There is no denying that there is a lot of symbols available in CC3+, especially if you have several of the various add-ons and annuals. And at times, it can be hard to find what you want.
In CC3+, all symbols are arranged in symbol catalogs, and symbol catalogs are all associated with a map style. For example, the Mike Schley overland style have it’s own set of symbol catalogs, while the CC3 Standard overland style have a different set of symbol catalogs. CC3+ is set up this way to make it easy to find and use the symbols that belong to the current style, you should be able to access them simply by hitting the various symbol catalog buttons immediately above the mapping window. Symbols are deliberately divided into different styles because these symbols are drawn by multiple artists using multiple drawing styles, and very often don’t look all that good if you try to mix them on the same map. Just look at the mountains above. They all look good when used in the map style they belong to, but mixing them makes little sense. This is why when you click the mountains catalog button in CC3+ you will be presented with a symbol catalog containing symbols that fit your current map style instead of just the same set of mountains always.
Sometimes however, you do want to use symbols not part of your current style. Some styles are more compatible with each other than others, so there are certainly cases where a symbol from another style may look good. Generally in CC3+, you can always browse for any symbol catalog you want by hitting the Open Symbol Catalog 
button right above the symbol catalog and look for the right symbol catalog (They’re all found in subfolders under the Symbols folder in the CC3+ data directory). If you want to use many symbols from other styles however, this can lead to a lot of clicking and browsing, making creating your own symbol catalog a good idea. A custom symbol catalog gives you easy access to the symbols you have included in it, without impacting the official catalogs.
When you make your own symbol catalogs, either from new symbols, or just to create a re-mix of existing symbols, one of the main issues is how to make them easily accessible. Sure, you can always click the open symbol catalog button and browse for it, but that means you need to remember where it is, and it is more complicated than just clicking one of the symbol catalog buttons in the top toolbar.
One of the nice upgrades CC3+ brought with it back when it was released was the ability to include drawing tools in your symbol catalogs. Now, this is hopefully not news to you, as this is used quite a bit in the official symbol catalogs used in most styles. But this fact does make the symbol catalog window a bit smarter, since drawing tools can do quite a bit of things, like I discussed in my article about 
