What Is a Symbol?

A symbol is an item stored in the library to be used once or multiple times throughout your Flash file. This is a benefit of symbols, not only because of file size, but also because of ease of changes. If you edit a symbol, all copies of that symbol will reflect the changes of the original. All symbols are kept in the library (which we discuss later in this chapter) and can be accessed through the library at any time during authoring. When you drag a symbol from the library onto the stage, you create an instance of that symbol.