3.11. Using Guide Layers
Problem
You want to add to a layer content that you do not want to be published.
Solution
Put the content on a guide layer.
Discussion
Guide layers can be used to store elements visible on the stage during authoring, which do not export with the .swf file. Guide layers have a number of potential uses:
- Meta information
Instructions or notes left for oneself or other developers.
- Alignment
To align several elements in different layers to a path, draw the path in a guide layer, and then drag each of the elements to it.
- Asset repository
Store assets in a guide layer for easy viewing and retrieval. In most cases, the library is a more sensible solution for this purpose, but the library can preview only one asset at a time, and you may need to choose from several actual size assets.
To create a guide layer, follow these steps:
Create a new layer.
Populate it with content, as needed, and fill it out with keyframes and frames as needed.
Convert it to a guide layer. To do so, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) the layer, and choose Guide from the context menu. Alternatively, you can specify a layer as a guide layer from the Layer Properties dialog box (Modify → Timeline → Layer Properties). You can revert a guide layer back to a regular layer the same way.
After the layer has been converted to a guide layer, the layer icon (to the left of the layer name) changes to a T-square tool.
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