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♥ Hands-on exercises. See Ortelius File > New From Template > Exercises & Demos > 5-Symbols Exercise.

To open the Symbols Palette, click the Styles & Symbols icon on the toolbar, or choose Window > Styles & Symbols from the main menu.

Styles are applied to linear features such as roads and rivers, and area features such as land and forests. Symbols are applied to point features such as cities and points of interest. To draw in Ortelius, choose your tool, then choose the appropriate style or symbol to apply to that tool while it is active. To change the style of an existing object, just select the object and double-click a different style from the Symbols Palette.

1. TO APPLY STYLE TO NEW DRAWING – choose a drawing tool plus a style from the Symbols Palette, then start drawing
2. TO APPLY STYLE TO EXISTING FEATURES – select feature or features and double-click a style to apply; alternatively, click-hold and drag new style from Symbols Palette onto object

The following are available from the Symbols Palette:

Styles – Saved combinations of outlines, fills, text, and other style components that are applied to shapes, paths, and tracks to represent features, such as land, roads, and lakes.

Symbols – Graphical objects used to represent isolated features, markers, and map elements, such as points of interest and north arrows.

Styles and symbols share some similar properties (for instance, symbols can be created from objects which have styles applied), but they have different characteristics. Styles are made up of outlines, fills, and effects which are applied to shapes, paths, and tracks; whereas symbols are isolated graphical objects or groups of objects (for instance, shapes or images) which are placed at a single point with the Symbol Stamp tool.

Related Topic: You can create and edit an unlimited variety of styles in the Style Inspector.
Related Topic: Symbols are created from existing graphic objects by choosing Edit > Create Symbol in the main menu (see Creating New Symbols).

Taken together, styles and symbols represent all of your map’s features.

Ortelius comes loaded with over 1700 built-in styles and symbols. The palette has many features in common with the Library Manager, and works similarly. To select the current set of symbols to work with, choose it from the drop-down menu which shows all libraries, collections, and categories. You can further filter using the filter/search field to find styles or symbols within the current collection or category.

While styles and symbols are both present in the Symbols Palette, the palette is sensitive to the type of tool you have active. For example, when you draw line and area features with the shape, path, and track tools the styles are enabled; symbols are enabled only when the Symbol Stamp tool is being used. Choose your tool, then choose the appropriate style or symbol to apply to that tool while it is active. Items that can be used with the active tool are enabled and highlighted, disabled items are subtly grayed-out, for example in this screenshot symbols are enabled, styles are disabled.

To add or change an object’s style or symbol, select those features on the map and double-click a new style from the Symbols Palette. You are asked to confirm this application to prevent accidental alteration of your content. This confirmation message is an alert that can be turned on or off in the Ortelius > Preferences menu.

Related Topis: Use Find Objects or Advanced Search to select specific features by their names, properties, and attributes.

Some symbols may be quite small and difficult to see in the Symbols Palette. Two settings control the appearance of symbols and styles in the Symbols Palette. Choose S-M-L (small-medium-large) to change the size of the palette buttons (use the Customize button to add or remove items on the palette toolbar). Right-click within the palette window to uncheck "No Larger Than Actual Size" to have small symbols enlarge to the symbol button area for better viewing. Items are displayed at actual size or smaller when checked.

An icon or list view is also available.

Use the Symbol Stamp tool to place symbols on your map. Choose a symbol from the palette that is enabled for use.

HINT: Remember you can double-click any tool to return them to the natural on/off state (grey buttons) or the default "sticky" state (orange buttons).

The best way to apply styles is to draw directly with the feature you want – roads with a road style, water with a water style. Start by choosing a Drawing Tool, next choose the style to apply, then start drawing.

Use the Style Dropper tool to copy a style from one object and paste onto another. Click onto a first object to copy the style, clicking onto subsequent objects will paste the style. Return to the direct Select tool (or any other tool) to end the Style Dropper. To pick up a new style, press the OPTION/Alt key while clicking an object with the style dropper tool. The style dropper cursor will show whether dropper is “full" (will drop) or “empty" (will pick up). Having the Style Dropper tool always retain the last picked-up style is a preference that can be turned on or off in the Ortelius > Preferences menu – when this option is enabled use the OPTION/Alt key to release the style.

Styles and symbols can be dragged from the Symbols Palette (as well as from the Library Manager) onto objects in your drawing. Styles must be dragged onto linear, shape, and text objects, whereas symbols must be dragged onto point symbol objects. Styles may also be dragged directly onto Border Layers. Click-hold the style, then drag onto the object.

Double clicking an item in the Symbols Palette opens it in the Library Manager.