A quick tour of ModelBuilder

ModelBuilder is how you create models and model tools. A model is nothing more than a sequence of tools and data chained together; the output of one tool is fed to the input of another. When you save a model, it becomes a model tool.

You open ModelBuilder by clicking Geoprocessing > ModelBuilder . You add data and tools to the ModelBuilder canvas by dragging them from the Catalog or Search window or by using the Add button tool. There are a variety of ways you can connect data to tools; a common method is to use the Add Connection tool .

Once you have connected data to tools, you can execute the model from within ModelBuilder by clicking the Run button .

There are two primary uses of ModelBuilder:

• To immediately execute a tool sequence you've created
• To create tools that you can use like any other tool—from the tool dialog box, from Python scripts, or in another model

There are two tutorials for ModelBuilder:

Executing tools in ModelBuilder tutorial	If you've never used ModelBuilder, this is the place to start.
Creating tools with ModelBuilder tutorial	Once you've become familiar with building simple models, you're only a few steps away from creating tools. This topic will show you how.

The ModelBuilder interface

ModelBuilder has a simple interface with drop-down menus, tools on a toolbar, and shortcut menu options as illustrated below. Shortcut menus are available for the whole model or any individual model element (variable, connector, or tool) with a right-click. The white empty space in a model onto which the tools are dragged and connected to the variables is called the canvas, whereas the appearance and layout of the tools and variables connected together is called the model diagram.

There are five pull-down menus on the main menu:

Menu	Description
Model	Options for running, validating, viewing messages, saving, printing, importing, exporting, and closing the model. You can also use this menu to delete intermediate data and set properties for the model.
Edit	Cut, copy, paste, delete, and select model elements.
Insert	Add data or a tool, create a variable, create a label, and add Model Only tools and iterators.
View	Contains an Auto Layout option that applies the settings specified on the Diagram Properties dialog box to your model. It also contains options for zooming in or out. The Custom Zoom option lets you zoom by a custom percentage. The preset zoom levels on the View menu (25%, 50%, 75%, 100%, 200%, and 400%) zoom to fixed percentages of the actual size.
Window	Contains an overview window you can use to display the entire model while you zoom in on a certain part of the model in the display window. Your current location in the model window is marked by a rectangle in the Overview window. When you navigate in the ModelBuilder window, this rectangle moves correspondingly.
Help	Access the ArcGIS Desktop Help Online system and the About ModelBuilder box.