Toolbar Tools > Customize Using the Customize Dialog Box The Customize tool is used to define custom work environment, toolbar, and tool settings. The Customize dialog box appears when you access the Customize tool. See Figure 1D-1. The dialog box includes tabs with options for adjusting specific interface items. The buttons at the bottom of the dialog box are used to import, export, and reset custom options, and to close the dialog box. Customizing Environments The Environments tab of the Customize dialog box is used to define which toolbars and panel bar are displayed by default, or are accessible, in each Inventor work environment. The first step in specifying custom toolbar and panel bar options is to select the work environment you want to customize from the Environment drop-down list. All Inventor work environments that represent a certain stage in model or drawing development are included in this drop-down list. Once you select an environment, use the options in the Default displays and Available toolbars areas to define the custom options. The Default displays area controls the toolbars and panel bar that are displayed by default when you enter the selected work environment. Use the Default standard toolbar: drop-down list to select the toolbar you want to display, and use the Default panel bar drop-down list to select the tools you want to display in the panel bar. Inventor 2009 1
Figure 1D 1 Options available in the Environments tab of the Customize dialog box. Select the work environment to change Change options back to default Change menu bar options back to default Specify default toolbar and panel bar display Toolbars available from the panel bar and pull-down menu system Inventor 2009 2
The Available toolbars area holds a drop-down list and all Inventor toolbars. Select Menu from the drop-down list to identify the toolbars to be included in the View > Toolbar cascading submenu. Select Panel bar from the drop-down list to specify the tools to be included in the panel bar drop-down list. For both the Menu and the Panel bar, you must select the desired toolbars from the list to make the tools available in the specified work environment. The Available toolbars area also contains the Inherit from base environments check box. As you progress through model and drawing development, you will work in multiple environments, and even in environments inside environments. The overall or parent work environment, such as the part environment, is known as a base environment. Additional environments, such as the 2D sketch environment, are secondary to, or within, the base environment. Select the Inherit from base environments check box if you want the options available in the base environment to be available in secondary environments also. Adjusting Toolbars The Toolbars tab of the Customize dialog box contains a number of options that allow you to further customize the display characteristics of toolbars and add, remove, or further manipulate toolbars. See Figure 1D-2. All Inventor toolbars are shown in the Toolbars: list box. Any of these toolbars can be renamed or copied, but only user-defined toolbars can be deleted. To display a toolbar, select the toolbar name and pick the Show button. To rename a selected toolbar, pick the Rename... button and enter a new name in the Name edit box of the Name dialog box. Similarly, to create a copy of the selected toolbar, pick the Copy button and enter a name for the copy in the Name edit box of the Name dialog box. Inventor 2009 3
Figure 1D 2 The Toolbars tab of the Customize dialog box allows you to manage the display of custom and default toolbars. Pick a toolbar to customize Pick a customize option Inventor 2009 4
The New... and Delete buttons are reserved for custom toolbars that you create. You can specify a new toolbar by picking the New... button and entering a name for the new toolbar in the Name edit box of the Name dialog box. Then, if you want to remove the custom toolbar, select the name in the Toolbars: list box, and pick the Delete button. Additional display characteristics can also be specified in the Toolbars tab. Select the Display Text with Icons check box to display all panel bar tools with the tool name and icon. If you find the default size of toolbar and panel bar tool icons to be too small, pick the Large Icons check box. Finally, pick the Capacity Meter check box to display the memory capacity meter in the status bar. Select the appropriate radio button to specify the type of memory you want to view, Inventor memory or the physical memory on your computer. Finally, if desired, pick the Shortcut in tool tips check box to show the keyboard shortcut keys, in parentheses, next to the tool names. Customizing Tools The Commands tab of the Customize dialog box contains the Categories: and Commands: list boxes. See Figure 1D-3. Each Inventor tool is located in a specific category. For example, 2D sketch tools such as Line and Arc are located in the 2D Sketch category. When you pick a certain category from the Categories: list box, the tools associated with the category are displayed in the Commands: list box. To add a tool located in the Commands: list box to a toolbar or panel bar, pick and hold down the left mouse button, and drag the tool to a toolbar or panel bar. Assuming that other tools are present in the target toolbar or panel bar, a horizontal or vertical line will indicate where you are placing the new tool. When you are satisfied with the location of the tool, release the left mouse button. Inventor 2009 5
Figure 1D 3 Inventor tools are grouped into categories in the Commands tab of the Customize dialog box. Pick a category to modify commands Commands associated with the selected category Customizing Character Keys and Key Combinations The Keyboard tab of the Customize dialog box allows you to create and modify character keys and key combinations used to access tools. See Figure 1D-4. Inventor character keys, or hot keys, allow you to access certain predefined tools by pressing a single key on your keyboard. Inventor key combinations, or shortcut keys, allow you to initiate certain predefined tools by pressing two or three keys on the keyboard. Inventor 2009 6
Figure 1D 4 The Keyboard tab of the Customize dialog box. Add default multicharacter (key combination) aliases to the list Reset all keystrokes to default Copy the list of commands to the clipboard Use the Categories drop-down list to select a category with specific tools. All tools associated with the selected category are shown. Default keystrokes are listed in the Keys column. Use the Filter drop-down list to display only those tools with assigned keystrokes. To assign a new keystroke to an existing default shortcut, select the keystroke and enter a new keystroke. To add a keystroke to a tool that does not have an existing keystroke, pick the blank area in the Inventor 2009 7
Keys list and type a new keystroke. Whether you are changing an existing keystroke or adding a keystroke, pick the OK button to save the name, or pick the Cancel button to disregard the changes. Rules for shortcut creation and modification include: You cannot create or modify a shortcut using the same keystroke assigned to another tool. To assign a tool a shortcut that is already used, you must first modify the shortcut of the corresponding tool. In order to activate a tool by selecting two keys, you must hold down the first key and then select the second key. For example to use the [Shift] and [C] keys, hold down the [Shift] key and then select the [C] key. This operation will automatically add the + sign, identifying the required keystrokes. Shortcuts cannot include spaces created using the space bar on the keyboard. When AutoCAD is configured to display a screen menu, the commands appear in a separate screen. NOTE Move tools ahead of or behind other tools by dragging the tool to the desired area. Finalizing Custom Options The buttons at the bottom of the Customize dialog box relate to all the tabs. Once you fully define all custom settings, you may want to save them in a separate file by picking the Export... button. When you select the Export... button, the Export Customization Settings dialog box appears. This dialog box functions the same as any Save As or Export type of dialog box. It allows you to save your custom settings in a desired location as an.xml file. Inventor 2009 8
To use the custom settings that you saved as an.xml file, or another.xml file from a previous Inventor release, pick the Import... button. Then, the next time you open Inventor, you will be prompted to select the.xml file that contains your custom settings. If you want to restore all the default specifications in the Customize dialog box, pick the Reset All button. If you select this button, none of your customizations will be saved. Finally, to save your custom settings without creating a separate.xml file and exit the Customize dialog box, pick the Close button. Inventor 2009 9