WELCOME > STEP 1: REPLACING TEXT

1. Open the .FLA file from your downloaded Free Sample Flash Intro directory.

2. Make sure the timeline is visible and the movie is rewound to the beginning (the pink square in the timeline ruler highlights frame 1). You can rewind the movie by selecting Control>Rewind. Adjust zooming by using View>Magnification.

3. Play the movie step-by-step by using Control>Step Forward or typing '.' (a dot). Search the scene for text that needs to be changed.
4. When you've found the text you wish to change switch to the Arrow  Tool (use Window>Tools to display and hide Toolbox).
5. Make sure the needed text symbol can be selected. Click it with the Arrow  Tool and proceed to step 1.8 if successful (if there's a blue box around the symbol and a black cross over it display). Or else go to the next step.

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6. Identify the layer to which the text symbol belongs to by trying to make layers transparent or displaying contents in contours. When you find the needed layer select the keyframe in which the symbol appears for the first time. The symbol should get selected automatically. If one keyframe does not work try successive keyframes - it does not matter from which keyframe you start editing the symbol. If successful go to step 1.8, or else go to the next step.

7. Display the Library Window by selecting Window>Library and find the text you need by scrolling through all symbols in the movie.

8. If you were able to select the symbol with a click go to symbol editing mode by right-clicking it and selecting Edit. If you located the symbol in the Library double-click on symbol icon.

9. When in symbol editing mode select the Text  Tool and click on the scene to create a single-line autosize textbox. Type and highlight the text, make sure the Character tab displays (if not, select Window>Panels>Character) and match text appearance as well as you can using options provided in the character formatting tab.

10. When finished formatting the text switch to the Arrow  Tool and select the text block. Select Modify>Break Apart to transform text into curves. This makes it impossible to edit the text in future but playback becomes more robust on various systems.

11. Finally, delete the initial text block and drag the one you created in its place. Return to movie editing mode by selecting Edit>Movie.

Note that, though infrequently, symbols themselves can be animated movies with their own layers, keyframes, tweening, and embedded symbols. You can freely apply the above described movie editing procedures (1.2 and 1.8) to animated symbols.