Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Killer Tips

Eventually we'll all be using Flash MX 2004, and Flash MX will be history. In the meantime, you may need to save your work in Flash MX format to stay compatible with those who are behind the times. The good news is that you can do this easily by choosing Save As and then choosing Flash MX as your format. The bad news is that every time you want to save changes you've made to your file, Flash will try to save in the new 2004 format. Do you think Macromedia is trying to tell us something?

Okay, so there's really no solution to this, but here's something that can reduce the annoyance. Save the file as Flash MX 2004 while you work. When you're done and need to share the file with someone still working in the dark ages of last month, you can choose Save As and convert to Flash MX format. Make sure you don't use newer features found in 2004 or you'll lose your work when you convert. Yes, you'll get a warning about Library Data and Unicode, but you can ignore it as long as you haven't actually applied any Flash MX 2004-only features. The warning will show up by default whether you actually have used new features or not.