Using the Movie Explorer

The Movie Explorer provides an easy way for you to view and organize the contents of a document and select elements in the document for modification. It contains a display list of currently used elements, arranged in a navigable hierarchical tree. You can filter which categories of items in the document are displayed in the Movie Explorer, choosing from text, graphics, buttons, movie clips, actions, and imported files. You can display the selected categories as scenes, symbol definitions, or both. And you can expand and collapse the navigation tree.

The Movie Explorer offers many features to streamline the workflow for creating documents. For example, you can use the Movie Explorer to do the following:

The Movie Explorer has an options menu as well as a context menu with options for performing operations on selected items or modifying the Movie Explorer display. The options menu is indicated by a check mark with a triangle below it in the title bar of the Movie Explorer.

To view the Movie Explorer:

Select Window > Other Panels > Movie Explorer.

To filter the categories of items displayed in the Movie Explorer:

To show text, symbols, ActionScript, imported files, or frames and layers, click one or more of the filtering buttons to the right of the Show option. To customize which items to show, click the Customize button. Select options in the Show area of the Movie Explorer Settings dialog box to view those elements.
From the options menu in Movie Explorer, select Show Movie Elements to display items in scenes.
From the options menu in Movie Explorer, select Show Symbol Definitions to display information about symbols.
Note: Both the Movie Elements option and the Symbol Definitions option can be active at the same time.

To search for an item using the Find text box:

In the Find text box, enter the item name, font name, ActionScript string, or frame number. The Find feature searches all items currently displayed in the Movie Explorer.

To select an item in the Movie Explorer:

Click the item in the navigation tree. Shift-click to select more than one item.
The full path for the selected item appears at the bottom of the Movie Explorer. Selecting a scene in the Movie Explorer displays the first frame of that scene on the Stage. Selecting an element in the Movie Explorer selects that element on the Stage if the layer containing the element is not locked.

To use the Movie Explorer options menu or context menu commands:

Do one of the following:
- To view the options menu, click the options menu control in the Movie Explorer's title bar.
- To view the context menu, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) an item in the Movie Explorer navigation tree.
Select an option from the menu:
Go to Location jumps to the selected layer, scene, or frame in the document.

Go to Symbol Definition jumps to the symbol definition for a symbol that is selected in the Movie Elements area of the Movie Explorer. The symbol definition lists all the files associated with the symbol. (The Show Symbol Definitions option must be selected. See the option definition below.)

Select Symbol Instances jumps to the scene containing instances of a symbol that is selected in the Symbol Definitions area of the Movie Explorer. (The Show Movie Elements option must be selected.)

Find in Library highlights the selected symbol in the document's library (Flash opens the Library panel if it is not already visible).

Rename lets you enter a new name for a selected element.

Edit in Place lets you edit a selected symbol on the Stage.

Edit in New Window lets you edit a selected symbol in a new window.

Show Movie Elements displays the elements in your document organized into scenes.

Show Symbol Definitions displays all the elements associated with a symbol.

Copy All Text to Clipboard copies selected text to the Clipboard. You can paste the text into an external text editor for spell checking or other editing.

Cut, Copy, Paste, and Clear perform these common functions on a selected element. Modifying an item in the display list modifies the corresponding item in the document.

Expand Branch expands the navigation tree at the selected element.

Collapse Branch collapses the navigation tree at the selected element.

Collapse Others collapses the branches in the navigation tree not containing the selected element.

Print prints the hierarchical display list currently displayed in the Movie Explorer.