The Style Wizard opens when you add a new layer to your project and will walk you step-by-step through the process of adding a style to your layer, offering visual examples of each style to make it easier to choose the one you want. It is especially useful when you are unsure what type of style you should apply to achieve the effect you want.

On the first step of the wizard, you will be asked to pick which category of styles you want to browse. Style categories include Area Styles, Line Styles, Point Styles and Label Styles. Only the style types that can be applied to your layer will be available; for example, a polygon-based Shapefile can only accept Area Styles and Label Styles.

On step 2 you will be asked to select the type of style you want apply to your layer. The Style Wizard offers a brief explanation of each style type along with a preview graphic to help you decide. Once you have chosen a style type, click the “Apply Style” button. The Style Builder window will open, allowing you to further customize the style before saving it.

By default, the Style Wizard will be launched every time a new layer is added to the map. As you become more familiar with the different styles available in the GIS Editor you may want to turn this behavior off. This can be done by unchecking the “Always show Style Wizard when a new layer is added” checkbox in either of two places:

• Step 1 of the Style Wizard itself
• The “Content” section of the GIS Editor Options window

If you choose not to launch the Style Wizard whenever you add a layer, then each layer will simply be given the default style you have configured in the “Default Styles” section of the GIS Editor Options window.