# Messages View Top Toolbar

The toolbar located along the top of [Messages view]() is shown in **Figure 1**.

![Figure 1: The toolbar along the top of Messages view has many features.](https://content.gitbook.com/content/9uNvoSkR7R6QY16gR3CY/blobs/dD4IVdzwL5BBt1hEl9Jz/spymontoptoolbar.gif)

Refer to **Table 1** for details on the various toolbar selections.

### Table 1: Messages View Top Toolbar Selections

| Toolbar Selection                                                           | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             | Hotkey           |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------- |
| Scroll button                                                               | <p>Selects scrolling or static display mode.<br><br></p><ul><li>ON (scrolling mode) - see message traffic as it appears on the bus with the most recent message at the bottom.</li></ul><p><br><br></p><ul><li>OFF (static mode) - see a stationary list of messages with changing data bytes. All messages that have been detected at least once are listed.</li></ul> | F3 then M        |
| [Details button](messages-view-top-toolbar/message-details-pane)            | <p>Opens a Details for "Message" area to help decode unknown signals in messages.<br></p>                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               | none             |
| Expand checkbox                                                             | <p>Shows data from multi-frame messages more clearly, like USDT or J1939. Works only in static display mode.<br><br></p><ul><li>ON - data bytes from a multi-frame message are shown in an expanded block added below its message.</li></ul><p><br><br></p><ul><li>OFF - data bytes are shown only in the same row as the message.</li></ul>                            | none             |
| [Reverse Engineering button](messages-view-top-toolbar/reverse-engineering) | Opens a menu with many features to help reverse engineer unknown messages and signals.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  | none             |
| [Time Abs button](messages-view-top-toolbar/messages-view-timestamping)     | <p>Shows relative or absolute timestamps. Works in scrolling and static display modes.<br><br></p><ul><li>ON (absolute time) - time from Vehicle Spy start until that message was received.</li></ul><p><br><br></p><ul><li>OFF (relative time) - time between this message and the previous one.</li></ul>                                                             | F3 then A        |
| [Pause button](messages-view-top-toolbar/pause-messages-view)               | <p>Pauses the message display. Works in scrolling and static display modes.<br><br></p><ul><li>ON - display is paused.</li></ul><p><br><br></p><ul><li>OFF - display is not paused.</li></ul>                                                                                                                                                                           | F3 then spacebar |
| [Save button](messages-view-top-toolbar/save-the-buffer)                    | Saves the message buffer to a file.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     | F3 then S        |
| [Erase button](messages-view-top-toolbar/clear-the-buffer)                  | Erases the message buffer and clears any suppression of activity highlighting.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          | F3 then C        |
| New Form button                                                             | Opens more Messages views that operate independently from each other. A powerful feature that lets you dedicate each view to one network or ECU for example.                                                                                                                                                                                                            | none             |
| Find Prev, Find Next, and search field                                      | Finds text entered in the search field. Find Next looks for the next instance while Find Prev looks for matches earlier in the traffic.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | none             |
| Search Location dropdown                                                    | Sets which Messages view [column](../messages-view-column-headers#setting-up-the-columns) to search in.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | none             |
| Go To Line field & button                                                   | This will put the desired line number at the top of the Messages view. This works only while paused in scrolling mode or while using [Review Buffer](../../main-menu-file/review-buffer).                                                                                                                                                                               | none             |
