Create a Program

• You can better understand the rollover text effect in Flash CS5 if you create an instance of it. Begin by opening the Flash CS5 development environment, and clicking the "New" command from the "File" menu to create a new project. Flash will prompt you with options for the new project. Click "OK" to accept the default parameters and create the new project.
  
  

Adding Text

• The rollover text effect wouldn't be possible without text. Create some by first clicking the tool palette icon shaped like a "T." Click anywhere on the canvas in the development environment to indicate the position of the text's first character. Type any text you'd like, such as "Watch this text change!"
  
  

Symbols

• The rollover text effect doesn't work with Flash's Text objects directly, but on Symbols, which are graphical elements like buttons or custom images, to which you can assign actions. To create a symbol of the text you made with the Text tool, first click the tool palette icon shaped like a black arrow to run the Selection tool. Right-click the text, and then click "Convert to symbol." Flash will prompt you with options for the new symbol, including the "Button" option. Click the "Button" item from the "Type" dropdown menu, and then click "OK" to create the symbol.
  
  

Editing the Symbol

• Applying rollover text effect isn't possible in Flash's default "Scene" mode, but it is in its button-editing mode. Enter that mode by first exposing the Library palette, which holds a reference to the text symbol to which you want to apply the rollover text effect. Click the Window menu's "Library" item to display the library panel, and then double click the "Symbol" item in the panel to enter editing mode.
  
  

Keyframe

• The rollover text effect is a kind of animation that relies on keyframes. The specific type of keyframe the rollover text effect requires is one for the Over state, which the Timeline panel has a column for. Right-click inside that column and click "Insert keyframe" to make a new keyframe for the Over state.
  
  

Change the Text

• After making a new keyframe for the Over state, change the text so it will change when you pass the mouse over it during program execution. A color change is an easy change to make. Click your text to select it, and then click the color swatch in the tool palette that's under the paint bucket icon. Click a color from the color palette that appears, and then exit editing mode by clicking the "Scene" button at the top left of the canvas.
  
  

Preview and Publish

• View your rollover text effect by clicking the "File" menu's "Preview" command, and moving your mouse over the text you changed. The text will show the same change you designed into it during the editing phase of the text. Publish the rollover text effect program by clicking the "Publish" item from the "File" menu.