Swapping One Symbol Instance for Another

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Flash allows you to replace one symbol instance with another while retaining all the modifications you've made in the symbol instance. If, for example, you want to change the look of a logo in certain places in your site but not everywhere, you can create the new logo as a separate symbol and swap it in as need . (If you want to change the look for every instance, you could edit the master logo symbol directly, as you learn to do in "Editing Master Symbols" later in the chapter.) You perform symbol swapping in the Property Inspector (Figure 6.27).

Figure 6.27. The Swap button in the Property Inspector lets you replace a selected symbol instance with an instance of a different symbol from the same document. (Choose Window >Properties to access the inspector if it is not already open .)

To switch symbols:

1. On the Stage, select the symbol instance you want to change.

2. In the Property Inspector, click the Swap Symbol button.

   The Swap Symbol dialog box appears, listing all the symbols in the current document's library (Figure 6.28). In the Windows operating systems, Flash highlights the name of the symbol you're modifying and places a bullet next to its name in the Symbol list.

   Figure 6.28. Select a replacement symbol from the list in the Swap Symbol dialog box, and click OK to exchange one symbol for another.

   

3. From the Symbol list, select the replacement symbol.

   The original symbol remains bulleted; Flash highlights the new symbol and places it in the preview window.

4. Click OK.

   Flash places the new symbol on the Stage, locating the new object where the old one was located and applying any modifications you previously made for that instance (Figure 6.29).

   Figure 6.29. When you swap symbols, any modifications you have made for the selected instance you're swapping apply to the replacement instance.

   

Tips

• To swap symbols quickly, double-click the new symbol in the Swap Symbol dialog box. Flash replaces it and closes the dialog box.

• The Duplicate Symbol button in the Swap Symbol dialog box allows you to make a copy of whatever symbol is selected in the list. If you know you need to tweak the master version of the replacement symbol for this instance but also want to keep the current version, create a duplicate and select it as the replacement. You can edit the duplicate's master symbol later.

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