Creating a toolbox

You can create your own toolbox and add tools and toolsets to it. Any toolbox you create is called a custom toolbox, as opposed to a system toolbox (a toolbox installed with ArcGIS). Script and model tools that you create need to be stored in a custom toolbox.

1. In the Catalog window, navigate to the folder or geodatabase where you want the toolbox to be created.
2. Right-click the folder or geodatabase and click New > Toolbox.
   • The default name of the toolbox (Toolbox.tbx or Toolbox) will be highlighted, and you can enter the name for your toolbox. If the toolbox name is not highlighted, right-click the toolbox and click Rename.
   • When saving a new model in ModelBuilder, you can create a new toolbox with the New Toolbox button , as illustrated below.

     

   • A good practice is to give your new toolbox an alias when you create it. The toolbox alias is used to identify the toolbox in scripting. Right-click the toolbox and click Properties. On the General tab, enter an alias name.

     Learn more about toolbox names and aliases

Caution:

Do not create a toolbox in your system temp folder since ArcGIS will delete toolboxes in your system temp folder. The system temp folder is typically C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp (Windows Vista and Windows 7) or C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Temp (Windows XP). You can determine the location of your temp folder as follows:

1. From the Windows Start menu, click Run.
2. In the Run window, enter cmd. This will open a cmd window.
3. In the cmd window, enter echo %TEMP% and press ENTER. The location of your system temp folder will be displayed.