Page History

...

1. Click the Editor button in the Editor Toolbar. (Click image to enlarge)
   
   
   
2. Choose Start Editing.  The Editor window will appear with the Create Features menu.  The name of your new Shapefile should appear in the list of Templates. (Click image to enlarge)
   
   If the name of your new Shapefile does not appear in the Editor window, see the section below on

   Anchor
   editornewtemplate editornewtemplate

   New Shapefiles Not Appearing in the Editor Window.
   
3. Click on the name of the new, empty Shapefile.  A set of options will appear in the Construction Tools area at the bottom of the Create Features menu.
4. Click on the tool you will use to create your features.  The main tool for creating each type of Feature appears as the first option in Construction Tools.  When you move the cursor over the main Data Frame, the cursor will become a cross-hair. Click with the cross-hair to begin digitizing the Feature you want to create. 
   1. Points: You only need click once to create the Feature, which will be a vertex (point).
   2. Lines: Click along all of the points where you want to line to appear.  A vertext will appear each time you click, but these vertices will disappear when you are done creating the Feature.  Double click on the last vertex to end a Line Feature.
   3. Polygons: Click along the main points of the Feature's perimeter.  A line will continue to connect the first vertex drawn to the cross-hairs.  Polygons are closed shapes, so the last vertex and the first vertex should be in the same location.  Double click on the last/first vertex to finish a Polygon Feature. (Click image to enlarge)

...