Flash Reference Guide - Creating and using symbols

Symbol creation requires selecting the object and clicking Insert - Convert to Symbol. This brings up the Symbols Properties window where you can specify a Name for the symbol and its Behavior. Symbols can have one of the three Behaviors, Graphic, Button or Movie Clip.

Graphic symbols can contain static objects or animations (though it is recommended that animations are stored as Movie Clips). As you have seen in the previous session, Instances of Graphic symbols can be modified to yield completely different looking graphics.
(Creating instances and changing their properties are discussed in detail in following sessions).

Button symbols help in gathering user events such as mouse movement, mouse button clicks etc. They form the basis of mouse interactivity in Flash movies.

Movie Clip symbols have many uses. They can contain animations which run on their own time line. This means that Movie Clip animations are independent of the main movie time line.

Button and Moive Clip symbols are explained in detail along with examples in the Advanced Flash Tutorial.

Let's create a Graphic symbol.

Step 1
Draw a circle on the main movie stage, select it and click Insert - Convert to Symbol.

Step 2
In the Symbol Properties window, type circle in the name field, set the Behavior to Graphic and click on OK.
(Note: Two symbols even if their behaviors are different cannot have the same name.)

You'll notice that the circle is now surrounded by a square boundary. It signifies that the object has been turned into a symbol.
Additionally, Flash places a copy of the symbol in the Symbols Library.

Step 3
Click Window - Library to display the Symbols Library. The library lists all the symbols attached to the Flash file. The Library also displays a thumbnail view of the symbol.

The next session will tell you how to make an instance of the circle symbol.