Customizing ArcGIS

Why learn customization?

• Make the software suit your preferences

• Automate repetitive tasks

• Use tools from other sources

• Increase the power of the software

• Looks great on a resumé

Customization “levels”

• Project-specific – saved to the .mxd

• Profile/installation-specific – saved to the normal template (normal.mxt)

• Extensions – Windows dll (need a compiler to create these)

Normal template vs. mxd

• Normal.mxt is stored in your user directory C:\Documents and settings\chrisg\Application Data\ESRI\ArcMap\Templates\

• Anything saved in normal.mxt is available in all projects

• Anything saved in the .mxd is only available in that project

• It’s important to make sure you’re saving customizations where you want them!

Online sources

• http://arcscripts.esri.com

• http://support.esri.com

• http://lists.directionsmag.com/discussion/

• http://edn.esri.com