Flash Basics > Using the Movie Explorer

The Movie Explorer provides an easy way for you to view and organize the content of a movie and select elements in the movie for modification. It offers many features to streamline the workflow for creating movies. For example, you can use the Movie Explorer to do the following:

	Search for an element in a movie by name
	Display the properties panel for a selected element to perform modifications
	Familiarize yourself with the structure of a Flash movie created by another developer
	Find all the instances of a particular symbol or action
	Replace all occurrences of a font with another font
	View name/value pairs for Macromedia Generator Objects
	Copy text to the Clipboard to paste into an external text editor for spell checking
	Print the navigable display list currently displayed in the Movie Explorer

The Movie Explorer contains a display list, a list of movie contents arranged in a navigable hierarchical tree. You can filter which categories of items in the movie are displayed in the Movie Explorer, choosing from text, graphics, buttons, movie clips, actions, imported files, and Generator Objects. You can display the selected categories as movie elements (scenes), symbol definitions, or both. You can expand and collapse the navigation tree.

The Movie Explorer has a pop-up options menu and a context menu with options for performing operations on selected items or modifying the Movie Explorer display. The pop-up options menu is indicated by a triangle in the Movie Explorer's upper right corner.

To view the Movie Explorer:

Choose Window > Movie Explorer.

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

	Click one or more of the filtering buttons to the right of the Show option to show text, symbols, ActionScript, imported files, or frames and layers. 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 pop-up menu in the upper right corner of the Movie Explorer, choose Show Movie Elements to display items in scenes, and choose Show Symbol Definitions to display information about symbols. (Both options 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, frame number, or Generator Object name or value pair. 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 pop-up menu or context menu commands:

1	Do one of the following:
	To view the pop-up menu, click the triangle in the Movie Explorer's upper right corner.
	To view the context menu, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) an item in the Movie Explorer navigation tree.
2	Select an option from the menu:
	Goto Location jumps to the selected layer, scene, or frame in the movie.
	Goto 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 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. See option definition below.)
	Find in Library highlights the selected symbol in the movie's library (Flash opens the Library window if it is not already visible).
	Properties opens the appropriate panel or panels for the selected element. (Some elements may have more than one panel associated with them.)
	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 movie, organized into scenes.
	Show Symbol Definitions displays all the elements associated with a symbol.
	Copy 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 element in the movie.
	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.