User Guide Cancel

States in Adobe Captivate

Last updated on 3 July 2025

Captivate User Guide
Get to know Captivate
1. What's new in Adobe Captivate
2. Adobe Captivate System Requirements
3. Download Adobe Captivate
4. Frequently Asked Questions
Adobe Captivate releases
1. Adobe Captivate 13
  1. Adobe Captivate (13.0) release notes
2. Adobe Captivate 12
Project setup
1. Slide navigator
2. Project dimensions
3. Set preferences
4. Themes
5. Configure URL access for Adobe Captivate features
Import from PowerPoint
1. Import PowerPoint presentations into Captivate
2. Work with text on imported slides
3. Work with shapes on imported slides
4. Add media to imported slides
5. Add interactions and animations to imported slides
Generative AI in Captivate
1. Generative AI overview
2. Generate text
3. Generate images
4. Generate avatar
5. Generate transcripts
Add and edit text
1. Add text to a project
2. Add Adobe fonts to a project
3. Add quotes
Add and edit images
1. Add images to a project
2. Edit the background image on a slide
3. Add SVGs to a project
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
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
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
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
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
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
Simulation projects
1. Simulation overview and setup
2. Demo mode
3. Training mode
4. Assessment mode
5. Full-motion recording
Timeline and TOC
1. Timeline panel in Adobe Captivate
2. Table of Contents in Adobe Captivate
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
Preview and publish
1. Preview your project
2. Publish your project
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
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
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

Adobe Captivate has various built-in states that you can customize as per requirements. You can choose the different types of states from the States flyout.

Overview

Using states, you can change the behavior of an object based on a learner’s action. For example, you can alter the appearance of a button when a learner hovers over it or add an effect when the learner clicks the button. You can even change expressions of characters using states.

With states, you can develop interactive content easily without having multiple objects on the slide.

Open the States Flyout

Add a text or an image component on a slide. Then select the image or text inside the component.

On the Visual Properties nanel, click Add. The States Flyout launches.

Note

After you click Add, the button label changes to Hide. If you click the dropdown near Hide, the option Delete all appear. Clicking it deletes all states.

A picture containing screenshot, computer, software, multimedia softwareDescription automatically generated

The base state is known as the Default State. You can add objects inherited from the Default State, but not delete the default state.

Add States

To add a state to an object, follow the steps below:

Select the object that you want to modify. In the Visual Properties panel, in States, select View. The States Flyout launches.
On the States Flyout, select Add New to create a new state. The new state is a clone of the default state.

After you rename the state, you can replace the image and apply filters and other effects. For more information, see Add images to a project.
To change an image, select the image that you want to change on the States Flyout, and on the Visual Properties panel, select the Image folder in the Image source section. Then from a location on your computer or Assets, select any image. The newly added image represents the new state.
Name the new state. Double-click each state label and change the names.

Edit the appearance of a state

Let’s add a state and change the appearance of the state. Add an image as a state and then replace the image via the state editor.

You can change the appearance of any state. You can change the appearance of a state for both text and image objects. Depending on the type of object, you can apply various properties. For example, if the object is an image, you can apply an image filter, adjust its blur, brightness, or contrast, or apply border and shadow,

You can change the object's preset, font, size, or color if the object is text.

On the States Flyout, select Add New.
On the state editor, changing the image filter keeps the focus on the new state.
After you’ve finished editing the state, exit the States Flyout.

Delete a state

Here’s how you’d delete a state using one of the two methods:

Method 1

Open the States Flyout. Select the state that you want to delete.
Hit the Delete key.

Method 2

Open the States Flyout. Right-click the state that you want to delete.
Select Delete.

Duplicate a state

Here’s how you’d duplicate a state using one of the two methods discussed below:

Method 1

Open the States Flyout. Choose the object that you want to duplicate.
Hit the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+D.

Method 2

Open the States Flyout. Choose the object that you want to duplicate.
Right-click the object and select Duplicate.

The new state clones the previous state.

Reset a state

After adding a state, if for some reason, you do not like the appearance of the state, and you want to start afresh, you can reset the state to the default state.

Choose the state that you want to reset.
Right-click and select Reset to default. This resets the changes in the state to the appearance of the Default State.

In-built states

For any Text, Image, or SVG object, Captivate provides you in-built states, which you can then modify and change their properties.

Add an image grid content block on a slide. Select Add media blocks > Image grid.
Select any image, and in the Visual Properties panel, select Show.
The States Flyout contains the in-built states:
- Hover
- Visited
- Selected
- Disabled
All the states are disabled by default. To enable one, right-click on a state and select Enable.

Linking and unlinking of states

Sometimes, you don't want changes made to the default state to propagate to the child states. In such cases, you can unlink the default state from the child states.

For example, you might want to add blur or brightness to the state of an image and wouldn't want the changes to flow to the child states. So, you’ll unlink the child states from the default state.

Add an Image Grid and select the any image.
In the Visual Properties panel, select Add to launch the States flyout.
Change the properties of the default state. Add color, blur, or brightness to it.
Add some states. The properties of the default state propagate to the new states because the child states are linked to their parent state, the default.
Select the chain icon in the States flyout to unlink the child states from their parent. Now, change the properties of the default state.
Add a state. The new state will not inherit the properties of the default state.