Naming instances of Symbols

[LionelD]

I use Symbols intensively, and I’ve found it useful to name each instance differently so I know what role it plays.  I found this very helpful in designs that have multiple instances of a given Symbol, each in a different orientation, because I find it easier to edit a Symbol (for example, adding a curve) in the vertical orientation than one that’s rotated, say 75.3 degrees.  I know I can rotate the canvas, but that’s too much for my head at the moment.

In the current version of Designer (both iPad and Mac), renaming any single instance of a Symbol in the Layers Studio renames all instances of that Symbol, making them all the same - at least, on my iPad and MacBook.  So, if I have 6 instances of a given Symbol, I can’t identify the one that’s easiest to edit from it’s name in the Layers studio because those names all become the same.  I have to count (assuming an orderly layout and listing), or I have to hunt and peck to find an easy target for the change.

Note: I’m referring to the name by which an instance of a Symbol appears in the Layers Studio as distinct from the name attached to the definition of the Symbol in the Symbols studio.  Older files (AD iPad 1.6),  in which each instance of a Symbol has a different name, open with the original naming; renaming an instance of a Symbol in the Layers Studio renames all of them.  In new files (current versions), you get the same renaming behaviour, and there’s no point in time at which instances of a given Symbol can have different names.

Is this the intended behaviour?

Is there a setting I can change?

Regards

[LionelD]

It’s becoming more and more weird.  In a new document I have two instances of the same Symbol; when I select one in the Layers Studio, hide it, both go into hiding. Thankfully I can use the same method to bring them back out of hiding.  This is all on iPad.

I’d appreciate any help, please.

Regards

[DM1]

I may be wrong but I thought whatever you did to one symbol effected all instances of that symbol in the document. You need to select an individual symbol in document and unlink it in the layer studio with the Synch button to make an individual edit. You can relink it afterwards by turning Synch button back on.

[LionelD]

@DM1 Thanks for your feedback. My experience is the same as yours, except I have not been successful re-establishing synchronization - probably finger trouble or ignorance on my part.  I’ve made major changes to the graphical content in a Symbol numerous times, and that has behaved flawlessly.  I seldom disable synchronization, so have limited experience with it.  At the moment I believe the strange behaviour is mostly the renaming I described.

The  documents in question generally define one Symbol, and, at a guess, from 20 to perhaps 100 instances of the Symbol.

I’m not certain yet, but I think I may have files that behave inconsistently; if I confirm that, it might indicate that there’s a setting somewhere that explains things.

Regards

[LionelD]

This issue continues to be a problem for me, so I’m really hoping for some help and/or feedback.

I found a discussion at 

which appears to be related, in spite of the part of the forum where it’s posted (Windows, Designer Beta).

I’ve attached sample files that illustrate the problem.  Each file contains 6 instances of a single Symbol; the Symbol is private to its host file - I’m not trying to synchronize Symbols across files.

This table summarizes the results.

File	iPad	Macbook
Symbol Naming - iPad - Instances Named Independently	Symbol instances named independently in Layers Studio	Symbol instances named independently in Layers Studio
Symbol Naming - Mac - Rename Propogates	Symbol instances named independently in Layers Studio	Instance names in Layers Studio propagate on rename.

The first file permits instances of a given Symbol to have different names in the Layers Studio on both iPad and Mac.  This suggests the problem is not specific to iPad or Mac.

The second file permits instances to have independent names on the iPad, but synchronizes instance names in the Layers Studio.  To me, this suggests there’s a difference between the two files.  Any thoughts, please?

I appreciate the logic in @Aammppaa‘s suggestion in the referenced thread (Instance name should include a reference to the source Symbol) because that seems to deliver the best of both worlds.

Regards

Symbol Naming - iPad - Instances Named Independently.afdesign

Symbol Naming - Mac - Rename Propogates.afdesign

[LionelD]

Cross-posted to 

for further action please.

Regards