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Opening a Simulink model or library displays the model or library in an instance of the Model Editor.

The Model Editor includes the following components.
The editor toolbar allow you to use your mouse to execute the Simulink software's most frequently used model editing, building, and simulation commands.

Clicking a button executes the corresponding command. For example, to open a Simulink model, click the open folder icon on the toolbar. Letting the mouse cursor hover over a toolbar button or control causes a tooltip to appear. The tooltip describes the purpose of the button or control. You can hide the toolbar by clearing the Toolbar option on the editor View menu.
The following table summarizes the usage of each button on the editor toolbar. The buttons appear in the table in the same order as they appear left to right on the toolbar.
| Button | Usage | |
|---|---|---|
|
| Create a new model (see Creating an Empty Model). | |
|
| Open a model (see Opening a Model). | |
|
| Save the current model (see Saving a Model). | |
|
| Print the current model (see Printing a Block Diagram). | |
|
| Cut the diagram object selected in the editor window to the system clipboard . | |
|
| Copy the selected diagram object to the system clipboard. | |
|
| Paste a diagram object from the system clipboard into the current diagram. | |
|
| Go back to the subsystem previously displayed in this editor window. This button works only in window reuse mode (see Viewing Command History). | |
|
| Go forward to the subsystem displayed after the subsystem currently displayed in this editor window. This button works only in window reuse mode. | |
|
| Go to the parent of the subsystem currently displayed in the editor window (see Model Navigation Commands). | |
|
| Undo the last editor command (see Undoing a Command). | |
|
| Redo the last undone command. | |
|
| Start simulating the model displayed in this editor window (see Starting a Simulation). | |
|
| Pause the current simulation (see Pausing or Stopping a Simulation). | |
|
| Stop the current simulation. | |
|
| Display block outputs as tool tips during simulation (see Displaying Block Outputs). | |
|
| Build the RTW target for this model.
| |
|
| Refresh Model blocks residing in this model (see Refreshing Model Blocks). | |
|
| Update this model's diagram (see Updating a Block Diagram). | |
|
| Build the selected subsystem.
| |
|
| Open the Library Browser (see Library Browser). | |
|
| Open the Model Explorer (see The Model Explorer). | |
|
| Open the Model Browser (see The Model Browser). | |
|
| Open the Simulink Debugger (see Simulink Debugger). |
The Simulink menu bar contains commands for creating, editing, viewing, printing, and simulating models. The menu commands apply to the model displayed in the editor. See Creating a Model and Running Simulations for more information.
The canvas displays the model's block diagram. The canvas allows you to edit the block diagram. You can use your system's mouse and keyboard to create and connect blocks, select and move blocks, edit block labels, display block dialog boxes, and so on. See Working with Blocks for more information.
A context-sensitive menu is displayed when you click the right mouse button over the canvas. The contents of the menu depend on whether a block, line, annotation, or other object is selected. If an object is selected, the menu displays commands that apply only to the selected object. If no object is selected, the menu displays commands that apply to a model or library as a whole.
The status bar appears only in the Windows operating system version of the Model Editor. It displays the update and simulation status of the model.

The status bar includes the following areas:
status message
Displays the status of a simulation (e.g., ready to run or running) or of a model update.
zoom level
Displays the zoom level of the model window as a percentage of normal.
progress bar
Indicates how far a model update or simulation has progressed. The color of the status bar indicates whether Simulink is updating the model (green) or simulating the model (blue).
current simulation time
current solver
You can display or hide the status bar by selecting or clearing the Status Bar option on the View menu.
![]() | Saving a Model | Undoing a Command | ![]() |

Learn more about Simulink through this collection of videos, articles, technical literature and the Getting Started with Simulink Guide.
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