cont should be entered in Captivate. When you have the button selected it will be in the top of the Captivate Property Inspector panel.
So I’m using a smart shape for the print button, next to
‘Name’ in the Property Inspector panel I wrote ‘SmShPrintButton_print’ but this did nothing when I clicked it in preview. There doesn’t seem to be anything connecting the smart shape to the widget. I still feel like I’m missing something, sorry.
That is all you need to do. However as stated in the help documentation it will not work in preview mode. You need to either “Preview in webbrowser F12” or publish the project to see it working.
Thanks Michael, working now 🙂
Hi. I’m using my own print button. When I press print, the print button disappears. The slide prints, but the button disappears. Is there a way to stop this?
Sure thing – just deselect “Hide Print button” in the widget properties. However this means that the Print button will also be visible on the print itself.
Thanks Michael, all working now. Thanks for your help.
Actually, one more question. When I preview with F12 and when I publish (SCORM1.2) I can print (say) Screen 4 no problem, but then when I try to print other screens, it will only print Screen 4. Wondering if you’ve seen this behaviour before, and if you have any suggestions for fixing?
Hi Xanthe, I just got the same problem .. did you get a fix to this
Hi Darron I did. I had the ‘Use own continue button’ selected but I hadn’t provided a continue button cos I had a play pause button. This made the widget unable to continue past the first slide printed. I unchecked this and unchecked ‘Pause when printing’ and all works well now.
super I will give it a go … thanks Xanthe
Hi Michael,
I am getting the following error after downloading and unzipping the trial version:
“Adobe Captivate could not open ‘intelligentPrintWidgetVersion3_0Trial.wdgt”
Looking throught the contents of the .zip file, I do not see intelligentPrintWidgetVersion3_0Trial.wdgt included in the .zip archive. Any ideas?
Hi Andrew,
I just tried the download and it works fine here. Perhaps the download got corrupted for some reason when you downloaded it. Could you try and re-download it and see if it helps? Otherwise get in touch with me through the contact section and I’ll send it to you directly.
/Michael
Michael – awesome updates to the widget. I am using it to print out a custom certificate and it’s perfect. The integration with a Continue button and the PDF option will make this really smooth for the end user, not to mention for me as the developer. Thank you!
You’re welcome Andrew. Happy to hear that you like the latest version.
Thinking about the intelligent print widget for captivate. I use captivate 8.0.1. Output is HTML5. Trial widget does not have “pdf” option, and trial widget did not print out the slide from my project. Would still be interested, but I am not sure what to do to make sure it works prior to purchase. Thanks. –Bryan–
Hi Bryan,
The Print Widget is not compatible with HTML5 yet so that is why. I am working on a prototype that will work with HTML5 but it will be rather basic as there are a lot of limitations in HTML5. It will not be possible to generate a PDF in HTML5 without having to rely on some server-side scripting so this will definitely not be an option at all. Once the HTML5 print widget is released it will offer the full set of features for SWF based output, but only very basic printing in HTML5.
/Michael
Hi there,
Will this work on Captivate 8?
Is there a new version set to be coming out soon if not?
Many thanks,
Rich
Hi Rich,
Yes it does Work with Captivate 8 – it is still not HTML5 compatible though, but it works perfectly fine with SWF based output from Captivate 8.
/Michael
Thanks, purchasing now!!
I am not sure if this was asked somewhere before but does this work on a Mac version?
Hi Matt,
Yes it does work on a Mac version of Adobe Captivate.
/Michael
HI Michael,
I want to print two pages in my project, a likert scale and a certificate.
It wont allow me to use a second suffix_print on the project?
Is there a way round this?
Any help would be great, Rich
Hi Rich,
Sorry for the late reply – I have been away on vacation.
Hmm.. Not really other than inserted a separate instance of the widget and then NOT using a custom button on one of the pages. This would allow you to have one widget using a custom button with the _print suffix and one widget without it, using the widgets default button.
/Michael
Hi!
Have you heard of an issue using this widget with Chrome? I use this widget with to print a certificate at the end of a course. When printed through Internet Explorer it works fine. When printed through Chrome the image displays as a gray rectangle. Any ideas on trouble shooting this or why it might be happening?
Amber,
I just got home from a vacation a couple of days ago and received an email from another guy reporting this. I tested it and it does NOT print in the latest version of Chrome for some reason. I am currently trying to figure out why but so far no luck. The only thing I can find is a recommendation from Adobe to use another browser (https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/cant-print-flash-content-google.html)
A workaround is to set the Print Widget to generate a PDF instead as this can still be printed by Chrome.
/Michael
I think I’m being a bit thick. I want to print a certificate page but the user needs to be able to continue to the next slide afterwards, so I have a ‘continue’ button, which I don’t want to print on the certificate. Whatever I try, that bloody button is still on the printout.
Hi Neil,
If you set up the continue button as described in the documentation, it should not show up on the print. The button needs to be visible from 0.0 on the timeline and also make sure you give it the proper name so the widget can “find” it and hide it.
Let me know if you still can’t get it to work.
/Michael
I would be interested in purchasing the widget if it would allow printing / saving to PDF of
-all slides in one file (client’s request)
or
-visited slides only (even better).
Do you have a version that does that? Is that even possible?
Thank you so much, this could save my neck…
Octavian
Hi Octavian,
Unfortunately, that is not possible. For Flash output, it is only possible to access the slide that is currently being displayed and for HTML5 output, each slide is generated on the fly when the user views it.
/Michael
Is there an unlimited site license option?
Hi Antonio
Not really but do you have unlimited developers? The license is per Captivate Developer using it – not for end users.
Sincerely,
Michael