Flash Basics > Flash preferences
Flash preferencesFlash allows you to set preferences for general application operations, editing operations, and Clipboard operations.
To set Flash preferences, you use the Edit > Preferences submenu. See also Choosing drawing settings.
To set preferences:
1 | Choose Edit > Preferences. |
2 | Click the General, Editing, or Clipboard tab, and choose from the respective options. |
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To set general preferences, choose from the following options:
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For Undo Levels, enter a value from 0 to 200 to set the number of undo/redo levels. Undo levels require memory; the more undo levels you use, the more system memory is taken up. |
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For Printing Options (Windows only), select Disable PostScript to disable PostScript output when printing to a PostScript printer. By default, this option is deselected. Select this option if you have problems printing to a PostScript printer. Selecting this option will slow down printing to a PostScript printer. |
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For Selection Options, select Shift Select to control how Flash handles selection of multiple elements. When Shift Select is off, clicking additional elements adds them to the current selection. When Shift Select is on, clicking additional elements deselects other elements unless you hold down the Shift key. |
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Select Show Tooltips to display tooltips when the pointer pauses over a window emblem. Deselect this option if you don't want to see the tooltips. |
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For Timeline Options, select Disable Timeline Docking to keep the Timeline from attaching itself to the application window once it has been separated into its own window. See also Using the Timeline. |
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Select Use Flash 4 Selection Style to display selected frames with the highlighting style used in Flash 4. |
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Select Show Blank Keyframes to indicate blank keyframes with hollow circles. |
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For Highlight Color, select Use This Color and select a color from the color box control, or select Use Layer Color to use the current layer's outline color. |
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For Actions Panel, select Normal Mode to create actions using controls in the panel, or select Expert Mode to create actions by entering ActionScript in the text box in the panel. |
To set editing preferences, choose from the following options:
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For Pen Tool Options, see Setting Pen tool preferences. |
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For Drawing Settings, see Choosing drawing settings. |
To set Clipboard preferences, choose from the following options:
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For Bitmaps (Windows only), select options for Color Depth and Resolution to specify these parameters for bitmaps copied to the Clipboard. Select Smooth to apply anti-aliasing. Enter a value for Size Limit to specify the amount of RAM that is used when putting a bitmap image on the Clipboard. Increase this value when working with large or high-resolution bitmap images. If your computer has limited memory, choose None. |
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For Gradients (Windows only), choose an option to specify the quality of gradient fills placed in the Windows Metafile. Choosing a higher quality increases the time required to copy artwork. Use this setting to specify gradient quality when pasting items to a location outside of Flash. When you are pasting within Flash, the full gradient quality of the copied data is preserved regardless of the Gradients on Clipboard setting. |
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For PICT Settings (Macintosh only), for Type, select Objects to preserve data copied to the Clipboard as vector artwork, or select one of the bitmap formats to convert the copied artwork to a bitmap. Enter a value for Resolution. Select Include Postscript to include PostScript data. For Gradients, choose an option to specify gradient quality in the PICT. Choosing a higher quality increases the time required to copy artwork. Use the Gradients setting to specify gradient quality when pasting items to a location outside of Flash. When you are pasting within Flash, the full gradient quality of the copied data is preserved regardless of the Gradient setting. |
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For FreeHand Text, select Maintain Text as Blocks to keep text editable in a pasted FreeHand file. |