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Adding and removing tools on menus and toolbars

  • Adding a system tool to a menu or toolbar
  • Adding a custom tool to a menu or toolbar
  • Removing a tool from a menu or toolbar
  • Changing the name or icon of a tool
Note:
Before you can add a tool to a menu or toolbar, you must know the name of the toolbox that contains the tool.

Adding a system tool to a menu or toolbar

  1. On the Standard toolbar, click Customize > Customize Mode.
  2. In the Customize window, click the Commands tab.
  3. In the Categories list, click the toolbox that contains the tool. All toolboxes have Tools appended to their name. For example, the Analysis toolbox will say Analysis Tools.

    The Commands list shows all tools within the toolbox.

  4. Drag the tool from the Commands list onto an existing menu or toolbar as illustrated below.
    Using the customize menu to add tools to a menu or toolbar

    You can continue to drag tools onto a menu or toolbar as described above.

  5. Click Close.

Adding a custom tool to a menu or toolbar

  1. Open the Customize window as described above and click the Commands tab.
  2. In the Categories list, scroll down and click [ Geoprocessing Tools ].
  3. Click the Add Tools button.
  4. Browse to the toolbox containing the tool you want to add, choose the tool, then click OK.

    The tool is added to the Commands panel and is available for you to add to any menu or toolbar following the procedure described above for system tools.

    Caution:

    When a custom tool is added to the Commands panel, ArcMap stores a reference to the tool (the path to the toolbox). When you run the tool by clicking its button or menu item, ArcMap finds the tool by the stored reference. If you delete or move the toolbox, ArcMap cannot find the tool and an error occurs.

    Note:

    If you no longer need a custom tool listed in the Commands panel, you can remove it by clicking the Delete Tool button. This removes the stored reference to the tool. Any button or menu item that uses the removed tool will no longer work.

Removing a tool from a menu or toolbar

  1. Open the Customize window as described above and click the Commands tab.
  2. From the menu or toolbar containing the tool, click and drag the tool onto the Customize window. When you drag the tool, the pointer changes so that it contains an X. Whenever the pointer changes in this manner, you can release the button and the tool is removed from the menu or toolbar.
    • Alternatively, you can delete the tool by right-clicking the tool in the menu or toolbar and choosing Delete.

Changing the name or icon of a tool

  1. Open the Customize window as described above and click the Commands tab.
  2. On the menu or toolbar containing the tool, right-click the tool to open its shortcut menu.
    1. To change the name, type a new name and press ENTER.
    2. To change the icon, click Change Button Image.
    3. The Default Style, Text Only, and Image and Text choices determine whether text will be displayed with the button image.

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