Configuring icons in custom toolbars

You can change the default icon that is assigned to tools in custom toolbars. If you create a tool that does not have a default icon assignment, you can assign a new icon to that tool. If a tool appears in more than one custom toolbar, the icon assignment for that tool applies in all custom toolbars. The icons in default Abaqus/CAE toolbars and toolboxes cannot be changed and are not affected by custom icon assignments.

To change or add an icon assignment, select ToolsCustomize from the main menu bar. On the Functions tabbed page of the dialog box that appears, select a tool's function and click Select to assign a new icon to that tool.

When assigning an icon, you can select from any of the icons currently used in Abaqus/CAE. You can also import user icons. User icons must be in one of the following formats: bitmap (.bmp), GIF (.gif), PNG (.png), or XPM (.xpm). Icon images should be sized appropriately—the standard size for toolbar icons in Abaqus/CAE is 24 × 24 pixels. You cannot scale the size with which user icons are displayed in Abaqus/CAE; if you increase the icon size scale factor (as described in Scaling the size of icons), only the Abaqus/CAE icons will increase in size.

Abaqus/CAE creates a directory named abaqus_icons in your home directory to store imported user icon images. If you delete an image file from this directory, Abaqus/CAE reverts to the default icon assignment for any tools that use the deleted image file.

The same icon can be assigned to multiple tools. To distinguish the functions of tools using the same icon, place the cursor over a tool for a moment; a small box, or “tooltip,” containing a description of the tool's function will appear.