TechNote (Archived)

Working with Libraries

Using symbols from other movies
Symbols that reside in the libraries of other pre-existing movies can be displayed and used in a new movie. It is not necessary to open the movie that contains the library in order to access the desired symbols. It is possible to reuse these symbols in a new movie, simply by adding the symbols to the current library.

To use symbols from another movie, do the following:

1	Choose File > Open as Library. Select a movie (FLA file). The movie's library opens in a new Library window. The commands in the Options menu are grayed-out, because they are unavailable.
2	To use items from the opened Library, drag an instance of that symbol from the Library's preview window to the stage. This will copy the symbol to the library of the current movie.

Deleting items from a Library
When developing a project, it may be desirable to remove unused elements from the library. Clearing out unnecessary symbols will make it easier to organize and access the graphics needed for the movie.

To delete an element from the movie's Library:

1	Select Window> Library
2	Select the library element to be deleted.
3	There are two ways to delete the item: Select the Options menu in the Library window. Choose Delete. Click the trash can icon at the bottom of the Library window.

Adding libraries to the Libraries menu
When many symbols are being reused from one Flash movie to another, it may be helpful to add an entire library to the Libraries menu, so that it may be easily accessed.

To add a Flash movie to the Libraries menu:

1	Quit Flash.
2	Find the FLA containing the library. Rename it using the name which should appear in the Libraries menu.
3	Copy the FLA containing the library to the Flash 4/Libraries folder: Windows- Usually C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Flash 4\Libraries Macintosh- Macromedia Flash 4:Libraries
4	Restart Flash. The Libraries menu will show the filename. Select the file to open the Library.

Additional information
Symbols from existing SWF files cannot be opened into Flash. Refer to Can a Flash Player movie (SWF) file be edited or imported? (TechNote 4109) for more information.