One of the great new features in Adobe Captivate is the ability to apply and create themes. You might be asking yourself, “What is the difference between a theme and a template file?”. Inthis post, we will explain how these two features differ, read on to find out more.

What is a Template?
A Captivate Template file has the .CPTL extension. A template can contain much more than a theme file. For example, in the template files that we provide in our store, we essentially create the framework of a course by laying out the structure of the course. In addition, a template file can contain styled master slides, a question pool, a library that contains audio, video clips, flash animations, backgrounds and more. In addition, a Template file will allow you to quickly apply new button styles, captions styles and Player Bar styles. You can even add Advanced Actions to a template file.

What is a Theme File?
A Theme file is new to Captivate 6 and has the file extension .CPTM. It is a convenient way to quickly load items such as master slides, player bar styles, captions styles, button styles and a few other items to your project.

So Which One is Better?
Both templates and themes are great to have, but in our opinion, templates files are more useful because you can essentially build out the initial structure of a course and use this as the base of your new projects, where a theme file basically provides you only with Master Slides, Player Bar styles, etc. If you purchase our templates, you are in luck, because where applicable, we include both a Template file AND a Theme file for your convenience! Regardless of which you choose to use, they will both help get you off to a good start with your next project.