A typical workflow consists of building your Flex and ActionScript projects with the Build Automatically option enabled. During the development process, Flex Builder gives you errors and warnings in the Problems view. When you run your application, a debug version of the SWF file is placed in the project output (bin) folder along with required assets and an HTML wrapper. This build contains debug information and is suitable for developer use only. For more information about exporting projects, see Exporting projects.

When your application is ready to deploy, you create an optimized, release-quality version of your application using the Export Release Build wizard. This stores the SWF file in the bin-release folder. Since debug information is removed, the file size is smaller. This version is a production build that can be viewed by end users. For Adobe AIR projects, AIR applications are exported to an AIR file. You use Export Release Build to create a digitally signed AIR file, which users must install before running an application (similar to an install.exe). For more information, see Export Release Build.

Adobe LiveCycle Data Services ES projects may instead be compiled on the server when accessed. For more information, see Managing projects.

For library projects, you do not have to export. The SWC file built by a Flex library project is suitable for both developer and production use. For more information see About library projects.