In our last post, we talked about setting options to help adapt ArcMap to the way you work. In this post, we extend that conversation to organizing ArcGIS geoprocessing tools to match your workflows. Geoprocessing is at the core of all GIS projects, so it's worth the few minutes it takes to arrange the tools to meet your project needs.

When you view geoprocessing tools in the ArcCatalog Catalog tree, you see the high-level organization of My Toolboxes and System Toolboxes. Within the System Toolboxes are all the toolboxes, toolsets, and individual tools that were installed with your software. (Which toolboxes, toolsets, and tools you see depends on the ArcGIS license level you're working with and the ArcGIS extensions you have.) The geoprocessing tools are organized into logical groups based on type of geoprocessing tasks.

Note: If you don't see the toolboxes in your Catalog tree, the option to show them is probably not selected. To check your options:

• Click Tools menu > Options > General tab.
• In the top section, make sure Toolboxes is checked, then click OK.
• Click View > Refresh to refresh the Catalog tree display. 

Some system toolboxes contain many nested toolsets and tools, and it can be difficult to remember exact tool locations from project to project. If you find yourself routinely struggling to find the geoprocessing tools you need, create a custom toolbox and copy the tools into it. You might find it helpful to create a custom toolbox for each project you commonly perform and name the toolboxes accordingly.

For example, suppose every month you need to update a map showing ozone levels, schools, and recreational areas. You could create a custom toolbox named Ozone Map Tools to store all the tools you use to create this map in one place. Or, perhaps you work on several projects that require using the same tools over and over. For quicker access, you can create your own toolbox to store all of your frequently used tools.

To create a custom toolbox and add tools to it:

• Right-click My Toolboxes and choose New > Toolbox.
• Give the new toolbox a name and press Enter.
• In the System Toolboxes, locate each tool you frequently use and right-click > Copy.
• Right-click the new toolbox and choose Paste.

Working in ArcToolbox 

After adding a new toolbox under My Toolboxes, when you open ArcToolbox you'll notice that the new toolbox is not in the Favorites tab tree. You need to drag the toolbox into the Favorites tab from the Catalog tree. It will display in alphabetical order in the tree.

You can take this a step further and remove the system toolboxes from the Favorites tab so that only your custom toolbox is visible. To remove the system toolboxes, right-click each toolbox and choose Remove.

When you remove system toolboxes from the Favorites tab, they are not deleted from your computer. You can easily add them back to the Favorites tab by dragging them in from the System Toolboxes in the ArcCatalog Catalog tree.

You can also save custom ArcToolbox display settings to an XML file, then load the file into ArcToolbox when you want to work on a project with your custom toolbox.

• Right-click in empty white space in the Favorites tab and choose Save Settings > To File.
• Navigate to a location on disk and save the file with a name of your choice.

To quickly return to the default view of the Favorites tab, right-click in empty space and choose Load Settings > From Default. All the system toolboxes will again display in the Favorites tab.

Hopefully these tips will help make your life a bit easier when working with geoprocessing tools.