Create instances

After you create a symbol, you can create instances of that symbol throughout your document, including inside other symbols. When you modify the symbol, Flash updates all instances of the symbol.

You can give names to instances from the Property inspector. Use the instance name to refer to an instance in ActionScript. To control instances with ActionScript, give each instance within a single timeline a unique name. For more information, see Handling Events in Learning ActionScript 2.0 in Adobe Flash or Handling events in Programming ActionScript 3.0.

To specify color effects, assign actions, set the graphic display mode, or change the behavior of new instances, use the Property inspector. The behavior of the instance is the same as the symbol behavior, unless you specify otherwise. Any changes you make affect only the instance and not the symbol.

For a video tutorial about using symbols and instances, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0122.

For a text tutorial about symbols and instances, see Create Symbols and Instances on the Flash Tutorials page at www.adobe.com/go/learn_fl_tutorials.

Create an instance of a symbol

Select a layer in the Timeline. Flash can place instances only in keyframes, always on the current layer. If you don’t select a keyframe, Flash adds the instance to the first keyframe to the left of the current frame.
Note: A keyframe is a frame in which you define a change in the animation. For more information, see Manage frames and keyframes in the Timeline.
Select Window > Library.
Drag the symbol from the library to the Stage.
If you created an instance of a graphic symbol, to add the number of frames that will contain the graphic symbol, select Insert > Timeline > Frame.

Apply a custom name to an instance

Select the instance on the Stage.
Select Window > Properties > Properties, and enter a name in the Instance Name box.

This page on the Web