Flash 8 Tutorial

Getting to know the workspace
The following sections provide a detailed introduction to the tools, panels,
and other elements of the Flash workspace.
Using the Start page
Whenever Flash is running with no documents open, the Start page
appears. The Start page provides easy access to frequently used actions.
The Start page contains the following four areas:
Open a Recent Item lets you open your most recent documents.You can
also display the Open File dialog box by clicking the Open icon.
Create New lists Flash file types, such as Flash documents and
ActionScript files. You can quickly create a new file by clicking the desired
file type in the list.
Create from Template lists the templates most commonly used to create
new Flash documents. You can create a new file by clicking the desired
template in the list.
Extend links to the Macromedia Flash Exchange website, where you can
download helper applications for Flash, Flash extensions, and related
information.
The Start page also offers quick access to Help resources. You can take a
tour of Flash, learn about Flash documentation resources, and find
Macromedia Authorized Training facilities.
To hide the Start page:
■ On the Start page, select Don’t Show Again.
52 Flash Basics
To display the Start page again, do one of the following:
■ (Windows) Select Edit > Preferences and select Show Start Page in the
General category.
■ (Macintosh) Select Flash > Preferences and select Show Start Page in
the General category.
Using the Stage
The Stage is the rectangular area where you place graphic content,
including vector art, text boxes, buttons, imported bitmap graphics or
video clips, and so on when creating Flash documents. The Stage in the
Flash authoring environment represents the rectangular space in
Macromedia Flash Player or in a web browser window where your Flash
document appears during playback. You can zoom in and out to change
the view of the Stage as you work.
The grid, guides, and rulers help you position content precisely on the
Stage. For more information, see “Using the grid, guides, and rulers”
on page 69.
Zooming
To view the entire Stage on the screen, or to view a particular area of your
drawing at high magnification, you can change the magnification level.
The maximum magnification depends on the resolution of your monitor
and the document size. The minimum value for zooming out on the Stage
is 8%. The maximum value for zooming in on the Stage is 2000%.
Getting to know the workspace 53
To magnify or reduce your view of the Stage, do one of
the following:
■ To zoom in on a certain element, select the Zoom tool in the Tools
panel, and click the element. To switch the Zoom tool between
zooming in or out, use the Enlarge or Reduce modifiers (in the options
area of the Tools panel when the Zoom tool is selected) or Alt-click
(Windows) or Option-click (Macintosh).
■ To zoom in on a specific area of your drawing, drag a rectangular
selection on the Stage with the Zoom tool. Flash sets the magnification
level so that the specified rectangle fills the window.
■ To zoom in on or out of the entire Stage, select View > Zoom In or
View > Zoom Out.
■ To zoom in or out by a specified percentage, select View >
Magnification, and select a percentage from the submenu or select a
percentage from the Zoom control at the upper-right corner of
the Timeline.
■ To scale the Stage so it fits completely in the application window, select
View > Magnification > Fit in Window.
■ To display the contents of the current frame, select View >
Magnification > Show All, or select Show All from the Zoom control at
the upper-right side of the application window. If the scene is empty,
the entire Stage appears.
■ To display the entire Stage, select View > Magnification > Show Frame
or select Show Frame from the Zoom control at the upper-right corner
of the Timeline.
■ To display the workspace surrounding the Stage, select View > Work
Area. The work area is shown in light gray. Use the Work Area
command to view elements in a scene that are partly or completely
outside of the Stage area. For example, to have a bird fly into a frame,
you would initially position the bird outside of the Stage in the work
area and then animate it into the Stage area.
54 Flash Basics
Moving the view of the Stage
When the Stage is magnified, you may not be able to see all of it. The
Hand tool lets you move the Stage to change the view without having to
change the magnification.
To move the Stage view:
1. In the Tools panel, select the Hand tool. To temporarily switch between
another tool and the Hand tool, hold down the Spacebar and click the
tool in the Tools panel.
2. Drag the Stage.
Using the Timeline
The Timeline organizes and controls a document’s content over time in
layers and frames. Like films, Flash documents divide lengths of time into
frames. Layers are like multiple film strips stacked on top of one another,
each containing a different image that appears on the Stage. The major
components of the Timeline are layers, frames, and the playhead.
Layers in a document are listed in a column on the left side of the
Timeline. Frames contained in each layer appear in a row to the right of
the layer name. The Timeline header at the top of the Timeline indicates
frame numbers. The playhead indicates the current frame displayed on
the Stage. As a Flash document plays, the playhead moves from left to right
through the Timeline.
The Timeline status display at the bottom of the Timeline indicates the
selected frame number, the current frame rate, and the elapsed time to the
current frame.
NOTE
When an animation is played, the actual frame rate is displayed; this may
differ from the document’s frame rate setting if the computer can’t
calculate and display the animation quickly enough.
Getting to know the workspace 55
You can change the way frames appear in the Timeline, as well as display
thumbnails of frame content in the Timeline. The Timeline shows where
animation occurs in a document, including frame-by-frame animation,
tweened animation, and motion paths. For more information on
animation, see Chapter 10, “Creating Motion” in Using Flash.
Controls in the layers section of the Timeline let you hide, show, lock, or
unlock layers, as well as display layer contents as outlines. For more
information, see “Editing layers and layer folders” on page 64.
You can insert, delete, select, and move frames in the Timeline. You can
also drag frames to a new location on the same layer or to a different layer.
For more information, see “Working with frames in the Timeline”
on page 59.
Changing the appearance of the Timeline
By default, the Timeline appears at the top of the main application
window, above the Stage. To change its position, you can dock the
Timeline to the bottom or either side of the main application window, or
display the Timeline as its own window. You can also hide the Timeline.
You can resize the Timeline to change the number of layers and frames that
are visible. When there are more layers than can be displayed in the
Timeline, you can view additional layers by using the scroll bars on the
right side of the Timeline.
Onion-skinning buttons
Frame View pop-up menu
Frame by frame animation
Empty keyframe
Guide layer icon
Tweened animation
Timeline header
Center Frame button
Current Frame indicator
Frame Rate indicator
Elapsed Time indicator
Playhead
56 Flash Basics
To move the Timeline when it is docked to the application
window:
■ Drag the gripper at the left of the word Timeline in the panel title bar.
To dock an undocked Timeline:
■ Drag the Timeline title bar to an edge of the application window. Press
Control and drag to prevent the Timeline from docking.
To lengthen or shorten layer name fields:
■ Drag the bar separating the layer names and the frames portions of
the Timeline.
To resize the Timeline, do one of the following:
■ If the Timeline is docked to the main application window, drag the bar
separating the Timeline from the Stage area.
■ If the Timeline is not docked to the main application window, drag the
lower-right corner (Windows) or the size box in the lower-right corner
(Macintosh).
Moving the playhead
The playhead moves through the timeline as a document plays to indicate
the current frame displayed on the Stage. The Timeline header shows the
frame numbers of the animation. To display a frame on the Stage, you
move the playhead to the frame in the Timeline.
When you’re working with a large number of frames that can’t all be
displayed in the Timeline at once, you can move the playhead along the
Timeline to easily display a specific frame.
Getting to know the workspace 57
To go to a frame:
■ Click the frame’s location in the Timeline header, or drag the playhead
to the desired position.
To center the Timeline on the current frame:
■ Click Center Frame at the bottom of the Timeline.
Changing the display of frames in the Timeline
You can change the size of frames in the Timeline, and add color to
sequences of frames to highlight them. You can also include thumbnail
previews of frame content in the Timeline. These thumbnails are useful as
an overview of the animation, but they require extra screen space.
Frame View pop-up menu
Short and Normal frame view options
Frame View button
58 Flash Basics
To change the display of frames in the Timeline:
1. Click Frame View in the upper-right corner of the Timeline to display
the Frame View pop-up menu.
2. Select from the following options:
■ To change the width of frame cells, select Tiny, Small, Normal,
Medium, or Large. (The Large frame-width setting is useful for
viewing the details of sound waveforms.)
■ To decrease the height of frame cell rows, select Short.
■ To turn the tinting of frame sequences on or off, select
Tinted Frames.
■ To display thumbnails of the content of each frame scaled to fit the
Timeline frames, select Preview. This can cause the apparent
content size to vary.
■ To display thumbnails of each full frame (including empty space),
select Preview in Context. This is useful for viewing the way
elements move within their frames over the course of the
animation, but previews are generally smaller than with the
Preview option.
Using frames and keyframes
A keyframe is a frame in which you define a change to an object’s
properties for an animation or include ActionScript code to control some
aspect of your document. Flash can tween, or automatically fill in, the
frames between keyframes you define in order to produce fluid animations.
Because keyframes let you produce animation without drawing each
individual frame, they make creating animation easier. You can easily
change the length of a tweened animation by dragging a keyframe in
the Timeline.
The order in which frames and keyframes appear in the Timeline
determines the order in which they are displayed in a Flash application.
You can arrange keyframes in the Timeline to edit the sequence of events in
an animation.
Getting to know the workspace 59
Working with frames in the Timeline
In the Timeline, you work with frames and keyframes, placing them in the
order you want the objects in the frames to appear. You can change the
length of a tweened animation by dragging a keyframe in the Timeline.
You can perform the following modifications on frames or keyframes:
■ Insert, select, delete, and move frames or keyframes
■ Drag frames and keyframes to a new location on the same layer or on a
different layer
■ Copy and paste frames and keyframes
■ Convert keyframes to frames
■ Drag an item from the Library panel onto the Stage to add the item to
the current keyframe
The Timeline provides a view of tweened frames in an animation. For
information on editing tweened frames, see “Creating Motion” in
Using Flash.
Flash offers two different methods for selecting frames in the Timeline. In
frame-based selection (the default) you select individual frames in the
Timeline. In span-based selection, the entire frame sequence, from one
keyframe to the next, is selected when you click any frame in the sequence.
You can specify span-based selection in Flash preferences.
To specify span-based selection:
1. Select Edit > Preferences.
2. Select the General category.
3. In the Timeline section, select Span based selection.
4. Click OK.
For more information, see “Setting preferences in Flash” on page 78.
To insert frames in the Timeline, do one of the following:
■ To insert a new frame, select Insert > Frame.
■ To create a new keyframe, select Insert > Keyframe, or right-click
(Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) the frame where you want to
place a keyframe, and select Insert Keyframe from the context menu.
■ To create a new blank keyframe, select Insert > Blank Keyframe, or
right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) the frame where
you want to place the keyframe, and select Insert Blank Keyframe from
the context menu.
60 Flash Basics
To select one or more frames in the Timeline:
■ To select one frame, click the frame. If you have Span Based Selection
enabled in the Preferences dialog box, clicking one frame selects the
entire frame sequence between two keyframes. For more information,
see “Setting preferences in Flash”.
■ To select multiple contiguous frames, Shift-click additional frames.
■ To select multiple discontiguous frames, Control-click (Windows) or
Command-click (Macintosh) additional frames.
To select all frames in the Timeline:
■ Select Edit > Timeline > Select All Frames.
To delete or modify a frame or keyframe, do one of
the following:
■ To delete a frame, keyframe, or frame sequence, select the frame,
keyframe, or sequence and select Edit > Timeline > Remove Frame, or
right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) the frame,
keyframe, or sequence and select Remove Frame from the context
menu. Surrounding frames remain unchanged.
■ To move a keyframe or frame sequence and its contents, drag the
keyframe or sequence to the desired location.
■ To extend the duration of a keyframe animation, press Alt and drag
(Windows) or press Option and drag (Macintosh) the keyframe to the
frame that you want to be the final frame of the sequence.
■ To copy a keyframe or frame sequence by dragging, Alt-click
(Windows) or Option-click (Macintosh) and drag the keyframe to the
new location.
■ To copy and paste a frame or frame sequence, select the frame or
sequence and select Edit > Timeline > Copy Frames. Select a frame
or sequence that you want to replace, and select Edit > Timeline >
Paste Frames.
■ To convert a keyframe to a frame, select the keyframe and select Edit >
Timeline > Clear Keyframe, or right-click (Windows) or Control-click
(Macintosh) the keyframe and select Clear Keyframe from the context
menu. The Stage contents of the cleared keyframe and all frames up
to the subsequent keyframe are replaced with the Stage contents of the
frame preceding the cleared keyframe.
Getting to know the workspace 61
■ To change the length of a tweened sequence, drag the beginning or
ending keyframe left or right. To change the length of a frame-by-frame
animation sequence, see “Creating frame-by-frame animations” in
Using Flash.
■ To add an item from the library to the current keyframe, drag the item
from the Library panel onto the Stage.
Using layers
Layers are like transparent sheets of acetate stacked on top of each other on
the Stage. Layers help you organize the artwork in your document. You can
draw and edit objects on one layer without affecting objects on another
layer. Where there is nothing on a layer, you can see through it to the layers
below.
To draw, paint, or otherwise modify a layer or folder, you select the layer in
the Timeline to make it active. A pencil icon next to a layer or folder name
in the Timeline indicates that the layer or folder is active. Only one layer
can be active at a time (although more than one layer can be selected at a
time).
When you create a new Flash document, it contains only one layer. You
can add more layers to organize the artwork, animation, and other
elements in your document. The number of layers you can create is limited
only by your computer’s memory, and layers do not increase the file size of
your published SWF file. Only the objects you place into layers add to the
file size. You can also hide, lock, or rearrange layers.
You can also organize and manage layers by creating layer folders and
placing layers in them. You can expand or collapse layer folders in the
Timeline without affecting what you see on the Stage. It’s a good idea to
use separate layers or folders for sound files, ActionScript, frame labels,
and frame comments. This helps you find these items quickly when you
need to edit them.
In addition, you can use special guide layers to make drawing and editing
easier, and mask layers to help you create sophisticated effects.
For an interactive introduction to working with layers in Flash, select
Help > Flash Tutorials > Basic Tasks > Work with Layers.
62 Flash Basics
Creating layers and layer folders
When you create a new layer or folder, it appears above the selected layer.
The newly added layer becomes the active layer.
To create a layer, do one of the following:
■ Click the Insert Layer button at the bottom of the Timeline.
■ Select Insert > Timeline > Layer.
■ Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) a layer name in
the Timeline and select Insert Layer from the context menu.
To create a layer folder, do one of the following:
■ Select a layer or folder in the Timeline, and then select Insert >
Timeline > Layer Folder.
■ Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) a layer name in
the Timeline, and then select Insert Folder from the context menu.
The new folder appears above the layer or folder you selected.
Viewing layers and layer folders
As you work, you may want to show or hide layers or folders. A red X next
to the name of a layer or folder in the Timeline indicates that it is hidden.
When you publish a Flash SWF file, any layers that were hidden in the
FLA document are preserved and visible in the SWF file.
To help you distinguish which layer an object belongs to, you can display
all objects on a layer as colored outlines. You can change the outline color
used by each layer.
You can change the height of layers in the Timeline to display more
information (such as sound waveforms) in the Timeline. You can also
change the number of layers displayed in the Timeline.
To show or hide a layer or folder, do one of the following:
■ Click in the Eye column to the right of the layer or folder name in the
Timeline to hide that layer or folder. Click in it again to show the layer
or folder.
■ Click the eye icon to hide all the layers and folders in the Timeline.
Click it again to show all layers and folders.
■ Drag through the Eye column to show or hide multiple layers
or folders.
Getting to know the workspace 63
■ Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Macintosh) in the Eye column to
the right of a layer or folder name to hide all other layers and folders.
Alt-click or Option-click it again to show all layers and folders.
To view the contents of a layer as outlines, do one of
the following:
■ Click in the Outline column to the right of the layer’s name to display
all objects on that layer as outlines. Click in it again to turn off
outline display.
■ Click the outline icon to display objects on all layers as outlines. Click
it again to turn off outline display on all layers.
■ Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Macintosh) in the Outline
column to the right of a layer’s name to display objects on all other
layers as outlines. Alt-click or Option-click in it again to turn off the
outline display for all layers.
To change a layer’s outline color:
1. Do one of the following:
■ Double-click the layer’s icon (the icon to the left of the layer name)
in the Timeline.
■ Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) the layer
name and select Properties from the context menu.
■ Select the layer in the Timeline and select Modify > Layer.
2. In the Layer Properties dialog box, click the Outline Color box and
select a new color, enter the hexadecimal value for a color, or click the
Color Picker button and select a color.
3. Click OK.
To change layer height in the Timeline:
1. Do one of the following:
■ Double-click the layer’s icon (the icon to the left of the layer name)
in the Timeline.
■ Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) the layer
name and select Properties from the context menu.
■ Select the layer in the Timeline and select Modify > Timeline >
Layer Properties.
2. In the Layer Properties dialog box, select an option for Layer Height and
click OK.
64 Flash Basics
To change the number of layers displayed in the Timeline:
■ Drag the bar that separates the Timeline from the Stage area.
Editing layers and layer folders
You can rename, copy, and delete layers and folders. You can also lock
layers and folders to prevent them from being edited.
By default, new layers are named by the order in which they are created:
Layer 1, Layer 2, and so on. You can rename layers to better reflect
their contents.
To select a layer or folder, do one of the following:
■ Click the name of a layer or folder in the Timeline.
■ Click any frame in the Timeline of the layer you want to select.
■ Select an object on the Stage that is located in the layer you want
to select.
■ To select two or more layers or folders, do one of the following:
■ To select contiguous layers or folders, Shift-click their names in
the Timeline.
■ To select discontiguous layers or folders, Control-click (Windows)
or Command-click (Macintosh) their names in the Timeline.
To rename a layer or folder, do one of the following:
■ Double-click the name of the layer or folder in the Timeline and enter
a new name.
■ Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) the name of the
layer or folder and select Properties from the context menu. Enter the
new name in the Name text box and click OK.
■ Select the layer or folder in the Timeline and select Modify >
Timeline > Layer Properties. In the Layer Properties dialog box,
enter the new name in the Name text box and click OK.
To lock or unlock one or more layers or folders, do one of
the following:
■ Click in the Lock column to the right of the name of a layer or folder
to lock it. Click in the Lock column again to unlock the layer or folder.
■ Click the padlock icon to lock all layers and folders. Click it again to
unlock all layers and folders.
Getting to know the workspace 65
■ Drag through the Lock column to lock or unlock multiple layers
or folders.
■ Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Macintosh) in the Lock column
to the right of a layer or folder name to lock all other layers or folders.
Alt-click or Option-click in the Lock column again to unlock all layers
or folders.
To copy a layer:
1. Click the layer name in the Timeline to select the entire layer.
2. Select Edit > Timeline > Copy Frames.
3. Click the Insert Layer button to create a new layer.
4. Click the new layer and select Edit > Timeline > Paste Frames.
To copy the contents of a layer folder:
1. Click the triangle to the left of the folder name in the Timeline to
collapse it, if necessary.
2. Click the folder name to select the entire folder.
3. Select Edit > Timeline > Copy Frames.
4. Select Insert > Timeline > Layer Folder to create a new folder.
5. Click the new folder and select Edit > Timeline > Paste Frames.
To delete a layer or folder:
1. Select the layer or folder by clicking its name in the Timeline or any
frame in the layer.
2. Do one of the following:
■ Click the Delete Layer button in the Timeline.
■ Drag the layer or folder to the Delete Layer button.
■ Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) the layer or
folder name and select Delete Layer from the context menu.
NOTE
When you delete a layer folder, all the enclosed layers and all their
contents are also deleted.
66 Flash Basics
Organizing layers and layer folders
You can rearrange layers and folders in the Timeline to organize your
document.
Layer folders help organize your workflow by letting you place layers in a
tree structure. You can expand or collapse a folder to see the layers it
contains without affecting which layers are visible on the Stage. Folders can
contain both layers and other folders, allowing you to organize layers in
much the same way you organize files on your computer.
The layer controls in the Timeline affect all layers within a folder. For
example, locking a layer folder locks all layers within that folder.
To move a layer or layer folder into a layer folder:
■ Drag the layer or layer folder name to the destination layer
folder name.
The layer or layer folder appears inside the destination layer folder in
the Timeline.
To change the order of layers or folders:
■ Drag one or more layers or folders in the Timeline to the desired
position above or below other layers in the Timeline.
To expand or collapse a folder:
■ Click the triangle to the left of the folder name.
To expand or collapse all folders:
■ Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) and select
Expand All Folders or Collapse All Folders from the context menu.
Using guide layers
For help in aligning objects when drawing, you can create guide layers. You
can then align objects on other layers to the objects you create on the guide
layers. Guide layers are not exported and do not appear in a published
SWF file. You can make any layer a guide layer. Guide layers are indicated
by a guide icon to the left of the layer name.
Getting to know the workspace 67
You can also create a motion guide layer to control the movement of
objects in a motion tweened animation. For more information, see
“Tweening motion along a path” in Using Flash.
To designate a layer as a guide layer:
■ Select the layer and right-click (Windows) or Control-click
(Macintosh) and select Guide from the context menu. Select Guide
again to change the layer back to a normal layer.
About the main toolbar and edit bar
The menu bar at the top of the Flash application window displays menus
with commands for controlling Flash functionality. The menus include
File, Edit, View, Insert, Modify, Text, Commands, Control, Window, and
Help.
The edit bar, at the top of the Timeline, contains controls and information
for editing scenes and symbols, and for changing the magnification level of
the Stage.
For information on changing the Stage magnification level, see “Zooming”
on page 52. For information on editing symbols, see Chapter 3, “Using
Symbols, Instances, and Library Assets” in Using Flash. For information on
working with scenes, see “Working with scenes” in Using Flash.
Using the Tools panel
The tools in the Tools panel let you draw, paint, select, and modify
artwork, as well as change the view of the Stage. The Tools panel is divided
into four sections:
■ The tools area contains drawing, painting, and selection tools.
■ The view area contains tools for zooming and panning in the
application window.
■ The colors area contains modifiers for stroke and fill colors.
■ The options area displays modifiers for the currently selected tool.
Modifiers affect the tool’s painting or editing operations.
NOTE
Dragging a normal layer onto a guide layer converts the guide layer to a
motion guide layer. To prevent accidentally converting a guide layer, place
all guide layers at the bottom of the layer order.
68 Flash Basics
Using the Customize Tools panel dialog box, you can specify which tools
to display in the Flash authoring environment. For more information, see
“Customizing the Tools panel” on page 68.
For information on using the drawing and painting tools, see “About Flash
drawing and painting tools” in Using Flash. For information on using the
selection tools, see “Selecting objects” in Using Flash. For information on
using the view modification tools, see “Moving the view of the Stage”
on page 54.
To show or hide the Tools panel:
■ Select Window > Tools.
Selecting tools
You can select tools by clicking in the Tools panel, or by using a keyboard
shortcut.
To select a tool, do one of the following:
■ Click the tool you want to use. Depending on the tool you select, a set
of modifiers may be displayed in the options area at the bottom of the
Tools panel.
■ Press the tool’s keyboard shortcut. You can view the keyboard shortcuts
by selecting Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts.
■ To select a tool located in the pop-up menu for a visible tool such as the
Rectangle tool, press the icon of the visible tool and select another tool
from the pop-up menu.
Customizing the Tools panel
You can customize the Tools panel to specify which tools appear in the
authoring environment. You use the Customize Tools panel dialog box to
add or remove tools from the Tools panel.
You can display more than one tool in one location. When more than one
tool is displayed in a location, the top tool in the group (the most recently
used) is displayed with an arrow in the lower-right corner of its icon. When
you press and hold the mouse button on the icon, the other tools in the
group appear in a pop-up menu. You can then select a tool from the menu.
Getting to know the workspace 69
To customize the Tools panel:
1. To display the Customize Tools panel dialog box, do one of
the following:
■ (Windows) Select Edit > Customize Tools panel.
■ (Macintosh) Select Flash > Customize Tools panel.
The Available Tools menu indicates the tools that are currently
available in the Flash. The Current Selection menu indicates the tool
(or tools) currently assigned to the selected location in the Tools panel.
2. Click a tool in the Tools panel image or use the arrows to cycle
through the tools to specify the location to which you want to assign
another tool.
3. To add a tool to the selected location, select the tool in the Available
Tools list and click the Add button. It is possible to assign a tool to more
than one location.
4. To remove a tool from the selected location, select the tool in the
Current Selection scroll list and click the Remove button.
5. Click OK to apply your changes and close the Customize Tools panel
dialog box.
To restore the default Tools panel layout:
■ Click Restore Default in the Customize Tools panel dialog box.
Using the grid, guides, and rulers
Flash can display rulers and guides that help you draw and lay out objects
precisely. You can place guides in a document and snap objects to those
guides, or turn on the grid and snap objects to it.
NOTE
If more than one tool is assigned to one location in the Tools panel, a small
arrow appears in the lower-right corner of the tool. This arrow indicates
that additional tools are present in a pop-up menu. The same keyboard
shortcut functions for all tools in the pop-up menu.
NOTE
You can also snap objects to other objects or to pixels, or align objects
using specified snap tolerance boundaries. For more information, see
“Snapping” in Using Flash.
70 Flash Basics
Using rulers
When rulers are displayed, they appear along the top and left sides of the
document. You can change the unit of measure used in the rulers from the
default of pixels to some other unit. When you move an element on the
Stage with the rulers displayed, lines indicating the element’s dimensions
appear on the rulers.
To display or hide rulers:
■ Select View > Rulers.
To specify the rulers’ unit of measure for a document:
■ Select Modify > Document, and then select a unit from the Ruler Units
menu at the lower-left side of the dialog box.
Using guides
You can drag horizontal and vertical guides from the rulers onto the Stage
when the rulers are displayed. You can move guides, lock guides, hide
guides, and remove guides. You can also snap objects to guides, and change
the guide color and snap tolerance (how close objects must be to snap to a
guide). Flash allows you to create nested timelines. Draggable guides
appear on the Stage only when the Timeline in which they were created
is active.
You can clear all the guides in the current editing mode—documentediting
mode or symbol-editing mode. If you clear guides in documentediting
mode, all the guides in the document are cleared. If you clear
guides in symbol-editing mode, all the guides in all symbols are cleared.
To create custom guides or irregular guides, you use guide layers. For more
information, see “Using guide layers” on page 66.
To display or hide the drawing guides:
■ Select View > Guides > Show Guides.
NOTE
If the grid is visible and Snap to Grid is turned on when you create guides,
guides will snap to the grid.
Getting to know the workspace 71
To turn snapping to guides on or off:
■ Select View > Snapping > Snap to Guides.
To move a guide:
1. Make sure rulers are visible by selecting View > Rulers.
2. With the Selection tool, click anywhere on the ruler and drag the guide
to the desired place on the Stage.
To remove a guide:
■ With guides unlocked, use the Selection tool to drag the guide to the
horizontal or vertical ruler. For information on locking and unlocking
guides, see the following procedure.
To lock guides:
■ Select View > Guides > Lock Guides.
To set guide preferences:
1. Select View > Guides > Edit Guides and do any of the following:
■ For Color, click the triangle in the color box and select a guide line
color from the palette. The default guide color is green.
■ Select or deselect Show Guides to display or hide guides.
■ Select or deselect Snap to Guides to turn snapping to guides on
or off.
■ Select or deselect Lock Guides to lock or unlock guides.
■ For Snap Accuracy, select an option from the pop-up menu.
■ If you want to remove all guides, click Clear All.
■ Clear All removes all guides from the current scene.
■ If you want to save the current settings as the default, click
Save Default.
2. Click OK.
NOTE
Snapping to guides takes precedence over snapping to the grid in places
where guides fall between grid lines.
NOTE
You can also use the Lock Guides option in the Edit Guides (View >
Guides > Edit Guides) dialog box. For more information, see the following
procedure.
72 Flash Basics
To clear guides:
■ Select View > Guides > Clear Guides.
If you are in document-editing mode, all guides in the document are
cleared. If you are in symbol-editing mode, only guides used in symbols
are cleared.
Using the grid
When the grid is displayed in a document, it appears as a set of lines
behind the artwork in all scenes. You can snap objects to the grid, and you
can modify the grid size and grid line color.
To display or hide the drawing grid, do one of the following:
■ Select View > Grid > Show Grid.
■ Press Control+'' (quote) (Windows) or Command+'' (quote)
(Macintosh).
To turn snapping to grid lines on or off:
■ Select View > Snapping > Snap to Grid.
To set grid preferences:
1. Select View > Grid > Edit Grid.
2. For Color, click the triangle in the color box and select a grid line color
from the palette.
The default grid line color is gray.
3. Select or deselect Show Grid to display or hide the grid.
4. Select or deselect Snap to Grid to turn snapping to grid lines on or off.
5. For grid spacing, enter values in the text boxes to the right of the
horizontal and vertical arrows.
6. For Snap Accuracy, select an option from the pop-up menu.
7. If you want to save the current settings as the default, click Save Default.
Getting to know the workspace 73
Using panels and the Property inspector
Flash offers many ways to customize the workspace to your needs. Using
panels and the Property inspector, you can view, organize, and change
media and other assets and their attributes. You can show, hide, and resize
panels. You can also group panels together and save custom panel sets to
make the workspace match your personal preferences. The Property
inspector changes to reflect the tool or asset you are working with, giving
you quick access to frequently used features.
About the Property inspector
The Property inspector simplifies document creation by making it easy to
access the most commonly used attributes of the current selection, either
on the Stage or in the Timeline. You can make changes to the object or
document attributes in the Property inspector without accessing the menus
or panels that also control these attributes.
Depending on what is currently selected, the Property inspector displays
information and settings for the current document, text, symbol, shape,
bitmap, video, group, frame, or tool. When two or more different types of
objects are selected, the Property inspector displays the total number of
objects selected.
The Property inspector showing the properties for the Text tool
To display the Property inspector, do one of the following:
■ Select Window > Properties > Properties.
■ Press Control+F3 (Windows) or Command+F3 (Macintosh).
74 Flash Basics
About the Library panel
The Library panel is where you store and organize symbols created in
Flash, as well as imported files, including bitmap graphics, sound files, and
video clips. The Library panel lets you organize library items in folders, see
how often an item is used in a document, and sort items by type. For more
information, see “Managing media assets with the library” in Using Flash.
The Library panel showing a movie clip symbol
To display the Library panel, do one of the following:
■ Select Window > Library.
■ Press Control+L (Windows) or Command+L (Macintosh).
About the Actions panel
The Actions panel lets you create and edit ActionScript code for an object
or frame. Selecting a frame, button, or movie clip instance makes the
Actions panel active. The Actions panel title changes to Button Actions,
Movie Clip Actions, or Frame Actions, depending on what is selected.
Getting to know the workspace 75
For information on using the Actions panel and writing ActionScript code,
including switching between editing modes, see “Using the Actions panel
and Script window” in Learning ActionScript 2.0 in Flash.
The Actions panel showing a stop() action in a frame
To display the Actions panel, do one of the following:
■ Select Window > Actions.
■ Press F9.
Using panels
The various panels in Flash help you view, organize, and change elements
in a document. The options available in panels control the characteristics
of symbols, instances, colors, type, frames, and other elements. You can
customize the Flash interface by displaying the panels you need for a
specific task and hiding others.
Panels let you work with objects, colors, text, instances, frames, scenes, and
entire documents. For example, you use the Color Mixer panel to create
colors, and the Align panel to align objects to each other or the Stage. To
view the complete list of panels available in Flash, see the Window menu.
Most panels include a pop-up menu with additional options. This pop-up
menu is indicated by a control at the right end of the panel’s title bar. (If no
pop-up menu control appears, there is no pop-up menu for that panel.)
By default, panels appear grouped at the bottom and at the right of the
Flash workspace.
76 Flash Basics
To open a panel:
■ Select the desired panel from the Window menu.
To close a panel, do one of the following:
■ Select the desired panel from the Window menu.
■ Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) the panel’s title
bar and select Close Panel Group from the context menu.
To use a panel’s pop-up menu:
1. Click the control at the far right in the panel’s title bar to view the popup
menu.
2. Click an item in the menu.
Clicking a panel’s pop-up menu
To resize a panel:
■ Drag the panel’s border (Windows) or drag the size box at the panel’s
lower-right corner (Macintosh).
To expand or collapse a panel to its title bar:
■ Click the collapse arrow in the title bar. Click the collapse arrow again
to expand the panel to its previous size.
Clicking a panel’s collapse arrow
To close all panels:
■ Select Window > Hide Panels.
Arranging panels
In Flash, you can organize panels into groups. You can rearrange the order
in which panels appear within panel groups. You can also create new panel
groups and dock panels to existing panel groups. If you want a panel to
appear on its own, separated from other panel groups, you can float the
panel. This is particularly useful for panels that you want access to all the
time, for example, the Help panel or the Actions panel.
Getting to know the workspace 77
To move a panel:
■ Drag the panel by its gripper (on the left side of the title bar).
To add a panel to an existing panel group:
■ Drag the panel by its gripper onto another panel. A black line appears
next to the target panel to show where the panel will be placed.
To display multiple panels in a single panel window:
1. Click a panel’s pop-up menu.
2. Select the Group Panel Name With option.
3. Select another panel to add the current panel to from the submenu.
The first panel is added as a tab to the second panel.
A tabbed panel showing the Library and Movie Explorer panels
To float a panel:
■ Drag the panel by its gripper and move it away from other panels.
To create a new panel group:
■ Drag the panel by its gripper, away from other panel groups. Add
additional panels to the first panel to form a new group.
Using panel sets
You can create custom panel arrangements, and save these as custom panel
sets. You can switch the panel display to the default layout (displaying the
Color Mixer, Actions, Property inspector and Library panels) or to a
custom layout that you have saved previously.
To save a custom panel set:
1. Select Window > Workspace Layout > Save Current.
2. Enter a name for the layout and click OK.
78 Flash Basics
To select a panel layout:
1. Select Window > Workspace Layout.
2. From the submenu, select Default Layout to reset panels to the default
layout, or select a custom layout that you have saved previously.
To delete custom layouts:
1. Select Window > Workspace Layout > Manage.
2. In the Manage Workspace Layouts dialog box, select the panel set you
want to delete.
3. Click Delete.
4. Click Yes to confirm the deletion.
5. Click OK.
Setting preferences in Flash
Flash lets you set preferences for general application operations, editing
operations, and Clipboard operations. For more information about the
drawing preferences, see “Specifying drawing settings” in Using Flash.
The General category in the Preferences dialog box
Getting to know the workspace 79
To set preferences:
1. Select Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Flash > Preferences
(Macintosh).
2. In the Category list, select the one of the following:
■ General
■ ActionScript
■ Auto Format
■ Clipboard
■ Drawing
■ Text
■ Warning
3. Select from the respective options as described in the procedures that
follow. For more information on ActionScript Editor preferences, see
“About ActionScript preferences” in Learning ActionScript 2.0 in Flash.
To set General preferences, select from the following options:
■ For On Launch options, select an option to specify which document
Flash opens when you start the application. Select Show Start Page to
display the Start Page. Select New Document to open a new, blank
document. Select Last Documents Open to open the documents that
were open when you last quit Flash. Select No Document to start Flash
without opening a document.
■ For Undo, enter a value from 2 to 300 to set the number of undo/redo
levels. Undo levels require memory; the more undo levels you use, the
more system memory is consumed. The default is 100. Next select
Document- or Object-level undo. Document-level undo maintains a
single list of all your actions for the entire Flash document. Object-level
undo maintains separate lists of your actions for each object in your
Flash document. Object-level undo gives you greater flexibility, since
you can undo an action on one object without having to also undo
actions on other objects that may have been modified more recently
than the target object.
■ For Printing Options (Windows only), select Disable PostScript if you
want to disable PostScript output when printing to a PostScript printer.
By default, this option is deselected. Select this option if you have
problems printing to a PostScript printer, but keep in mind that this
will slow down printing.
80 Flash Basics
■ For Test Movie Options, select Open Test Movie in Tabs to have Flash
open a new document tab in the application window when you select
Control > Test Movie. The default is to open the test movie in its
own window.
■ For Selection Options, select or deselect Shift Select to control how
Flash handles selection of multiple elements. When Shift Select is off,
clicking additional elements adds them to the current selection. When
Shift Select is on, clicking additional elements deselects other elements
unless you hold down Shift.
Select Show Tooltips to display tooltips when the pointer pauses over a
control. Deselect this option if you don’t want to see the tooltips.
■ Select Contact Sensitive to have objects become selected when any part
of them is included in the marquee rectangle when dragging with the
Selection or Lasso tools. The default is that objects are only selected
when the tool’s marquee rectangle completely surrounds the object.
■ For Timeline Options, select Span Based Selection to use span-based
selection in the Timeline, rather than the default frame-based selection.
For more information on span-based and frame-based selection, see
“Working with frames in the Timeline” on page 59.
Select Named Anchor on Scenes to have Flash make the first frame of
each scene in a document a named anchor. Named anchors let you use
the Forward and Back buttons in a browser to jump from scene to
scene in a Flash application. For more information, see “Using the
Timeline” on page 54.
■ For Highlight Color, select a color from the panel, or select Use Layer
Color to use the current layer’s outline color.
■ For Project, select Close Files with Project to have all files in a project
close when the project file is closed.
Select Save Files on Test or Publish Project to have each file in a project
saved whenever the project is tested or published.
For more information, see “Creating and managing projects (Flash
Professional only)” in Using Flash.
To set ActionScript preferences:
■ See “About ActionScript preferences” in Learning ActionScript 2.0
in Flash.
Getting to know the workspace 81
To set AutoFormat preferences for ActionScript:
■ Select any of the check boxes. To see the effect of each selection, look in
the Preview pane.
To set Clipboard preferences, select from the following
options:
■ For Bitmaps (Windows only), select options for Color Depth and
Resolution to specify these parameters for bitmaps copied to the
Clipboard. Select Smooth to apply anti-aliasing. Enter a value in the
Size Limit text box to specify the amount of RAM that is used when
placing a bitmap image on the Clipboard. Increase this value when
working with large or high-resolution bitmap images. If your computer
has limited memory, select None.
■ For Gradient Quality (Windows only), select an option to specify the
quality of gradient fills placed in the Windows metafile. Choosing a
higher quality increases the time required to copy artwork. Use this
setting to specify gradient quality when pasting items to a location
outside of Flash. When you are pasting within Flash, the full gradient
quality of the copied data is preserved regardless of the Gradients on
Clipboard setting.
■ For PICT Settings (Macintosh only), for Type, select Objects to
preserve data copied to the Clipboard as vector artwork, or select one of
the bitmap formats to convert the copied artwork to a bitmap. Enter a
value for Resolution. Select Include PostScript to include PostScript
data. For Gradients, select an option to specify gradient quality in the
PICT. Choosing a higher quality increases the time required to copy
artwork. Use the Gradients setting to specify gradient quality when
pasting items to a location outside of Flash. When you are pasting
within Flash, the full gradient quality of the copied data is preserved
regardless of the Gradient setting.
■ For FreeHand Text, select Maintain Text as Blocks to keep text editable
in a pasted FreeHand file.
To set Drawing preferences:
■ For Pen Tool options, see “Setting Pen tool preferences” in Using Flash.
■ For Drawing Settings, see “Specifying drawing settings” in Using Flash.
82 Flash Basics
To set text preferences, select one of the following options:
■ For Font Mapping Default, select a font to use when substituting
missing fonts in documents you open in Flash. For more information,
see “Substituting missing fonts” in Using Flash.
■ For Vertical Text options, select Default Text Orientation to make the
default orientation of text vertical, which is useful for some Asian
language fonts. By default, this option is deselected.
Select Right to Left Text Flow to reverse the default text display
direction. This option is deselected by default.
Select No Kerning to turn off kerning for vertical text. This option is
deselected by default but is useful to improve spacing for some fonts
that use kerning tables.
■ For Input Method, select the appropriate language.
To set warning preferences, select one of the following
options:
■ Select Warn on Save for Macromedia Flash 8 Compatibility to have
Flash warn you when you try to save documents with content that is
specific to the Flash Basic 8 or Flash Professional 8 authoring tool as a
Flash MX 2004 file. This option is selected by default.
■ Select Warn on Missing Fonts to have Flash warn you when you open a
Flash document that uses fonts that are not installed on your computer.
This option is selected by default.
■ Select Warn on URL Changes in Launch and Edit to have Flash warn
you if the URL for a document has changed since the last time you
opened and edited it.
■ Select Warn on Reading Generator Content to have Flash display a red
X over any Generator objects as a reminder that Generator objects are
not supported in Flash 8.
■ Select Warn on Inserting Frames when Importing Content to have
Flash alert you when it inserts frames in your document to
accommodate audio or video files that you import.
■ Select Warn on Encoding Conflicts When Exporting .as Files to have
Flash alert you when selecting Default Encoding could potentially lead
to data loss or character corruption. (For example, if you create a file
with English, Japanese, and Korean characters and select Default
Encoding on an English system, the Japanese and Korean characters
will be corrupted.)
Getting to know the workspace 83
■ Select Warn on Conversion of Effect Graphic Objects to have Flash
warn you when you attempt to edit a symbol that has timeline effects
applied to it.
■ Select Warn on Exporting to Flash Player 6 r65 to have Flash warn you
when you export a document to this earlier version of Flash Player.
■ Select Warn on Sites with Overlapped Root Folder to have Flash warn
you when you create a site in which the local root folder overlaps with
another site.
■ Select Warn on Behavior Symbol Conversion to have Flash warn you
when you convert a symbol with a behavior attached to a symbol of a
different type—for example, when you convert a movie clip to
a button.
■ Select Warn on Symbol Conversion to have Flash warn you when you
convert a symbol to a symbol of a different type.
■ Select Warn on Automatically Converting from Drawing Object to
Group to have Flash warn you when it converts a graphic object drawn
in Object Drawing mode to a group.
■ Select Show Incompatibility Warnings on Feature Controls to have
Flash display warnings on controls for features not supported by the
Flash Player version that the current FLA file is targeting in its
Publish Settings.
Customizing keyboard shortcuts
You can select keyboard shortcuts in Flash to match the shortcuts you use
in other applications, or to streamline your Flash workflow. By default,
Flash uses built-in keyboard shortcuts designed for the Flash application.
You can also select a built-in keyboard shortcut set from one of several
popular graphics applications, including Macromedia Fireworks, Adobe
Illustrator, and Adobe Photoshop.
To create a custom keyboard shortcut set, you duplicate an existing set, and
then add or remove shortcuts from the new set. You can also delete custom
shortcut sets.
84 Flash Basics
To view or print the current set of keyboard shortcuts:
1. Select Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts.
2. In the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box, select the shortcut set you wish
to view from the Current pop-up menu.
3. Click the Export Set as HTML button.
The Export Set as HTML button
4. In the Save As dialog box that appears, select a name and location for
the exported HTML file. The default file name is the name of the
selected shortcut set.
5. Click Save.
6. Find the exported file in the folder you selected and open the file in a
web browser.
7. To print the file, use the browser’s Print command.
To select a keyboard shortcut set:
1. Select Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts (Windows) or Flash > Keyboard
Shortcuts (Macintosh).
2. In the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box, select a shortcut set from the
Current Set pop-up menu.
To create a new keyboard shortcut set:
1. Select a keyboard shortcut set as described in the previous procedure.
2. Click the Duplicate Set button.
3. Enter a name for the new shortcut set and click OK.
To rename a custom keyboard shortcut set:
1. In the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box, select a shortcut set from the
Current Set pop-up menu.
2. Click the Rename Set button.
3. In the Rename dialog box, enter a new name and click OK.
Getting to know the workspace 85
To add or remove a keyboard shortcut:
1. Select Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts (Windows) or Flash > Keyboard
Shortcuts (Macintosh) and select the set that you want to modify.
2. From the Commands pop-up menu, select Drawing Menu Commands,
Drawing Tools, Test Movie Menu Commands, or Workplace
Accessibility Commands to view shortcuts for the selected category.
3. In the Commands list, select the command for which you want to add
or remove a shortcut.
An explanation of the selected command appears in the description
area in the dialog box.
4. Do one of the following:
■ To add a shortcut, click the Add Shortcut (+) button.
■ To remove a shortcut, click the Remove Shortcut (-) button and
proceed to step 6.
5. If you are adding a shortcut, enter the new shortcut key combination in
the Press Key text box.
6. Click Change.
7. Repeat this procedure to add or remove additional shortcuts.
8. Click OK.
To delete a keyboard shortcut set:
1. Select Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts (Windows) or Flash > Keyboard
Shortcuts (Macintosh). In the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box, click the
Delete Set button.
2. In the Delete Set dialog box, select a shortcut set and click Delete.
NOTE
To enter the key combination, simply press the keys on the keyboard. You
do not need to spell out key names, such as Control, Option, and so on.
NOTE
You cannot delete the built-in keyboard shortcut sets that ship with Flash.
86 Flash Basics
Using context menus
Context menus contain commands relevant to the current selection. For
example, when you select a frame in the Timeline window, the context
menu contains commands for creating, deleting, and modifying frames
and keyframes. Context menus exist for many items and controls in many
locations, including on the Stage, in the Timeline, in the Library panel,
and in the Actions panel.
To open a context menu:
■ Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) an item.
Accessibility in the Flash authoring
environment
Accessibility support in the Flash authoring environment provides
keyboard shortcuts for navigating and using interface controls, including
panels, the Property inspector, dialog boxes, the Stage, and objects on the
Stage, so that you can work with these interface elements without using
the mouse.
You can customize the keyboard shortcuts for accessibility in the authoring
environment using the Workspace Accessibility Commands section of the
Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box. For more information, see “Customizing
keyboard shortcuts” on page 83.
Some authoring environment accessibility features are unavailable on the
Macintosh. For more information, see the following section.
NOTE
Certain keyboard controls are available only in Windows. For more
information, see “About Flash authoring accessibility on the Macintosh”
on page 87.
Getting to know the workspace 87
About Flash authoring accessibility on the
Macintosh
Accessibility for the Flash authoring environment on the Macintosh has
the following limitations:
■ The Panel Focus keyboard shortcut (Command+Option+Tab) is not
supported for the Property inspector.
■ The Panel Control Focus keyboard shortcut (Tab) is supported only for
the Timeline, not for other panels or the Property inspector.
Selecting panels or the Property inspector with
keyboard shortcuts
You can select a panel or the Property inspector (also referred to as applying
focus to the panel or Property inspector) by using the keyboard shortcut
Control+Alt+Tab (Windows) or Command+Option+Tab (Macintosh).
You can apply focus to a panel or the Property inspector only when the
panel or Property inspector is visible in the Flash application window. The
panel can be expanded or collapsed.
When you use the keyboard shortcut to select panels, focus is applied to
panels using the following criteria:
■ Docked panels are given focus first.
■ If the Timeline is displayed and docked, the Timeline is given focus the
first time you press Control+Alt+Tab (Windows) or
Command+Option+Tab (Macintosh).
■ If the Timeline is not displayed and docked, or if you press the
keyboard shortcut again, focus moves to the rightmost and highest
docked panel. Pressing the keyboard shortcut repeatedly then moves
the focus through the other docked panels, from right to left and from
top to bottom of the workspace.
■ If you move the focus through all the docked panels, or if there are no
docked panels displayed, focus then moves to the rightmost and
highest floating panel. Pressing the keyboard shortcut repeatedly then
moves the focus through the other floating panels, from right to left
and from top to bottom of the workspace.
88 Flash Basics
To use keyboard shortcuts to select or deselect, expand, or
collapse panels or the Property inspector:
■ To move the focus through the panels currently displayed in the
workspace, press Control+Alt+Tab (Windows) or
Command+Option+Tab (Macintosh). A dotted line appears around
the title of the currently focused panel.
■ To move the focus to the previously selected panel, press
Control+Shift+Alt+Tab (Windows) or Command+Shift+Option+Tab
(Macintosh).
■ To deselect a panel, press Escape, or move, dock, or undock the panel.
■ To move the focus to the panel above or below the current panel in a
panel group, press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow key.
To use keyboard shortcuts to expand or collapse panels or the
Property inspector:
1. Press Control+Alt+Tab (Windows) or Command+Option+Tab
(Macintosh) until the panel you wish to expand or collapse has focus. A
dotted line appears around the title of the currently focused panel.
2. Press the Spacebar to expand or collapse the currently selected panel.
To hide all panels and the Property inspector:
■ Press F4. Press F4 again to display all panels and the Property inspector.
Selecting controls in a panel or the Property
inspector using keyboard shortcuts
When a panel or the Property inspector has the current focus, you can use
the Tab key to move the focus through the panel controls. You can use the
Spacebar to activate the control that has the current focus (that is, pressing
Spacebar is equivalent to clicking a control in the panel).
When you use the keyboard shortcut for panel controls, focus is applied to
a control and the control is activated using the following criteria:
■ The panel with the current focus must be expanded in order for you to
select a control in the panel with the Tab key. If the panel is collapsed,
pressing Tab has no effect.
■ When the panel with the current focus is expanded, pressing Tab the
first time moves the focus to the panel’s pop-up menu.
Getting to know the workspace 89
■ You can use the Right Arrow and Left Arrow keys to move the focus
between the pop-up menu and the panel title bar.
■ If the focus is on the pop-up menu, pressing Tab again moves the focus
through the other controls in the panel. Pressing Tab again will not
return the focus to the panel pop-up menu.
■ When the pop-up menu has the focus, you can press Enter (Windows
only) to display the pop-up menu items.
■ In panels that are grouped, you can use the Up Arrow and Down
Arrow keys to move the focus between the pop-up menus of the panels
in the group.
■ You can move the focus to a panel control only if the control is active.
If a control is dimmed (inactive), you cannot apply focus to the
control.
To move the focus from a panel title bar to a panel pop-up
menu, do one of the following:
■ Press Tab.
■ Press the Right Arrow key. Press the Left Arrow key or Shift+Tab to
return the focus to the panel title bar.
■ If the panel is in a group, press the Up Arrow key to move the focus to
the pop-up menu of the panel immediately above the panel with the
current focus. Press the Down Arrow key to move the focus to the popup
menu of the panel immediately below the panel with the
current focus.
To move the focus through the items in a panel pop-up menu:
1. With the focus currently applied to the panel pop-up menu, press the
Spacebar to display the pop-up menu items.
2. Press the Down Arrow key to move through the items in the
pop-up menu.
3. Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Macintosh) to activate the currently
selected pop-up menu item.
90 Flash Basics
To move the focus through the controls in a panel:
1. Press Tab when the focus is currently applied to the panel pop-up menu.
Press Tab repeatedly to move the focus through the controls in
the panel.
2. Press Enter (Windows only) to activate the currently selected
panel control.
Navigating dialog box controls using keyboard
shortcuts (Windows only)
In Windows operating systems, you can use keyboard shortcuts to navigate
controls in dialog boxes. You can move from one control to another, apply
controls, or cancel and exit the dialog box.
To navigate dialog box controls using keyboard shortcuts:
Do any of the following:
■ Press Tab to move through the controls in the dialog box.
■ To move through the controls within one section of a dialog box, press
the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys. For example, in the Spelling
Setup dialog box, press the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys to move
through the controls within the Document Options section.
■ When the focus is applied to a dialog box control button—such as the
OK, Cancel, or Apply button—press Enter to activate the button
(equivalent to clicking the button).
■ When the focus is not applied to any dialog box control button—such
as the OK, Cancel, or Apply button—press Enter to apply the current
settings and close the dialog box (equivalent to clicking OK).
■ Press Escape to close the dialog box without applying the changes
(equivalent to clicking Cancel).
■ When the focus is applied to the Help button, press Enter or
Spacebar to view the Help content for the dialog box (equivalent
to clicking Help).
Getting to know the workspace 91
Selecting the Stage or objects on the Stage using
keyboard shortcuts
You can select the Stage or an object on the Stage using keyboard shortcuts.
Selecting the Stage with a keyboard shortcut is equivalent to clicking on
the Stage. Any other element currently selected becomes deselected when
the Stage is selected.
Once the Stage is selected, you can use the Tab key to navigate through all
objects on all layers, one at a time. You can select instances (including
graphic symbols, buttons, movie clips, bitmaps, videos, or sounds), groups,
or text boxes. You cannot select shapes (such as rectangles) unless those
shapes are instances of symbols. You cannot select more than one object at
a time using keyboard shortcuts. Objects are selected on the Stage using the
following criteria:
■ If an object is currently selected, pressing Shift+Tab selects the
previous object.
■ Pressing Tab the first time selects the first object that was created on the
active frame in the active layer. When the last object on the top layer is
selected, pressing Tab moves to the next layer beneath it and selects the
first object there, and so on.
■ When the last object on the last layer is selected, pressing Tab moves to
the next frame and selects the first object on the top layer there.
■ Objects on layers that are hidden or locked cannot be selected with the
Tab key.
To select the Stage:
■ Press Control+Alt+Home (Windows) or Command+Option+Home
(Macintosh).
To select an object on the Stage:
■ With the Stage selected, press Tab.
NOTE
If you are currently typing text into a text box, you cannot select an object
using the keyboard focus. You must first change the focus to the Stage
and then select an object.
92 Flash Basics
Navigating tree controls using keyboard shortcuts
You can navigate tree structures, the hierarchical displays of file structures in
certain Flash panels, using keyboard shortcuts. You can expand and
collapse folders in the tree control and move up and down between parent
and child folders.
To navigate tree controls with keyboard shortcuts, do any of
the following:
■ To expand a collapsed folder, select the folder and press the Right
Arrow key.
■ To collapse an expanded folder, select the folder and press the Left
Arrow key.
■ To move to the parent folder of an expanded folder, press the Left
Arrow key.
■ To move to the child folder of an expanded folder, press the Right
Arrow key.
Working with library items using keyboard
shortcuts
You can cut, copy, and paste library items using keyboard shortcuts. You
can cut or copy an item from the Library panel and paste it onto the Stage
or into another library, or paste a folder into another library. If you paste a
folder, each item in the folder is included.
You can use keyboard shortcuts to select a library item. For more
information, see “Navigating tree controls using keyboard shortcuts”
on page 92.
Items are cut, copied, and pasted using the following criteria:
■ You can cut or copy one item or multiple items.
■ You cannot paste a shape from the Stage into the library.
■ You cannot paste a library item into a common library, because
common libraries cannot be modified. However, you can create a new
common library. For more information, see “Working with common
libraries” in Using Flash.
■ When you paste a library item onto the Stage, the item is centered.
■ To paste a library item into a folder in the destination library, you can
click the folder before pasting.
Getting to know the workspace 93
■ You can paste a library item into a different location in the same library
where it originated.
■ If you attempt to paste a library item into a location containing
another item by the same name, you can select whether to replace the
existing item.
To cut, copy, and paste library items using keyboard shortcuts:
■ To copy or paste a selected library item, press Control+X (Windows) or
Command+X (Macintosh) to cut the item, or press Control+C
(Windows) or Command+C (Macintosh) to copy the item.
■ To paste a cut or copied item, click the Stage or in another library to set
the insertion point, and press Control+V (Windows) or Command+V
(Macintosh) to paste in the center of the Stage, or press
Control+Shift+C (Windows) or Command+Shift+C (Macintosh) to
paste in place (in the same location as the original).