What are toolboxes and toolbars?

Toolboxes and toolbars are collections of icons that provide quick access to commonly used Abaqus/CAE functions. For example, the Visualization module toolbox contains icons representing the tools used to generate different kinds of plots. The Visualization module toolbox is shown in Figure 1. All module toolboxes are available immediately to the left of the drawing area as soon as you enter the module.

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Understanding and using toolboxes and toolbars
Figure 1. The Visualization module toolbox.

Toolbars also contain collections of icons to access Abaqus/CAE functions. Toolbars provide access to supporting functions that help you save, manipulate, and make selections from a model; whereas toolboxes contain functions critical to creating or changing a model. In addition to tool icons, toolbars may also contain lists of options related to a tool. For example, the color mapping list in the Color Code toolbar contains various methods for coloring the objects displayed in the current viewport. You can also customize toolbar contents, move toolbars to new locations, or close them (for more information, see The Customize toolset). Toolboxes cannot be moved or hidden.

To obtain a short description of a tool, place the cursor over that tool for a moment; a small box containing a description, or tooltip, will appear. Tooltips are not available for icons that appear dimmed; to get information on those icons, use context-sensitive help instead.