To Export Symbols

You can export multiple symbols in a single operation, using the command MAPSYMBOLIMPORTEXPORT or a Microsoft VBA script.

Export symbols to symbol libraries or XML files.

To export symbols using a user interface

  1. Set the CMDDIA or FILEDIA system variable to '1'.
  2. At the Command prompt, enter MAPSYMBOLIMPORTEXPORT.
  3. In the Symbol Repository, select one or more symbols that you want to export.
  4. Click Export.
  5. In the Save As dialog box, specify the path, file name, and the Save As type.

    Generally you can export the symbols to a symbol library (*.layer) or an XML file. If you select multiple symbols in step 3, you may see only Symbol Libraries (*.layer) in the Save As type drop down.

  6. Click Save.

To export symbols without using a user interface

  1. Set both CMDDIA and FILEDIA system variables to '0'.
  2. At the Command prompt, enter MAPSYMBOLIMPORTEXPORT.
  3. Following the prompt, choose Export.
  4. Input the names of the symbols that you want to export, or press Enter if you want to export all the symbols.

    After you finish typing one symbol name, use Enter to continue to input the next symbol name. Use ESC to break, and system will jump to next step if you have input valid symbol name(s) or the MAPSYMBOLIMPORTEXPORT command will end with message 'No symbol was chosen for the export!'

  5. Choose Layer or XML as the export type.
  6. Specify the path and file name.

    The Layer option requires the full path of a layer file; XML requires the path to a folder.

  7. Wait until you see the message 'The symbol export has finished successfully!'.
Tip: As an option, you can automatically complete the steps above by script. In the command line, load the script file with Script command and wait until finished. Following is an example of a script. Save it as a file with .scr extension. 
CMDDIA 0
FILEDIA 0
_MAPSYMBOLIMPORTEXPORT _EXPORT symbol1 symbol2  _LAYER "C:\Test\export.layer"
Note: There are 2 spaces between the last symbol name and the following parameter (_LAYER or _XML).

The script for exporting all symbols to XML in path c:\temp would be like this: 

CMDDIA 0
FILEDIA 0
_MAPSYMBOLIMPORTEXPORT _EXPORT _XML "C:\temp"

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