Toolbars | Learn GIS

Standard Toolbar

The Standard Toolbar in ArcMap is the place to find all your Windows-based buttons such as Save, Open, Print, Undo/Redo.

New

Closes (prompts to save) the current MXD and launches a new, blank version.

Open

Opens a window to find and launch a saved MXD.
Note: This does NOT add data to the current map session. That is accomplished with “Add Data”

Save

Saves the current MXD. Launches a window to designate a name and a place if the MXD had not been saved previously. Simply overwrites for all subsequent saves.

Print

Prints the current view, either what is seen in the current extent of Data View or the layout if in Layout View.

Cut

Cuts the currently selected feature.
In an edit session in Data View, this will cut the feature (which can then be copied or pasted in another layer).
In Layout View, this will cut the map element.

Copy

Copies a selected feature.
In an edit session in Data View, this will copy a selected feature.
In Layout View, this will copy a selected map element.

Paste

Pastes a selected feature.
In an edit session in Data View, this will paste a selected feature which has been cut or copied from one layer to another. For example, if you digitized a building in a forest layer, instead of re-digitizing it, the feature can be cut and pasted from the incorrect and into the correct layer.

Delete

Deletes the currently selected item.
In an edit session in Data View, this will delete a selected feature. This accomplishes the same thing as the delete feature in an attribute table, but is not limited to only that specific layer. Works well when used with Interactive Selection.
In Layout View, this will delete a selected map element.

Undo

Undoes whatever action was just taken.
Note: Will not work in an edit session if the edits had already been saved.
Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + Z

Redo

Redoes the last action taken.
Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl + Y

Add Data

Opens the ‘Add Data’ Dialog box for adding data of all types to ArcMap

Double-click to open items that house other items, such as a folder or feature datset.
You will know what items are data and what items are “containers” for other data based upon the icon
- Review File Icons
Windows keyboard commands such as control click and shift click to select multiple items or lists of items, respectively, work in ArcGIS

Add Basemap...

Opens the dialog box to add one of twelve basemaps from ArcGIS Online.

These maps are streaming over the internet, thus the speed of drawing will be based upon your internet speed.
These basemaps are in WGS 84 Web Mercator, and unless your project is in the same projection, take care when digitizing and georeferencing data to streaming basemaps. You may be effecting you overall accuracy and precision.

Add Data from ArcGIS Online

Opens a dialog box to search for free and paid data (marked with ArcGIS Online Subscription Required) saved on ESRI’s servers.

Click the Add button to add the layer to your MXD
When you add the data to your computer, it’s saving it in a temporary location. You should first export the data (selected if you only need a portion) before completing any editing or geoprocessing/analysis.

Map Scale

Shows and sets the scale for the active data frame. Scales can be typed into the box (you can skip the “1:”) and set with the enter key or the dropdown can be used to select a pre-set scale level (or set a custom level)

Editor Toolbar

The editor toolbar button toggles the Editor toolbar on and off.
Note: You can also toggle the toolbar with the Customize menu --> Toolbars and clicking the ‘Editor’ name.

Toggles the Table of Contents on and off. If the Table of Contents was closed, use this button to get it back.

Catalog Window

Toggles the Catalog window on and off. If the Catalog window was closed, use this button to get it back.

Search Window

Toggles the Search window on and off. If the Search window was closed, use this button to get it back.

ArcToolbox

Toggles the ArcToolbox window on and off. If the ArcToolbox was closed, use this button to get it back.

Python Window

Opens the Python window to enter and run commands.

Model Builder

Opens the Model Builder window to build, edit, save, and run models.

Tools Toolbar

The ‘Tools Toolbar’ is one of the four common toolbars in ArcGIS. This toolbar includes things like zoom, pan, select by shape, and measure.

The light blue box shows which tool is currently active. In this case, it is the black select elements arrow. This is the default “does nothing” tool.

Clicking on your map with the black arrow will select things in layout view, but doesn’t do a whole lot in data view, thus it’s safe to have on and not fear moving or messing with stuff

Zoom In/Zoom Out

The Zoom In and Zoom Out tools allow you to draw a box on the map with the tool active and zoom into or out from a portion of the map. For example, if you wanted to zoom to just the State of Colorado, select the Zoom In tool and draw a box around the state’s boundary.

Pan

The Pan tool is used to move the data around within the same extent (zoom level). Once you’ve zoomed in or out from the data, the pan tool will allow you to look at it. Panning can also be accomplished by:
1.Pressing and holding the center mouse button, and
2. Using the Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys on the keyboard

Identify

The identify button will open the “Identify” dialog box displaying the attributes of the feature clicked on. Use this tool to interactively find out information of features on your map.

Select Features

An interactive arrow which allows you to select features by clicking on the map instead of using the attribute table. Use the shift click to select multiple values when in Create a New Selection mode Used in conjunction with the Interactive Selection Method in the Selection Menu

The Interactive Selection tool has five options of tools to use with your data.

Select by Rectangle This tool is used as both the “single feature” tool, that is to say, the tool used to single click and select one feature, as well as it’s ability to draw a rectangle and select all the features inside it.

Select by Polygon This tool is used by drawing a polygon (thee or more clicks anywhere that connect the dots and close the shape) and selecting all the features that fall within or along it’s boundaries.

Select by Lasso This tool selects features when a shape is drawn by holding the left mouse button and dragging a shape around. When the lasso is closed, all the features inside or intersecting the boundary of the lasso are selected.

Select by Circle This tool will select any feature that falls inside or along the boundary of a drawn circle

Select by Line This tool will select any feature intersecting a line drawn by clicking two or more times, after the tool connects the dots

Clear Selected

Clears all selected features in all layers. If there are no selected features anywhere in the map, this option will be grayed out.
Note: If you’d like to clear the selection from only one layer, use the clear selected button found either in the attribute table’s Table Action Buttons or in the View by Selected Table of Contents view.

Go to Previous/Next Extent

These buttons will step through the last and next extents. If you zoom out, then pan from Colorado to Florida, the zoom in on Miami, the Last Extent button will return to the view of Florida, then with another click to Colorado, then with a third click, the United States. The Next Extent button will step forward through that sequence. Thise buttons are similar to the “back” and “next” buttons in a web browser.

Select Elements

The Select Elements tool is used to select items other than features for editing.
This can also be considered the “nothing” tool, which will release most other tools from being active.
In Layout View, the Select Elements tool will select the different elements.

Fixed Zoom In/Fixed Zoom Out

Fixed Zoom In and Fixed Zoom Out will step-zoom the map in or our at pre-defined intervals.

Full Extent

The full extent button will zoom your map to the default or defined largest extent of all layers in the map (by default) or the level defined in the extent used by the full extent command section under the Data Frame tab in the Data Frame Properties.
Note: The full extent button is a ‘single click button’ and does the action immediately. It does not open a tool which changes your cursor so you can interact with the map.

Measure

The measure tool is used to measure areas and distances on your map.
• Segment is between clicks
• Length is the total of all clicks

Go to XY

Used to jump to a specific point on the map.

Gotoxydialog

Supported coordinate forms (Units, above - found under the drop down arrow):

Decimal degrees
Degrees Minutes Seconds
Degrees Decimals Degrees
MGRS
U.S. National Grid
UTM

Once a coordinate pair is defined, the tool allows you to:

Pan to (centers the point at the current extent)
Zoom to (zooms to the point at the smallest extent possible)
Flash point (map doesn’t move, but point ‘flashes’ and two laser lines zoom across the screen to mark the point)
Add point (adds a graphical representation of the point. This point is not saved anywhere but in your MXD as a graphic)
Add labeled point (same as ‘Add point’ but adds a label)
Add Callout (adds a callout graphic with the coordinates labeled inside)
Use the ‘Recent’ list (found between the callout and units buttons) to scroll through other coordinates you’ve typed in within this MXD ONLY

Layout Toolbar

When ArcMap is switched from Data View to Layout View, a new toolbar appears. This toolbar includes options to adjust the view of the whole page, not the data within. For example, if you are working on a corner of your layout, attempting to line up the legend and credits in a neat, clean way, you could zoom in to that corner, using the page zoom in tool. When you are ready to move to another section, you can use the page pan tool.

If the layout toolbar is missing, add it from: Customize Menu > Toolbars > Layout
In order to pan and zoom the data within a data frame, it is necessary to use the pan and zoom tools found in the Tools toolbar

Page Zoom In

Use the Page Zoom In tool to draw a box and zoom to a portion of the layout

Page Zoom Out

Use the Page Zoom Out tool to draw a box and zoom out from a portion of the layout

Page Pan

Use the Page Pan tool to move the entire page around in layout view

Zoom Whole Page

Use Zoom Whole Page to center the entire page at a zoom level where the entire page is shown.
*Use this button when you’ve “lost” you work. This button is the layout version of “Full Extent”, found in the Tools Toolbar

Zoom to 100%

This tool will set the zoom level to 100%, regardless if the whole page can be seen or not.

Page Fixed Zoom In

Use this button to zoom in in a stepped manner.

Page Fixed Zoom Out

Use this button to zoom out in a stepped manner

Page Last Extent

This button will move through the last zoom levels, similar to using the “back” button in a web browser.

Page Next Extent

This button will move through the next zoom levels, similar to the using the “next” button in a web browser.

Zoom Level (Percentage)

This dropdown both shows the current zoom level in percent, but also allows for specific zoom levels to be chosen. A custom zoom level can be set by typing the number in the box (10% - 1000%)

Toggle Draft Mode

This button will toggle the “draft mode” option. Draft mode will pause all drawing, showing just grey box with the data frame name. This is handy when the data is complicated or numerous, and you don’t need to see the data to set the layout, such as when creating and placing legends, north arrows, and additional text boxes.

Focus Data Frame

Puts the currently outlined data frame into focus, making it the target for graphics and text.

Change Layout

Changes the layout to a predefined template. Handy if you’ve created a custom template, complete with legend, title, credits, and company logo.

Data Driven Pages Toolbar

Launches the “Data Driven Pages” toolbar, a method to create multiple layouts from a single data source. Creates “Mapbooks” and utilizes the extensive dynamic text options.

Editing and the Editor Toolbar

Editing is the ability to create and change vector and tabular (table) data within ArcMap. Data does not always exist or may not always correct, and the only way to make or fix it is with editing.

Editor Menu

Start Editing Begins an editing session. Once in an editing session, modifications to existing can be made. (Even with digitizing new data, it is still a modification to existing data since you created a new feature class before editing, then plan to populate it with editing.

Stop Editing Stops the editing session.

Stopping editing does not automatically save edits, but should provide you with a prompt to save or discard your edits.
Tools which are locked during editing will become available when editing is stopped.

Save Edits Note: Unlike some software, ArcGIS ‘undo’ will only go back to the last save not the beginning of the software session.

Merge... i.e. The State of Hawaii. All the islands are part of the state, but as a single part feature, each individual island will be a record in the attribute table. Merging them into a multipart feature will ‘light up’ all the islands when the record ‘Hawaii’ is selected in the attribute table. ArcGIS Help Article

Snapping ►

Opens the Snapping toolbar. The Snapping toolbar controls to what (Point, Edge, Vertex, End) your cursor will snap when editing.

Edit Tool

Used to select the feature you want to edit
Any selectable feature is available to select.
When two or more features are selected when clicking, a selection drop down will appear for you to choose one.
- Not choosing selects the top most layer

Straight Segment

Used to create lines. Each click puts down one vertex, then connects a straight line to the next vertex clicked.

Vertices will continue to be placed until you finish your sketch

F2
Right click and ‘Finish Sketch’
Double-click

End Point Arc Segment

The ‘end point arc segment’ tool creates a curve between the two end vertices laid down.

Click where the curve should start
Click where the curve should end
- The tool automatically starts curving between the two points as you move your mouse around
To end sketch: Double click; right-click and choose “End Sketch”; press F2

Endpointarcsegexample

Segment Creation Tools

A variety of line creation tools are available to digitize higher quality data.
Note: The tool visible next to the black dropdown arrow many vary as it shows the last tool from the mini-menu which was used.

Linecreationtools

Trace Tool The Trace tool

will run along any existing feature, creating a portion of polyline or polygon which is exactly coincident with the traced feature.

Right Angle The Right Angle tool

will digitize a right angle when three vertices are placed on the map.

Midpoint The Midpoint

tool automatically places an additional vertex at the midpoint between two intentionally placed vertices.

Bezier Curve Segment The Bezier Curve Segment tool

creates smooth curves utilizing “handles” that help establish the degree of the curve.

Edit Vertices

Edit Vertices is a tool that allows you to move or delete one or more existing vertices, as well as add new vertices to the feature. For example, if you have a road that is in the correct place, but the previous technician represented a pretty steep curve with just a few vertices, you can add a few more then move them into place to create the best line representation possible.

Reshape Feature Tool

Reshape Feature allows you to select a single feature and change a portion of it, for example, if you have a river that shows it is flowing right through a building and you can see in the imagery it actually flows to the south of that building, you can select that river and use the Reshape Feature tool to draw along the actual path to get people out of “harms way”.

Continue Feature Tool

The continue feature allows the user to continue a feature which has been completed as though they were still editing

Cut Polygon Tool

Split Tool

Rotate Tool

Attributes Window

Opens the attribute window to allow a user to enter the attributes for the currently selected/being edited feature

Sketch Properties

Once in ‘Edit Vertices’ mode, the sketch properties window can be opened with the ‘Sketch Properties’ button. You can mark off multiple vertices to delete whole parts of your feature class at once. See screenshot for more details Sketch Properties

Create Features Window

Toggles the ‘Create Features’ window on and off.

Use this button if you’ve X’d your window closed and it will not automatically appear when you begin an edit session.

Accessibility Options