FAQ: Custom Tools

How do I use Custom Tools?

To access previously created Custom Tools:

If you have a previously active Custom Tool, click the Custom Tool toolbar icon to activate the tool.

If you do not have a previously active Custom Tool, or you would like to change which Custom Tool is active, press and hold the Custom Tool toolbar icon. A menu will pop up; with the mouse button still held down, navigate with the mouse through the menu items to choose the desired tool (which may be within a folder, which means dragging the mouse down to the folder name, then right to the items within the folder).

This behavior of clicking once to select the most recently chosen tool and pressing and holding the icon to display a menu of other possible related tool choices is the same for using Custom Tools, the Straightedge tools, and the Selection Arrow tools.

To create your own Custom Tools:

Custom Tools are defined by example. To create your own Custom Tool, simply select sketch objects that define the construction you wish to turn into a tool. The objects you select must be related to each other in such a way that at least one selected object is completely determined by other selected objects. Then choose Create New Tool from the Custom Tools menu (accessed by pressing and holding the Custom Tool toolbar icon).

The objects you selected which don't depend on any other objects, but upon which results depend, are called givens. The order in which you select the givens determines the order in which you will match givens when using the tool.

More information about using and creating Custom Tools is available in Sketchpad's Help System at Home: Toolbox Reference: Custom Tools.