Hi,

Are you having this issue with all FLA files or just specific ones? If you create a new FLA file and add a symbol to the stage, can you give it an instance name?

Thanks,

Nivesh

bizarre, am seeing it too. Instance name is greyed out and non-editable.

I am having the exact same problem.  Very frustrating

I can confirm this is still an issue - and a huge one at that.  I have literally hundreds of CS5 files that I can now no longer work on unless i save them as CS4 files and work on them in CS4.  No matter if I reset or restart CS5 - now NO cs5 as2 file will allow me to rename the instance.   What an utterly disgusting bug - i'm now looking at dozens of hours to simple resave files so i can modify instance names - what a joke.  Adobe - any help?

Just realized that we jumped from CS3 to CS5. So I have no means to save backwards.

Adobe? Any kind of work around would really be helpful. My next step will be to reprogram in AS3, but my flash is VERY complicated and I have just a simple change. Really need to be able to edit the instance name.

-Kirk

I was having this same problem and found this thread. I actually tried quitting Flash and restarting and on the restart I was able to change the instance names again. Maybe an easier work around than the CS4 route.

Yikes.  I'm a member of this club too.

Just wanted to say that if you don't want to bother with saving your file as CS4, there's another way to get around this.

Just create classes for your assets, and then call them programmatically.  And, as you all probably know, in case you have loaders, don't export them for frame 1, or there'll be a delay before your loader appears.

update:  suddenly, I can access the instance input field in the property panel again.  I have no idea how it fixed itself, but I hope this happens for everyone else too.

This is really frustrating, i've resatred quite a few times and nothing. I dont' have CS4 or CS3 so saving back won't help and I'm only working on a banner so creating classes isn't an optoin.

I was able to tab into the field but that didnt' solve my issues as Flash is ignoring the instance names.

This needs to be fixed.

Actually this workaround is only good for un-named instances. If you want to change an existing instance name, you're out of luck unless you happen to get editable instance names in your property panel again by restarting Flash. 

These are for a client and I have to have everything on the stage (not my choice nor my prefered method of working), but it's required for this project. I think they want to be able to go and move things around and they don't have ayone that can work with the code.

It's also the only reason I use AS2.

All good. I think we're all frustrated with the bugs we're finding in CS5.

Earlier today I had my PhotoShop tool cursors all locked up and had to find a hack patch application to fix that.

NO word from Adobe on this? REALLY!?

We need a fix. Flash is in enough trouble as it is, with Apple effectively phasing it out. Give your current users some support. Fix this problem. And fix the ridiculous FONT display problem!

I was once sad that Flash is being phased out. Now I can't wait for everything to be HTML5.

I miss Macromedia.

Hi ,

Can anyone please provide me with some details . I have gone through the details  in  this thread and I couldnt reproduce this issue here  .

Is this happening when  creating a New Fla file in  CS5 or  Opening an existing previous version  Fla Files ?

Thanks

Sukhbir

Flash Authoring

My guess is that it'll be hard to replicate, because it is pretty erratic.

For me, periodically the instance name input field in the property panel  becomes unable to receive focus.   This has never happened with a new file, but happens when I've been working on a file for a while.

But I should add that when I first posted to this thread it was happening all the time.  Now it almost never happens, and when it does, quitting and re-starting Flash always fixes it.

But it is pretty clear from some of the other posts that this 'fix' doesn't work for everyone.

Hope that was helpful.

T

Sukhbir, I work in a team of a few people making ad banners. We all periodically experience this problem of losing access to the instance name in the properties panel when trying to name an object on the stage.

We're all on macs, running updated Flash CS5. Relaunching Flash sometimes fixes the problem, but not always.

Next time it happens, if I have a few minutes to spare I will try recreating my preference files.

Thanks

I too have been plagued with this issue of the INSTNACE NAME WINDOW in the properties panel of a movieclip being non editable.

You can simply upgrade to CS5.5.  That'll do the trick.  Although for those of you not incontrol of your company's software purchases, try this:

Simply click in the movieclip's WIDTH box and hit TAB key.  You will be taken into the INSTANCE name text box and will be able to modify...although the box will still be invisble to the mouse cursor.  BAM!!!!

Simple *** but still annoying work around!

FatSkeeter!

Hi all,

I came across the same problem twice till now!!

It happened on files which where perfectly working just the day before, so that makes me realise that it probably has to do with Flash IDE and not the file(s)

I solved it by doing the following:

1. Opened a new empty file

2. Created a new symbol and gave it a name

3. Then checked the properties panel and I was able to type/rename the instance name!

After that I opened my other files and I was able to work as normal!

I hope that will work for all of you, but still Adobe should fix it!!

As mentioned above, I'm also on a Mac, Lion OS X, Flash Pro CS5.5

Thank you

initcode

Hitting the TAB button as ski25 said, worked for me fine. It's not an elegant solution, but it works.

Must be a memory issue. I never had a problem 'til I had to start using an older Mac for a project, then had the same problem. So I closed Illustrator and a Flash project I had made to test, and the problem went away.

Had the same problem today CS6 - Cloud based, instance name not available, no other apps open, no memory problem 8GB ram available - closed and reopened app many times, created new AS3 files to no avail. Eventually created an AS2 file and the problem resolved at least for this session so far. Poor design to have this ongoing for so long for such expensive software used by so many making Adobe's pockets so deep.