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Create a table of contents (TOC) with Adobe Captivate Classic

Last updated on Oct. 27, 2023 | Also applies to Captivate

Table of contents (TOC) in Adobe Captivate Classic

You can generate a table of contents (TOC) automatically for your Adobe Captivate Classic project. The hierarchy of slides in the project is preserved in the TOC. Grouped slides are displayed as subentries under the group name. The name of the slides and the group are automatically added as in the project.

You can specify the position of the TOC with respect to the main slide during editing. At run time, clicking the various headings in the TOC displays the corresponding slides in the main panel.

You can configure the appearance of the TOC using the various available options. You can then save the TOC as a theme along with the other skin items like playback controls and borders.

The TOC entry corresponding to the slide displayed is highlighted in the TOC panel as the movie runs through the slides.

A check mark in the Status panel indicates the slides that the user has completed viewing. You can choose to configure the project for self-paced learners so that they can start viewing slides from where they left off earlier.

Adding and Customizing Table of Contents in Adobe Captivate Classic

Learn how to add a Table of Contents to your Adobe Captivate Classic 6 course and modify the properties and look-and-feel of TOC to suit your project requirements and specifications.

Dr. Pooja Jaisingh

Create a table of contents (TOC)

In an already open project, select Project > Table Of Contents.

Table of Contents dialog
To display the Table of Contents (TOC) in your project, choose the option, Show TOC.

The slide groups and slides are displayed in the same order as they appear in your project, along with their titles.
When you preview the project, you can see the TOC appear in the project. Click the links in the TOC to jump to any slide.

TOC in preview

Modifying the settings of a table of contents (TOC)

You can customize the following for the TOC:

Appearance of the TOC.
Position of the table of contents with relation to the main panel playing the movie. You can also choose to overlay the TOC on the main panel playing the movie or display the TOC as a separate panel during run time.
Display the project information such as the details of the company or the person creating the project in the TOC panel.
Display the status of the slides for users during run time. When the Status option is turned on, a check mark appears next to slides that the users have completed viewing.
Allow users to start viewing the project from the slide at which they left off previously when they run the project again.

To modify the settings of a TOC:

Click Settings in the TOC editor.

Settings button

On the TOC Settings dialog, the settings are labeled as follows:

Label	Description
1	If you choose Overlay, the TOC does not automatically appear onscreen for learners. Instead, click an icon in the corner of the screen to open the TOC. Choose Separate to display the TOC panel separately from the main movie panel.
2	Choose Right or Left to display the TOC either to the right or to the left of the main movie panel.
3	Stretch TOC: If you have a TOC and a playbar , choose this option if you want the table of contents to extend down as far as the playbar , rather than just extending to the bottom of the slide.
4	Runtime Options Collapse All: Enable/disable this option to auto expand or collapse the TOC items. Show Search: Choose this option if you want to display the search bar on the TOC. Self-Paced Learning: Choose this option to enable bookmarking in your project. You can test the bookmarking by publishing the project and then opening the HTML file with any web browser. Move through a few slides in the lesson and then close the browser window. Reopen the HTML file and instead of the lesson simply starting over from the beginning, you can see the message "Continue from where you stopped last time?". Search Quiz: Displays a search bar at the bottom of the TOC that allows you to enter a word or phrase. You can specify if the search can include quiz question slides by enabling/disabling this option. Show Topic Duration: Enable the option to display the duration of each slide on the TOC. Status Flag: Displays a tick mark in the status column for each slide you have already viewed. Clear Button: Enable this option to display a button at the bottom of the TOC that allows you to remove the tick marks in the status column. Enable Navigation: Enable this option to move to different points in the TOC. Navigate Visited Slides Only: Enable the option to allow navigation only to already visited slides. Show Movie Duration: Displays the length of the movie.
5	Expand Icon: Choose an image for TOC expand mode. Collapse Icon: Choose an image for TOC collapse mode. For more information, read the *community blog*.
6	Width: Change the width of the TOC. The width is in pixels.
7	Theme: Customize your table of contents (TOC) by choosing a background color, assigning fonts to multi-level text, changing the look and feel of titles and TOC outline, and much more.
8	Auto Preview: Preview the changes in the TOC as and when you make any.

To save the changes, click OK. The changes are reflected in the TOC once you preview or publish the project.

Organize a table of contents (TOC)

Grouped slides are classified according to their hierarchy in the project. The slides of a group appear under the group name in the TOC in the same order.

You can change the hierarchy and classification of the slides in the TOC. The reorganization affects only the TOC and not the order of the slides in the project. You can also choose to hide certain slide entries in the TOC. These entries are not displayed in the TOC when the project is played.

Depending on your preferences, you can reorganize the TOC using one or more of the following procedures:

To move a slide to the next sublevel in the hierarchy, click Move TOC Entry Right.
To move a slide to a previous level in the hierarchy, click Move TOC Entry Left.
To move the slide entries up and down, click Move TOC Entry Up or Move TOC Entry Down.

Note:

You can also move the TOC entries by dragging them to another location.

To create a group within the TOC, click Create Folder Rename the topic in the TOC, and organize slides under it. You can create up to five sublevels in the TOC menu.

Note:

Grouping slides in the TOC does not group them in the project.

To remove a TOC entry, select the entry in the TOC, and click Delete TOC Entry ().

Note:

Hiding a TOC entry does not delete the slide from the project.

To hide the TOC entry for a slide when the project is played, deselect the option for that slide under the eye icon. The slide is not removed from the project.

To discard your changes to the TOC, and display the default entries, click Reset TOC.

When you reorganize a project after creating the TOC, the changes are not automatically reflected. Reset the TOC to view the changes. Any new slide added after creating the TOC is displayed as a hidden entry after you reset the TOC. Enable the TOC entry by selecting the check box under the eye icon.

Note:

If you do not want to preview changes to the skin when you change an option, click Settings, and in the TOC Settings dialog box, deselect the Auto Preview option.

Locking or unlocking a TOC

You can temporarily lock the TOC so it is not clickable during crucial slides and then re-enable the navigation later.

In the Property Inspector, on a slide enter or exit, to lock a TOC, assign the variable cpLockTOC to 1.

To re-enable the TOC navigability (unlock the TOC) set the cpLockTOC variable to 0. To unlock the TOC on slide exit, show the slide properties and set the On Exit fields as shown below:

Alternatively, you can directly assign the actions Lock TOC and Unlock TOC on slide enter and exit, as shown below:

Display project information inthe TOC panel

Select Project > Table of Contents.
Click Info. The TOC Information dialog box appears.

TOC Information dialog
Enter the details of the author or company in the respective fields.
Click Project Information to use the information that you set in the Project Information menu of the Preferences dialog box. The information from the Preferences dialog box is added to the corresponding fields.
Click Clear Information to clear information that you have entered in the different fields.
Select Auto Preview to have the preview panel reflect a change as soon as you complete that change in a dialog box.
In the Photo section, click the browse icon to select an image to display on the panel. This image can be the logo of your organization, or a snapshot of a prominent slide in the project.
To change the character format for the project information fields: Click Font Settings to specify the font style for the project information.
1. Select the field from the Font Settings list.
2. Select a font family in the Font list and click on a style: regular, italics, or underlined.
3. Specify the size and the color for the characters.

Display the duration and statusof the slides during run time

Select Project > Table Of Contents.
Click Settings. The TOC Settings dialog box appears.
In Runtime Options, select Show Duration to display the duration of the slides when the movie plays.
Select Status Flag to flag slides that have been viewed with a check mark.

When the Status option is selected, a check mark appears next to slides that the users have completed viewing.
Select Clear Button to display the Clear Button to the user during run time. Clicking the Clear button removes all the status flags from the movie.

Enable search in the TOC

Adobe Captivate Classic searches for content both within the slides and their labels. Question slides are searched only if you enable the option in the settings panel.

Select Project > Table Of Contents.
Click Settings. The TOC Settings dialog box appears.
Select Show Search to provide users with a search field in the TOC.
Select Search Quiz to allow users to search content in question slides.

Enable or disable navigation

When you disable navigation, users can’t navigate on their own using the TOC.

Select Project > Table Of Contents.
Click Settings in the TOC panel.
Use the Enable Navigation toggle.

Enable or disable preview

The Preview panel shows how the TOC looks every time you make edits in the TOC Settings or the TOC Information dialog boxes. Previewing helps you explore various options before you arrive at one that best suits your requirements. If you have already decided on the settings for the TOC, you can disable this option in the corresponding dialog box.

Select Project > Table Of Contents.
Click Settings. The TOC Settings dialog box appears.
Deselect Auto Preview.

Allow users to resume sessions

In a self-paced learning scenario, you can set an option to allow users to resume viewing a project from where they left off earlier. The status flag is not reset after the project is closed. When the user plays the movie again, the project resumes playing from the first slide that is not flagged.

Select Project > Table Of Contents.
Click Settings in the TOC panel.
Select Self-Paced Learning.

Save the TOC settings as a part of the theme

Changes to the TOC settings, along with other skin settings such as playback controls and borders can be saved as a theme. The save themes then can be reused in other projects.

After you change the TOC panel and other options in the Skin dialog box, click the save icon.
Enter a unique name for the theme and click OK.

Download sample projects

To learn more about Captivate Classic and how you can create engaging learning content, download the following projects:

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Create a table of contents (TOC) with Adobe Captivate Classic

Adding and Customizing Table of Contents in Adobe Captivate Classic

Create a table of contents (TOC)

Modifying the settings of a table of contents (TOC)

Organize a table of contents (TOC)

Locking or unlocking a TOC

Display project information inthe TOC panel

Display the duration and statusof the slides during run time

Enable search in the TOC

Enable or disable navigation

Enable or disable preview

Allow users to resume sessions

Save the TOC settings as a part of the theme

Download sample projects

More like this

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