ArcMap > Laying out and printing maps
About map templates |
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Release 9.1
Last modified December 7, 2006 |
Print all topics in : "Laying out and printing maps" |
If you are creating a series of maps and it is important that they have the same look and feel, you can use a map template to standardize the layout. If the series contains the same background data, you can include that data in the template. Using a template can save you time since you don't have to manually reproduce the common parts of the maps.
You can also use the map templates that come with ArcMap to quickly make an attractive map with a minimal amount of layout work. Choose a template that has the look you want, add your data, make whatever changes you want, and your map is complete.
Like maps and layers, templates can be shared within an organization to increase productivity and standardize the maps that the organization produces. You can use a template to store layout, data, and customization of the ArcMap interface that you want to be able to use over and over again.
You can modify existing maps or templates and save them as new templates, or you can create new maps and save them as templates.
Map templates are ArcMap documents that ArcMap recognizes as templates. When you start a new map using a template, ArcMap reproduces the template on a new map document and keeps the original template document intact. Map templates have the file extension .mxt to differentiate them from map documents (.mxd).
If you want to make a map using a template, start a new map, choose the template you want to use, and start adding layers to the map. Later, if you want to change the layout, you can apply a new template.
ArcMap uses a special template called the Normal template (Normal.mxt) to store information about the default user interface, for example, the state—visible or hidden, docked or free-floating—of each of the ArcMap toolbars. This information is recorded automatically in the Normal template, so when you start ArcMap (whether you saved the map you were working on or not), the toolbars look the same as they did when you quit.
It's only when you add custom toolbars or tools to ArcMap, that you can save the changes to somewhere other than the Normal template; you can save these with the current map (.mxd) or current template (.mxt). If you save changes to the interface in the Normal template, they will be reflected in all the maps you open. If you save customizations to the Normal template and later decide that you would like to reset the entire template to its original settings, delete the file (Normal.mxt). ArcMap will regenerate the Normal template at startup if it is missing.