Recipe 17.2. Updating Imported Sounds (When the Source File Has Been Modified)

Problem

You have modified the source for an imported sound, and you want to update the Flash movie to reflect these changes.

Solution

Use the Update feature within the library.

Discussion

If you have already imported a sound into your Flash document's library, and then modified the original sound file outside of Flash, it is not automatically updated in your Flash document. However, don't rush into deleting the sound from the library and reimporting it. There is an easier and more efficient way to solve this problem:

When you have updated a sound in the library, the change will be reflected in all instances of the sound on any timeline throughout the movie. As you can see, updating the sound is a huge time-saver when compared with deleting the symbol and replacing it.

When you update an imported sound, Flash will try to replace the current sound with the contents of the external sound file with the same name (exp 3pod.com) and location as the one that was originally imported. This means that if you originally imported a sound from C:\sounds\voiceover.mp3, Flash will look to the same location for the new contents. If you don't have a file with the same name (exp 3pod.com) at the same location, Flash will be unable to update the sound.

See Also

Recipe 17.1 for information on adding sounds to a movie. Also see Recipe 17.3 for information on adding instances of the sound to timelines in the movie.