# setMask doesn't work from within a symbol?

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/setmask-doesnt-work-from-within-a-symbol/245548>\
**Category:** flash\
**Created:** [November 30, 2007, 8:00pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/setmask-doesnt-work-from-within-a-symbol/245548 "2007-11-30T20:00:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![shuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@shuga](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/shuga)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 8:00pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/setmask-doesnt-work-from-within-a-symbol/245548/1 "2007-11-30T20:00:06Z")

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I’ve attached two files that are exactly the same except in Mask\_symbol.fla I copied the frames from the \_root and put them in a symbol.

When you open the files you’ll see the mask on the \_root gets applied at runtime like it should but once you take the exact same frames and put them inside a symbol it no longer works.

The paths used to reference the objects are relative so i don’t think it’s a path reference issue.

Can anyone help?