Happy #MapInfoMonday!
After
the post on the 10 most used features in MapInfo Pro, I was asked to write a post on how you can customize the
Map Mini Toolbar in MapInfo Pro. I'm always happy to get requests for specific topics so here it is.
The
Map Mini Toolbar appears with the Context menu when you right-click in a map window. From the
Map Mini Toolbar, you can access numerous tools such as
Select,
Zoom,
Pan, and
Info, and change the text style of selected labels. Just to name a few.
You can also customize which controls you want to appear on the
Map Mini Toolbar, and even create multiple versions of the
Map Mini Toolbar. Let's take a look at how.
Customizing the Map Mini Toolbar
To customize the
Map Mini Toolbar, you need to get to the
Customize Ribbon dialog. You can get to this from the
Quick Access Toolbar at the top of the MapInfo Pro window, or via the
Map Mini Toolbar popup on the
Statusbar.
When you click
Customize..., the
Customize Ribbon dialog will appear. Start by Selecting
Map (Mini) Toolbar from the list on the left.
You can now see the controls currently added to the two rows on the
Map Mini Toolbar. You can now add additional controls or remove some of the existing controls.
You can however also add a new
Map Mini Toolbar, for example for a specific task that you often use MapInfo Pro for. I want to add a dedicated
Map Mini Toolbar for doing analysis in MapInfo Pro.
I start by entering a name for the new
Map Mini Toolbar. I use
Analyze as you can see in the top field on the right side. I then push the
+ button to add this new
Map Mini Toolbar. By default, the new
Map Mini Toolbar will inherit the controls from the currently visible
Map Mini Toolbar. This gives me a good starting point to create my custom
Map Mini Toolbar.
I can now use the
Add and
Remove controls to add and remove controls. You can also double-click on a control in the list on the left to move it to the
Map Mini Toolbar.
A new control is added after the currently selected control in the list on the right.
From the
Choose Command from list, you can control what area of MapInfo Pro you are looking for controls from. This can be a specific Ribbon Tab, or controls for a certain area such as layers, maps, browsers, or similar. This can help you find the specific control you want to add to your custom Map Mini Toolbar.
When you are happy with your new custom Map Mini Toolbar, use the
Save Changes to the Selected Customization button at the top right, and then hit the OK button to save the changes you made to the ribbon.
Here you can see the new
Analyse Map Mini Toolbar that I created.
Switching between Map Mini Toolbars
When you come back into MapInfo Pro, the
Map Mini Toolbar that was selected in the
Customize Ribbon dialog will also be the current Map Mini Toolbar. This means you can select the
Map Mini Toolbar to use from the
Customize Ribbon dialog.
There is however an easier way to switch between your
Map Mini Toolbars: Use the
Map Mini Toolbar popup on the
Statusbar.
And you can also use the
Spacebar on your keyboard to switch between your
Map Mini Toolbars. MapInfo Pro will select the next in the list every time you hit the
Spacebar.
Storing the Configuration between Sessions
In order to save these changes to the ribbon interface between sessions, you need to either have MapInfo Pro set up to automatically save the changes when you close down MapInfo Pro, or you need to actively save the changes.
From the
Backstage, the
Pro tab, select the
Options tab and from here click on
Application to open the
Application Preferences dialog.
I will always recommend that you set up MapInfo Pro to only automatically load, and not save, the states for the ribbon and for the Tool Windows. Personally, I prefer to actively ask MapInfo Pro to save changes to the ribbon customization and to the positions of the tools windows. This means that I have unchecked
Save State on Exit for Ribbon Customizations and
Save on Exit for Tool Windows.
To save these changes, you can click on the
Save Current State for Ribbon Customizations and on
Save Current Positions for Tool Windows.
Have you customized the Map Mini Toolbar yourself in MapInfo Pro? Have you created additional Map Mini Toolbars? If so, please share your examples.
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Peter Horsbøll Møller
Principal Presales Consultant | Distinguished Engineer
Precisely | Trust in Data
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