About managing address locators
Address locators are used to find an individual address or geocode a table of addresses. They can be accessed in ArcMap, ArcCatalog, or the Geocoding toolbox. Depending on what you want to do with the address locators, there are a few different ways to manage them.
Address Locator Manager
Your ArcMap document can contain any number of address locators, and you can use the Address Locator Manager dialog box to manage the set of address locators contained in an ArcMap document. For more information about how to manage address locators in ArcMap, see the following topics:
Default locators in ArcMap
Address locators or geocode services can be set as default locators in ArcMap. Default locators are always loaded on the Geocoding toolbar and Find dialog box when you start ArcMap or open a new map document, but they are not saved in the map document.
Managing locators in ArcCatalog
In ArcCatalog, address locators can be copied, pasted, or moved from one workspace to another. Deleting an address locator in ArcCatalog physically deletes the locator from the file system. For more information about how to manage an address locator in ArcCatalog, see these topics:
Packaging locators
Packaging locators in a single portable file is a simple way to archive a locator or composite locator and share it with others. A locator in a file folder consists of multiple files. It could be difficult to manage and share a composite locator with its participating locators spread across different workspaces. When creating a locator package, the composite locator, along with its participating locators, is copied and compressed into a single file (.gcpk). Managing and sharing the package file is a lot easier.