@mappingtoolsMapPoint has three toolbars, which are typically displayed at the top of the main application screen between the menu and the main map area.Each toolbar contains various icon buttons which can be clicked to access most of MapPoint’s main functionality.
The toolbars are controlled using the View->Toolbars menu:
The toolbar options menu
This menu has a total of five settings which can be switched on or off. The top four settings control the visibility of the individual toolbars plus the Location and Scale display. The bottom option controls the toolbar button size. The default is for large buttons that are easy to see. However these buttons can take up a lot of space – especially on a small computer screen such as a netbook. MapPoint solves this by having an option for smaller button images. Select smaller buttons by un-checking Large buttons on this menu. The MapPoint toolbars will now look like this:
The MapPoint display with small toolbar buttons
The toolbars can be moved around to suit your personal preference. Each toolbar has a ‘handle’ on its left edge marked with dots. Select this with the left mouse button, then drag the toolbar to the desired location. Toolbars can be attached to the top or the bottom of the main MapPoint window. They can also be detached and floating as their own windows.
The longest toolbar is the Standard Toolbar:
The standard toolbar (click for full sized image)
Most of MapPoint’s main functions are available on these buttons. The left buttons let you create, open, and save a map. The pushpin button lets you select a pushpin symbol and to add a pushpin. Other buttons control routing, navigation, and data maps.
The Advanced Toolbar is more sophisticated and only has three buttons:
The Advanced Toolbar (click for full size image)
The ‘Type place or address‘ control on the left, lets you search for addresses and points of interest. next is the Zoom Bar. Use this to quickly change the map scale. Finally the ‘Road Map‘ drop-down box lets you select the type of base map that is displayed.
The final tool bar is the Drawing Toolbar:
The Drawing Toolbar (click for larger image)
This is usually disabled by default, but it is strongly recommended that you enable it. MapPoint has a range of drawing and annotation options, but they are only available through this toolbar. Use this toolbar to draw lines, shapes, and text on the map.
Finally there is the Location and scale. Although listed with the toolbars, Location and scale is not a true toolbar. Location and scale is the banner which appears across the top of the main map:
Location and Scale display on a MapPoint map
This consists of a scalebar (on the right) and a hierarchical text description of the current location (eg. Region, Country, State, City). You can quickly zoom to one of the listed areas in the text description by clicking on it.
