You are here: NI Home > Support > Product Reference > Manuals > LabVIEW 8.5 Help

The Tools palette is available on the front panel and the block diagram. A tool is a special operating mode of the mouse cursor. The cursor corresponds to the icon of the tool you select on the palette. Use the tools to operate and modify front panel and block diagram objects.

If automatic tool selection is enabled and you move the cursor over objects on the front panel or block diagram, LabVIEW automatically selects the corresponding tool from the Tools palette.

Select View»Tools Palette to display the Tools palette. LabVIEW retains the Tools palette position so when you restart LabVIEW, the palette appears in the same position.

Tip   Press the <Shift> key and right-click to display a temporary version of the Tools palette at the location of the cursor.

You can disable automatic tool selection by clicking the Automatic Tool Selection button on the Tools palette, shown as follows.

When automatic tool selection is disabled, you can use the <Tab> key to move through the most commonly used tools in the sequence they appear on the palette.

To use another tool without clicking to disable automatic tool selection, click the tool you want to use. When you are finished, press the <Shift-Tab> keys or click the Automatic Tool Selection button to enable automatic tool selection again.