Setting Preferences

Flash has a wide range of preference settings that let you control everything from the number of Undos you can perform to the way objects are selected. In this lesson, you'll check to make sure that most of your preferences are set to Flash's defaults and learn what many of the preferences actually do.
Choose Edit > Preferences (Flash > Preferences in Mac OS X) to display the Preferences window. Click the General tab, set the Undo Levels to 50, and make sure the other preferences are set as shown in the figure below.
Undo Levels controls the number of steps that Flash remembers. If you need to make corrections to your work, Flash will be able to revert by the number of steps set in the Undo Levels field. With the setting at 50 steps, you should be able to undo almost any mistake. But you should also be aware that each step is saved in memory. With a high Undo Levels setting, your computer might start slowing after you complete several tasks. If you notice your computer slowing and it starts causing problems, return to the Preferences window and lower the Undo Levels setting.
The options checked in the General tab of the Preferences window are Shift Select and Show Tooltips. Selecting Shift Select lets you add to a selection by holding down the Shift key when you click additional objects. Clicking an additional object without holding down Shift simply selects that object. If Shift Select is off, objects are added to a selection as you click them—you don't have to hold down Shift. (If this doesn't make sense to you, don't worry about it; we'll cover it later in the book. Right now, you only need to make sure that your preferences are set correctly.) Show Tooltips is a quick help system, handy for novices. When Show Tooltips is checked, a Tooltip or label, appears whenever you pause the pointer over a control.