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Tips and Tricks

ArcGIS tips and tricks will be filled in as time allows.

Drop me an email on what you would like to see here! I'm always open to suggestions.

ArcCatalog/ArcMap/ArcToolbox

One extension doesn't start up while others seem fine

Speed up the opening of ArcCatalog

ArcCatalog: Tables

Connecting to an Excel Table for use in ArcCatalog and ArcMap (for pre-9.2 users)

ArcCatalog: Data Sources

Fix Source pathnames for your map document

ArcMap: Editing

Select portions of polygons (perhaps from a polygon coverage) and build into new polygons in a Personal GeoDatabase

Windows: Management

Recover your identify results window, or any window that has accidentally gotten moved to a point off your screen

Turn off annoying Windows sounds

One extension doesn't start while others seem just fine (from David Thomas)

Recently with out warning Arc Map 8.2 would not open after months of normal use. (ArcCatalog and Toolbox both would open). I was completely frustrated, reinstalling DeskTop etc etc . Nothing helped. Finally a friend told me I had a corrupted Normal.mxt file. He told me to delete this file. I did so and like magic the problem was solved. The corrupted file will not allow ArcMap to open.

In fact this happens when the template files are corrupted for ArcCatalog (and I think) ArcToolbox as well. Look at the following by making a copy then deleting the original:

C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\Application Data\ESRI\ArcCatalog\Normal.gxt

C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\Application Data\ESRI\ArcMap\Templates\Normal.mxt

C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\Application Data\ESRI\ArcToolbox\ArcToolbox.dat

Speed up the opening of ArcCatalog

When you open ArcCatalog, a set of entries are inserted into the Catalog tree and a complete scan of your connected folders occurs to identify files of the type you've instructed ArcCatalog to show. Of course, many of us may not be aware that we instructed ArcCatalog to do such a thing because we just accepted the default installation. If you open the Options form from the Tools menu and look at the General tab you'll see two list boxes. The first contains the top level entries you want the Catalog to contain. The second contains the types of data you want the Catalog to show. By default, all items in these two lists are selected. However, there's a good chance that you may never need some of them. Thus, it makes sense to tell ArcCatalog to ignore entries and items that are of no interest to you by unchecking them in these lists. In addition, there's no sense in having ArcCatalog search for items in folders that you know will never contain GIS datasets. So, it's a very good idea to remove the connection to the root folder of your drive from the Catalog tree along with any other connections to folders that may lead to unnecessary scanning. Then add as many connections as required to folders containing GIS data. As you should see, adopting this process can lead to a huge improvement in the speed at which ArcCatalog opens.

 

Connecting to an Excel Table for use in ArcCatalog and ArcMap (read only access) for pre-9.2

To connect to an Excel table so you can use it in ArcCatalog and ArcMap, follow these instructions:

  1. Close ArcCatalog before starting any of this.

  2. In your Excel table highlight the rows/columns you want in your table, including the field names. This is done so you can possibly have more than one table within an Excel document.

  3. From Worksheet Menu Bar, choose Insert > Name > Define. Give it a name.

  4. Click OK and Save your document.
  1. Open your system Control Panel and choose Administrative Tools > Data Sources (ODBC)
  2. On User DSN tab, click Add…
  3. Highlight Driver do Microsoft Excel Driver (*.xls) and click Finish.
  4. Fill in the Data Source Name with any name you wish. It doesn’t have to be the name of the xls file you are working with.
  5. Click Select Workbook…
  6. Browse and select your Excel document.
  7. In ODBC Microsoft Excel Setup window, click OK.
  8. In ODBC Data Source Administrator, click OK.
  9. Start ArcCatalog.
  10. In the catalog tree, click Database Connections.
  11. Double-click Add OLE DB Connection.
  12. Highlight Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers. Click Next >>
  13. In Use data source name click the down arrow. You should find the name you set in step 8. Choose it.
  14. Click Test Connection to see if things are working OK.
  15. Click OK. A new entry under Database Connections should be listed by the name of OLE DB Connection.
  16. Open OLE DB Connection (or you may rename it first).
  17. There should be a table listed by the name you assigned in Step 3 above.
  18. Easy, huh?

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Select portions of polygons (perhaps from a polygon coverage) and construct new polygons in a Feature Class.

For a copy of the Word document of this process that includes screen images, contact Mr. Kessler (no cost).

This solution was developed for a user needing to create boundaries from a number of sources: historical map, surveyed boundaries, existing ownership. Some of the new boundary lines were coming from each source and the user didn't want to digitize them again.

  1. Perform this step if you have polygon feature classes already in a GeoDatabase. Use the tool Data Management Tools > Features > Feature to Line. Convert your polygon feature class to lines (so you can copy individual lines).
  2. Add the line feature classes that you want to copy portions of to ArcMap. If you are using coverages, simply add the arc feature class.
  3. Create a new, empty line feature class to collect your copied lines and optionally to collect newly digitized lines that you will be adding to “close” polygons (at least in a later step). Let’s call it NewLines (just for drill). Add it to ArcMap as a layer.
  4. Start editing and make the target  NewLines and the task Create New Feature.
  5. Select the features you want to copy, for instance district lines from one layer (in ArcMap) and roads from a second.
  6. Choose Main Menu > Edit > Copy.
  7. Choose Main Menu > Edit > Paste (this puts the selected features into NewLines).
  8. Save Edits. Turn off other layer visibility. Change symbols for NewLines.
  9. Digitize the “closing” lines you will need (any polygons not “closed” will not show up in the later steps). All you have to do is cross the lines.
  10. Stop editing and save edits.
  11. Open Arctoolbox > Data Management Tools > Features > Feature to Polygon.
  12. Specify your input features as NewLines.
  13. Specify your Output Feature Class as “NewPolygons”.
  14. Set other parameters as necessary.
  15. Click OK. In the example shown below (shown with and without NewLines visible), there are two polygons in the output.

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Recover your identify results window or any other window that has accidentally gotten moved off your screen

You know an identify tool is working in ArcMap and you suspect the Identify Results Window is also displayed, but you can’t see it. This may be due to the fact that sometimes (for an unknown reason) your window has ended up positioned off your screen. There are a few ways to recover from this.

Method 1 (thanks to Kayla Kruse -- Spokane Regional Transportation Council)

Advantage – very easy to do and not dangerous

Disadvantage – can't think of a danger

  1. If you have lost a application window, activate it from your Taskbar.

  2. If you have lost an Identify window, click on the Identify tool in your ArcMap application (this should activate the window even though you cannot see it).

  3. Hold the Alt key down and click on the spacebar (this opens the menu for that window).

  4. Press enter (this makes certain your window is not maximized).

  5. Hold the Alt key down and click on the spacebar (this opens the menu for that window again).

  6. Press the down arrow on your keyboard once (this changes your choice to Move).

  7. Press enter (this will attach your mouse to the top bar of your window).

  8. You can either use your arrow keys to move the window in any direction or click and hold your mouse and drag the window. Start with small movements left and right to see if it appears at the edge of your display.

Method 2

Advantage – easy to do

Disadvantage – you may have other ArcMap customizations removed by this process

  1. Close your ArcMap application.

  2. Open Windows Explorer and go to C:\Documents and Settings\
    <your_profile_name>\Application Data\ESRI\ArcMap\Templates

  3. Rename the Normal.mxt file to OldNormal.mxt. (You rename because you may notice that after fixing this problem, you have also removed customizations that you wanted to keep.)

  4. Restart ArcMap and try your identify tool again.

Explanation: 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 (and positioning of the Identify Results Window). 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. When you restart ArcMap and it can’t find your profile’s copy of Normal.mxt, the software will go into ESRI’s install directory and use its copy. You will now have a new copy of Normal.mxt in your profile directory.

Method 3

Advantage – very specific operation that performs the one change you need

Disadvantage – it is always very dangerous to be editing your registry

  1. Close your ArcMap application and any other applications (reducing clutter).

  2. On your desktop, choose Start > Run and type in regedit. (Note: running rededit can be VERY DANGEROUS! Be extra careful when performing this operation!)

  3. In the left panel of Registry Editor, navigate to
    My Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\
    Software\ESRI\ArcMap\
    IdentifyResultsDialog.

  4. In the right panel you will notice a property IdentifyWindowPos and see some pixel coordinates, such as 478,127,1110,570. These are coordinates for placing and sizing the window on your display. Your coordinates will likely be much different than the ones listed above. For safety sake, write down your coordinates as they now exist (just in case other things are going wrong and you want to put things back together).

  5. Right-click on the IdentifyWindowPos object and choose Modify.

  6. Type in a new values for all four, such as 300,100,1000,500.

  7. Click OK and close regedit.

  8. Restart ArcMap and test your identify tool. The coordinates I’ve given you should work just fine to get your Window back on your display. If that doesn’t work, try some others. You will likely want to resize the window after you get it back on your display.

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Turn off annoying Window sounds

I can never remember how to do this... so I thought I would put it here.

Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > Sounds tab

Scroll down to Start Windows event and set sound to [None]

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Fix Source pathnames for your map document.

Right-click on your map document in ArcCatalog and choose Set Data Source(s).... Great tool!!!

 

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