Saving your customizations
Release 9.2 Last modified November 9, 2006	Print all topics in : "Customizing the user interface"

About saving your customizations

When you make customization changes to the user interface in ArcMap, you can save these changes in one of the following three places:

• The current map document: There is always a map document open in ArcMap.
  
• A base template: A kind of map document that provides a quick way to create a new map document. Templates may contain any of the following: data, a custom interface, and a predefined layout that arranges map elements, such as north arrows, scale bars, and logos, on the virtual page. ArcMap templates have a .mxt file extension. There may not always be a base template loaded in ArcMap.
  
• The Normal template: A special template that is automatically loaded in ArcMap. This template stores any personal settings you have made to the user interface that you want loaded every time you use ArcMap.
  

On the Commands tab of the Customize dialog box, there is a Save in combo box that lists the names of the currently loaded document and templates. In ArcMap, use this setting to specify whether the change you are about to make will be saved in the document, the Normal template, or another template. The default setting is the Normal template.

Learn more about map templates

Deciding where to save customizations

You might want to make changes that only appear when working with a particular map. For example, you might want your custom query and analysis toolbar to appear only in specific maps. In this case, you would choose to save your customization in the current document. By default, all your changes are saved in the Normal template; however, once you make a change and save it in the current document, all subsequent changes will be saved in the current document by default.

Suppose you've created more than just a custom toolbar—you've created an entire environment with custom tools and macros that are used only when you edit a dataset's features. You can save this environment as a customized template. When you create a new map document, you can choose to base it on the Normal template or your custom template. ArcMap templates have a .mxt file extension.

If you want to make changes that appear every time you open ArcMap, save them in the Normal template.

The Normal template

When you first start ArcMap after installing the software, a Normal template is automatically created and put in your profiles location:
C:\Documents and Settings\<your user name>\Application Data\ESRI\ArcMap\Templates\
This is the default, out-of-the-box Normal template that contains all the standard toolbars and commands and places the toolbars and the table of contents in their default positions. Any customizations that you save in your Normal template get saved to this file.

Creating a custom Normal template

Suppose your administrator has custom toolbars or tools to which he or she wants everyone in your organization to have access. Your administrator could create a customized Normal template and allow everyone in your organization to use that Normal template instead of the default Normal template. To accomplish this, your administrator would customize the Normal template, then copy that Normal.mxt file to the C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Bin\Templates folder. Everyone would then start with this Normal template instead of the default Normal template. The following is an explanation of how this works.

If there is no Normal.mxt file in your profiles location when you start ArcMap, the application will look in the C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Bin\Templates folder. If a Normal.mxt file exists in the C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Bin\Templates folder, that file is copied to your profiles location and is then treated as your personal Normal template. Therefore, you start off with a copy of your organization's customized Normal template, but from that point on, you are able to save your own customizations to it.

If a Normal.mxt file is not found in your profiles location or in the C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Bin\Templates folder, then a new default Normal.mxt file is created and placed in your profiles location.

How to save your customizations

Saving your customizations in a template

1. Create a new document.
   
2. Make all the changes to the user interface you want.
   
When you make any of your changes to the user interface, make sure that the document name is selected in the drop-down Save in combo box. This Save in combo box appears on the Commands panel of the Customize dialog box, the New toolbar dialog box, and the Customize Keyboard dialog box.

3. Click the File menu and click Save As.
   
4. Click the Save as type drop-down arrow and click ArcMap Templates (*.mxt).
   
5. Navigate to the folder where you want the template saved.
   
The template can be saved in any folder on your network.

6. Type a new name for the new template.
   
You can't use Normal.mxt as a template name; that name is reserved for the Normal template.

7. Click Save.
   

Tips

If you save a template in the Templates folder in your profiles location, it will show up in the list of templates on the My Templates panel of the New map document dialog box. If you save a template in the ArcMap Templates folder (\Program Files\ArcGIS\Bin\Templates), it will show up in the list of templates on the General panel of the New map document dialog box. If you create subfolders in the ArcMap Templates folder (\Program Files\ArcGIS\Bin\Templates), the templates in this folder will show up on a separate tab on the New map document dialog box. When you click a tab on the dialog box, you'll see the templates in that folder. This provides an easy way to organize your templates. If you save customizations to the ArcMap Normal template and later decide that you would like to reset the entire template to its original state, you can delete the Normal.mxt file located in the Templates folder in your profiles location. If there is no Normal.mxt file when the ArcMap application starts, a new Normal template will automatically be regenerated.

Updating customizations in an existing template

1. Click the File menu and click Open.
   
2. Click the Files of type drop-down arrow and click ArcMap Templates (*.mxt).
   
3. Navigate to the folder that contains the template.
   
4. Click the template you want to open, then click Open.
   
The template opens as a document.

5. Make the necessary customization changes.
   
Make sure that the template name is selected in the drop-down Save in combo box when you make your changes. This Save in combo box appears on the Commands panel of the Customize dialog box, the New toolbar dialog box, and the Customize Keyboard dialog box.

6. Click the File menu and click Save.
   

Tips

You can also update a template while a document that is based on this template is open in ArcMap. This template is loaded and can be modified. To make further customizations to the template, make sure that the template name is selected in the drop-down Save in combo box when you make your changes. If you are opening the template as a document for update purposes, you must use Open on the File menu. Do not use the option to Open an existing map on the ArcMap Startup dialog box or double-click the template file name to open the template. If you save customizations to the ArcMap Normal template and later decide that you would like to reset the entire template to its original state, you can delete the Normal.mxt file located in the Templates folder in your profiles location. If there is no Normal.mxt file when the ArcMap application starts, a new Normal template will automatically be regenerated.

Changing where customization changes are stored by default

1. Click the Tools menu and click Customize.
   
2. Click the Options tab.
   
3. Uncheck Save customizations to Normal template by default.
   
Your changes will be saved in the current document by default.

4. Click Close.
   

Tips

When the Save customizations to Normal template by default option is unchecked, all customization changes get saved in the current document by default. This means that unless you specify differently in the Save in combo box, all your changes will get saved in the current document. Once you choose the document as the default for customization changes, this default setting will be in effect every time you start ArcMap—that is, until you check Save customizations to Normal template, making the Normal template the default again.

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