What is a .TBX file?
A .TBX file is a special kind of file used with a program called ArcGIS for Desktop, which is a tool for making and analyzing maps on Windows computers. Think of a .TBX file like a box that holds different tools. These tools are actually scripts or commands that help you do various tasks with your maps, such as measuring areas, drawing circles around places (buffers), or layering different map information on top of each other (overlays).
You might find .TBX files that come with the ArcGIS program itself, which are called system toolboxes. But you can also make your own custom toolboxes if you need specific tools that aren't included by default.
To open or use a .TBX file, you need to have the ArcGIS for Desktop program installed on your computer. Once you have that program, you can create a new .TBX file by going to a special area in the program called the "Catalog" window. Here, you find the place where you want your new toolbox to live, right-click, and choose to make a new Toolbox. You can give it a name or just stick with the default "Toolbox" name.
If you're working on a project and want to save your work as a toolbox, you can also do this by clicking a toolbox icon when you're saving your work in something called ModelBuilder, which is a part of ArcGIS.
To find and use the tools inside a .TBX file, you can look them up by name in the "Search" window of ArcGIS, or browse through them in the "Catalog" or "ArcToolbox" window. ArcGIS comes with many ready-to-use toolboxes for different tasks, like 3D mapping, making maps look nice (Cartography), changing data formats (Conversion), managing your data (Data Management), finding addresses (Geocoding), and more.
By default, when you save a .TBX file you create, it goes into a specific folder on your computer, usually found at C:\Documents and Settings\[your username]\Application Data\ESRI\ArcToolbox\My Toolboxes.
So, in simple terms, a .TBX file is a container for map-making tools used in ArcGIS, a program for creating and analyzing maps. You need ArcGIS to open and work with these files, and you can make your own toolboxes to suit your mapping needs.
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