topic Re: Question about table of contents missing in ArcMap Questions

Question about table of contents missing

HuaxinWang — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 08:37:16 GMT

I encountered an issue with the table of contents disappearing in ArcMap.

I attempted two solutions:

https://community.esri.com/t5/geoprocessing-questions/disappearing-catalog-table-of-contents-and-search/m-p/1395387#M27220

https://support.esri.com/en-us/knowledge-base/how-to-restore-the-table-of-contents-in-arcmap-000002145

The first solution did not resolve the issue.
The second solution was successful.
Could someone explain what might cause this problem?

Additionally, can someone provide an explanation of the second solution?

What is the purpose of Normal.mxt or Normal1.mxt?

Re: Question about table of contents missing

RhettZufelt — Thu, 02 May 2024 21:04:38 GMT

Normal.mxt is the template where ArcMap stores all the file/menu/etc. customizations.

ArcMap reads this information on startup, but if it is missing (has been deleted), it will re-create it with default options, thus, will move all the panels and such back where they were initially.

Keep in mind, if you have installed third party tools and such, deleting the normal.mxt will likely break them, or at least un-do any customizations to the toolbar(s).

You should expect ArcMap to eventually corrupt it's normal.mxt (as it eventually does) and suddenly your toolbars/windows/menus/etc. either move or disappear.

This is such a common issue, I have a scheduled task that saves a copy of my normal.mxt every night. That way, when I open a map document and see that the template is corrupted yet again, I just close ArcMap, and replace the normal.mxt with the last 'good' copy, then restart ArcMap and you are back where you were before it decided to corrupt.

Re: Question about table of contents missing

HuaxinWang — Fri, 03 May 2024 09:50:48 GMT

Thank you so much for sharing your experience and this valuable and interesting knowledge.