If you feel like me and don’t like the new naming convention when duplicating a symbol in the library of Adobe Flash CS5 maybe here’s a solution.

The situation

By default the name for a new duplicated symbol is something like this:

• Kopie von NAME_OF_SYMBOL .. (german)
• Copy of NAME_OF_SYMBOL .. (english)

How ugly is that ? Instead of just hitting the backspace to remove the “copy-part” you have to use the mouse and/or several key strokes to get rid of it.
I want it more like this:

• NAME_OF_SYMBOL Kopie
• NAME_OF_SYMBOL copy

So here is how to do it ..

The solution

Close your Flash if it’s running and go for a hunt for a file named “fl_dictionary.dat” and open it in your favourite editor. It’s a alway a good idea to make a backup before making any changes. ;)

Assuming you’ve got installed Textmate and you’re on:

• OSX, in a terminal it is:

  find /Applications -iname "fl_dictionary.dat" -print0 | xargs -0 mate

• M$, in the shell it is:

  .. uhm, could you provide something .. ? (leave a comment and i’ll add it …)

Now search for "Kopie von %s" or "Copy of %s" (without the quotes) and change it to what ever you want to see when duplicating a symbol. The %s is the placeholder for the symbol you’re going to duplicate later. I changed my to “%s copy” which gives me the above mentioned format of NAME_OF_SYMBOL copy.
Save the file restart Flash and (hopefully) you’ll see your made changes.

That’s it ..
Feel free to spread and or leave a comment below..

Regards
~David