Adobe Captivate (12.6 update) Release Notes

What's new and changed in this update

Release date: April 2025

The Adobe Captivate 12.6 update delivers key bug fixes, accessibility improvements, and feature enhancements. Fixes address SVG rendering, animation delays, SCORM title consistency, hyperlink editing, Google Fonts formatting, drag-and-drop scaling, and Intel GPU compatibility. Accessibility updates improve screen reader navigation, Table of Contents clarity, interactive element roles, and keyboard focus behavior. Other improvements include multilingual quiz question support, slide number export, and enhanced software simulation interactions for a more stable and accessible experience.

Visit the Captivate downloads page and try out the new update.

Topics in this page:

Bug fixes in this update

Adobe Captivate (12.6 update) fixed the following bugs:

• SVG display issues: SVG images now render correctly in the carousel, tabs, and hotspot widgets, with dimensions automatically adjusted at runtime to prevent blank or misaligned displays.
• Project export: When exporting project content, only selected components from the Visual properties panel are included, preventing unchecked or hidden components from being unintentionally exported.
• Animation timing: Resolved animation delays when transitioning to the next slide before the first slide's animation is complete.
• SCORM configuration: The SCO title in the imsmanifest.xml file now correctly reflects the course title set in SCORM configuration, ensuring consistency across LMS platforms.
• Hyperlink editing: Users can now modify hyperlinks by clicking anywhere within the text, eliminating the need to reselect the entire hyperlink. Hyperlinks also apply immediately without requiring an additional click outside the text box.
• Google fonts formatting: Italic formatting now applies correctly when using Google Fonts in text content blocks.
• Drag and drop scaling: Image and text objects in drag-and-drop interactions now scale correctly, resolving alignment issues when minimal text is present.
• Video bookmarks: Jumping to a bookmark within the first second of a slide video no longer causes a crash.
• HTML5 output in iFrames: Published HTML5 content now loads correctly within iFrames, resolving cross-origin restriction errors.
• Variable persistence: Interactions using user-defined variables retain their associated actions when copied between projects. The corresponding variable is created automatically.
• Toolbar standardization: Titles and headings in the left toolbar now follow a consistent sentence-case structure.
• Timeline widget customization: The timeline bar color can now be modified in projects created in versions 12.3 and earlier. 
• Audio Assets panel: Audio previews now function as expected in the Assets panel, with a loading spinner displayed during audio loading. Previously loaded audio files are now cached for quick access.
• Video Assets panel: Videos without audio in the Assets panel no longer display an audio icon, ensuring accurate representation.
• Closed captions timeline: The timeline icon is now disabled while previewing captions.
• Button styling: Copying the appearance of one button to another no longer transfers the button's icon—only the appearance properties are applied.
• Button interaction stability: Button interactions no longer persist in the Properties Inspector when the number of button components is changed within a content block, preventing crashes when modifying interactions.
• Single image design option stability: The "Introduction Slide – Single Image Option 1" layout now maintains its positioning when adding text. Previously, adding multiple lines of text caused the image to shift upwards. This issue, introduced in version 12.4, has been resolved to ensure consistent layout behavior.
• Bullet point and formatting retention: Indentation, bullet styles, text formatting, and additional line breaks in text content blocks are now preserved after import. Previously, child bullet points lost indentation, mixed bullet styles were removed, text formatting was stripped, and extra line breaks were discarded. These issues have been resolved to ensure consistent text appearance post-import.
• Intel GPU compatibility: Importing videos no longer causes crashes on systems with Intel Arc GPUs or Intel® integrated graphics.

Accessibility improvements

• Multi-column content blocks: Replaced role="grid" with role="table" for multi-column content blocks. This ensures the table structure follows semantic HTML for better screen reader compatibility. Additionally, improved navigation experience for assistive technologies.
• Hotspot callout: Removed the auto-read feature that caused screen readers to announce callout text immediately. Ensured users manually navigate to the hotspot before the content is read and used ARIA attributes (aria-labelledby or aria-describedby) for controlled announcements.
• Question slides heading structure: Added semantic heading structure (h1, h2) to question slides. Ensured the main heading (h1) represents the question on the slide and used h2 for options, improving screen reader navigation.
• Table of Contents naming: Updated all instances of "TOC" to "Table of Contents" for clarity. Ensured screen readers announced the full term to avoid confusion and check for proper localization support.
• TOC role and slide duration: Added role="navigation" to the Table of Contents for better assistive technology support. Ensured slide durations were programmatically associated with their slide titles using aria-describedby and used proper heading tags for better page structure.
• Project start screen landmark: Added role="main" landmark to the Project Start Screen. Ensured consistency with other slides by defining a main content area and improving keyboard and screen reader navigation flow.
• Accessibility improvement – hidden links: Links within the Card widget are no longer focusable via keyboard navigation when the card is flipped and hidden. Previously, hidden links remained in the tab index, causing unintended focus behavior. This update ensures compliance with accessibility standards by preventing hidden elements from being navigable.
• Drag and Drop reset: Resetting a Drag and Drop interaction now properly resets accessibility components, ensuring drop locations are cleared. Previously, after hitting reset, drop locations remained open and focusable, causing inconsistent behavior for keyboard and screen reader users. This update ensures a fully reset state for improved accessibility compliance.
• Role assignment for interactive elements: Screen readers now correctly identify interactive images with the appropriate role attributes. Previously, images with a "Go to URL" interaction were announced as "Clickable Image" instead of being recognized as links. This update ensures that interactive elements receive the correct role attributes—role="link" for navigation, role="button" for click actions, aria-pressed="true/false" for toggle actions, and aria-expanded="true/false" for expandable components—enhancing accessibility and user clarity.
• Improved dropdown behavior in matching questions: Dropdown (combo box) questions now correctly display only the active descendant when expanded. Previously, option IDs were present in the backend even when the dropdown collapsed, causing form control issues and unlabeled list box elements. This update ensures proper labeling and improves screen reader navigation for a more accessible experience.
• Web object accessibility: Web objects are now included in the reading order, ensuring they are accessible to screen readers. 
  • Improved navigation: Users can navigate within iframes using a sequential tab order for a smoother experience.
  • Keyboard-only support: A new "Skip Web Object" button allows keyboard users to bypass the web object before entering the iframe, preventing navigation interruptions.
  • Accessibility text: Web object content blocks now include accessibility text to enhance clarity for assistive technology users.

Other enhancements

• Quiz question formatting: True or False question types now support multilingual options when importing CSV files. If translated options are available, they are prioritized; otherwise, Captivate defaults to "True" and "False."
• Slide number export: Slide numbers are now included in the project content when exporting.
• Simulation enhancements: Double-click interactions for mouse pointers in software simulations are now supported. Audio recording also captures double-click sounds.

System requirements

Check the System Requirements for Adobe Captivate 12.6.

Update to the latest version

After clicking Help > Check for Updates, the error message, Error 184, may display.

Follow the steps below to resolve the issue:

1. In version 12.0, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4, or 12.5 select Help > Check for Updates.
2. Once the update is visible, close the Adobe Captivate app.
3. Select Update now.