If you find these tutorials useful and would like to link to them from your own pages,please contact the Drew Spatial Data Center Director, Dr. Catherine Riihimaki via email. You are invited to leave comments or ask questions in any of the Comment areas of each tutorial page.

Personal Geodatabases are an excellent method for storing all of the data for a Map Project in one place.  This helps organize the data and provides a convenient way to copy or move Map Layers and data without losing track of them.

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h2. Create a Personal Geodatabase

# Open *ArcCatalog -* You can do this in *ArcMap* by clicking on the ArcCatalog button.
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You can also open ArcCatalog from the Desktop by clicking on the desktop icon
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# In the *Table of Contents* column on the left hand side of the screen, navigate to the folder on your computer where your *Map Layer* files for the *Map Project* are stored. If you do not see the correct folder in the hierarchy, use the *Connect to Folder* button - this looks like a globe with a yellow arrow over the top.
# Right click on the folder name.  Choose *New* *→ Personal Geodatabase*.  A *Personal Geodatabase* icon will appear in the main display area.  To rename the database, click twice slowly on the name.  When the name of the *Geodatabase* is highlighted in blue with a thick, black line around it, type in the new name.
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Add Map Layers and Data to Your Personal Geodatabase

  1. Right click on the name of your Geodatabase.  It will end in .mdb in the Table of Contents in ArcCatalog.
  2. Choose Import → Feature Class (multiple).  The Feature Class to Geodatabase (multiple) dialog box will appear.
  3. Use the Browse button to navigate to the folder where your Map Layers are stored and double click on it.  The Input Features dialog box will appear.
  4. Higlight the the first file by clicking on it once.
  5. Click the Add button.  The file will now appear in the Features list of the Feature Class to Geodatabase (multiple) dialog box.
  6. Repeat steps 3. – 5. for the following files all of the Map Layers you used to create your Map Project.  Make sure to include base .shp, .csv/.xls/.dbf files as well as any .lyr Map Layers you might have.
  7. When you are finished adding all of the Map Layers, close ArcCatalog.