In this case, it is probably simpler not bothering with the tool at all.

Just set the correct sheet, correct color, line width to 0 and fill to 0 on the status bar. Then do CONTOURSM on the text and the poly should go on the right sheet.

Another way that uses the drawing tool is to make a macro drawing tool that sets all the properties as above, and then calls CONTOURSM at the end of the macro, just leaving you to pick the text. I talk about macro tools in this blog article:

You can insert an image into your map using Draw -> Insert file. You can then either place this on a sheet below the one you draw on, or add a transparency effect to the sheet holding the image if you wish to have it as an overlay.

CC3+ has a command called TRACED than can construct an entity from an image automatically, but this works best if the image is black landmasses/transparent seas, and it will only be able to handle the outline, it can't really do inland contours and things like that (unless you are able to extract those manually as a separate image to be processed.)

Yes. There are a couple of ways to go about that. All the options do require some manual work to get a good end result, but getting the coastlines is quite simple (Although you do probably want to add additional detail to a zoomed in part of the world). See here for one way to do it

I can't make all potential useful topics sticky, the front page would just be a long list of stickies, which is not very user-friendly. Instead, it is listed in the resources category, which you can find directly from the left-hand navigation menu (Helpful resources and FAQ link)

The reason it works when you move it back to the desktop is likely because the map is set up with map-relative paths to the images. Which means it looks for the images in a spesific place that is relative to where the map is, so if you move the .fcw file, you need to move the image folder along with it so they keep their relative relationship in the new location.

As Sue says, it is best to keep your symbols under @Symbols\User\somesubfolder

There are two main things that can cause erase to misbehave:

• It actually calls a macro, so if your macro file is corrupt the command may not load properly. There was a bug in an earlier version that could cause corruption of your in-memory version of the macros, hence the importance of the update. The update should also have replaced your macro file on disk. You can check that your macro file looks sane by going to tools -> macros -> edit macros, scroll down in the dialog, and check that the last line is ENDM (followed by a blank line)
• Your selection method may be changed. This should make all commands requiring a selection to misbehave though, and not just erase, but you can reset it to the default by going to tools menu -> options -> Select method -> set to dialog or popup.

If none of this helps, I suggest you contact support through your registered user pages.