Lesson #11 Creating a New Document
Written By Daniel Mitchell

When you create and save Flash MX documents within the Flash environment, the documents are in FLA file format. To display a document in Macromedia Flash Player, you must publish or export the document as a SWF file.

You can add media assets to a document manage the assets in the library or use the Movie Explorer to view and organize all the elements in a Flash document. The Undo and Redo commands, the History panel, and the Commands menu let you automate tasks in a document.

As you work you can also create new Flash documents. The Document Properties dialog box is also very useful if you need to set the size, frame rate, background color or any other properties of the new document. You can also use the Property inspector to set properties for an existing document. In Windows, you can use the New File button to open a document of the same type as the last document created.

You can also open a Flash template as a new document and choose from standard templates that come with Flash or open a previously saved template.

To create a new document:

Select File > New or Press Ctrl+N

1. Select File > Open.
1. In the Open dialog box, find the file or enter the path to the file.
3. Click Open.

1. Choose File > New from Template.
2. In the New Document dialog box, select a category from the Category list, and select a document from the Category Items list.
3. Click OK.

Click the New File button in the main toolbar to create a new document of the same type as the last document created.

Using Document Tabs for Multiple Documents

When you open multiple documents on the platform, tabs at the top of the Document window identify the open documents and let you easily navigate between them. Tabs are displayed only when documents are maximized in the Document window.

To make a document active, you click its tab. Tabs are displayed in the order in which the documents were created. You cannot drag tabs to change their order.

To view a document when multiple documents are open:
• Click the document tab.