Publishing as Handout - Too small

Question

Captivate V5.5
I want to publish two slides on one page as Handouts.
I have selected;
"Use table in the output"
"2 slides per page"
"Include Objects and Questions"
When I open the Handout in word, the 2 slides on the one page are very small, almost the size of a thumbnail image.
Why is this and does anyone know how to increase the size of the two slides so that between them they fill the single page and can be used as a handout ?
Noel

Answer 1

The handout template is hard coded. But, working with the other templates and the Word Output document, I was able to create a template that will allow you to publish the Word images and slide notes in Word. And, you can customize the placement on the page and image sizes.
Here are instructions (I'm using Captivate 6 BTW):
1. Make all of your slide notes into closed captioning.
I was able to find the computer code to call the closed captions, but not the slide notes. So you have to drop some audio onto each slide (I'm using 1 second of silence generated in Audacity) and click the button that will turn your slide notes into closed captions. Don't worry...these won't display in your published project unless you have your skin set to display them.
2. Open a new Word document.
3. Copy and paste the script below into your Word document. This script as is will print 2 slides per page with slide notes above the images.
[CPDefaultItemTemplates[CPTemplates[TIMEBLOCK[CPContentInsert]TIMEBLOCK]CPTemplates]CPDefa ultItemTemplates]
[CPCapturedSlide
[CPBlockInsert][CPTemplates[CC1[CPCC]CC1]
[CCN[CPCC]CCN]CPTemplates]
[CPSlideImage][size:282x214]
CPCapturedSlide]
[CPContentSlide
[CPBlockInsert][CPTemplates[CC1[CPCC]CC1]
[CCN[CPCC]CCN]CPTemplates]
[CPSlideImage][size:282x214]
CPContentSlide]
4. Adjust the script to your liking:
1. Change the image size. This is set to 282 x 214. But you can change the image size to whatever you want it to be. If you make the size larger, fewer will fit on a page.
2. Move the slide notes, if you want. This is set to put the slide notes above the images. To put the notes below the images, move the [CPBlockInsert][CPTemplates[CC1[CPCC]CC1]
[CCN[CPCC]CCN]CPTemplates] to below [CPSlideImage][size:282x214]. Be sure to move both instances, and don't copy/paste...move!
3. Use Word's formatting options to change the page display. For example, if you use Word to center the code about slide images, the slides will be centered on the page when you publish. You can add your company's logo in the header. Type CPMovieTitle into one place to print the project title...either header or footer. It won't work if you put it in more than one place for reasons known only to Captivate. You can put page numbers or dates in the footer. You can change the font for the slide notes by highlighting the notes code (see #3 above) and making it larger, smaller, different, bold, italic, etc., etc., etc. Whatever you would do with Word to format your handouts, do in this document.
4. Add anything that you want to print on every page outside the [ ] blocks. For instance, if you want to blank lines to print under the notes, you can add before the code for the images.
5. Save the Word document in .doc format with a memorable name where you can find it. You don't have to save with the templates in the Captivate program file.
6. Publish to Print. In the upper, right corner, in the Type section, click the button with ... It's to the right of Handout. That will open a window which will allow you to browse to find and select your Word document. The Layout Options won't do anything, so no need to mess with them. Set the rest of your settings...like project title and publish location and publish.
Things that I don't know, but would like to:
1. Will this work in Captivate 7? Will someone try and let us know?
2. Can you save the Word file in .docx format?
3. Can you set the Word doc to landscape instead of portrait? (I'll bet that you can, but haven't tried it.)
4. What Word options won't work? I know that you can't put this code inside a Word table. Using column and page breaks, I got mine to print with the slide notes on the left and images on the right. Other than that, who knows? Word is a big program, so you'll just have to test.
5. What is the code to call the slide notes? I've called Adobe support twice and can't get a straight answer. If we all start calling and emailing, maybe they'll tell us.
So, I hope this helps. There are so many threads about this and I can't repost everywhere. So, please link to this thread if you see another one where this info will help.
Happy printing!
Rebecca