Extracted from ArcView 3.2 HELP file:
To convert a theme to a shapefile
1 Click on the name of the theme you want to convert to make it active.
2 Choose Convert to Shapefile from the Theme menu.
3 In the dialog that appears, specify a name and location for the shapefile. Press OK
4 You are prompted to see if you want to add the new shapefile to the view you are currently working on as a theme.
Why convert a theme to a shapefile?
You want to edit the features in a theme but the Start Editing option in the Theme menu is dimmed out when the theme is active. This is because only themes based on ArcView shapefiles can be edited in ArcView. If you want to edit a theme that is based on other feature data sources, such as ARC/INFO coverages, CAD drawings, etc. you should first convert the theme to a new shapefile and add it to your view.
You have queried a theme to find particular features of interest and now you want to save the features you have selected so that they can be added to your view as a separate theme or used in some other application. If any of a theme's features are selected when you convert it to a shapefile, only these features will be saved into the new shapefile. (If no features are selected in the theme, all its features are saved into the new shapefile). In this way you can make the set of features you have selected a 'permanent' part of your view.
You are using ArcView’s Spatial Analyst extension and you want to convert a grid theme to a feature theme so that you can work with the raster data in vector format.
You want to convert data between formats. For example, you may have themes based on ARC/INFO coverages and you want to create shapefiles from these themes so you can use them in another application. Or you may be using ArcView's Database Access extension and you have a theme based on a data layer managed by ESRI’s Spatial Database Engine (SDE) that you would like to save to a shapefile so that you can use it on a portable computer when you are not connected to the SDE database.
I want to convert my theme to a shapefile but the Convert to Shapefile option is dimmed out.
The Convert to Shapefile option is dimmed out if :
the Shape field in the attribute table of the active theme is hidden. To make the Shape field visible if it is hidden, click the Open Theme Table button to open the theme's attribute table, choose Properties from the Table menu, and in the list of visible fields check the Shape field if it is not currently checked.
you do not have write access to the data source used by the active theme
the active theme is a database theme, and it does not have a selected set of features.
Tips about naming shapefiles
Always use alpha-numeric characters, dashes and underlines for file and directory names used with ArcView, including names for shapefiles and files for printing. Spaces, periods, and other non-alphanumeric characters in file or directory names may cause problems on all platforms.
Any rules that normally apply to naming files for your operating system apply (length of file name, other characters which are not supported, etc.).
Under Windows, long filenames (over 11 characters) may cause some problems for certain operations. Avoid using long filenames for files or directories. We recommend following the 8.3 naming conventions when naming all files.
Under UNIX, capital letters in the shapefile name are not supported.
Tips about converting themes to shapefiles
By default, the shapefile that is created is in the same map units and coordinate system as the data source of the theme you converted. If your view is projected, you will prompted if you want the output shapefile to be in projected units or in the same units as the data source. For example, if your theme's data source is in State Plane NAD83, the new shapefile will also be in State Plane NAD83. If your data source is in decimal degrees and you have projected the view into State Plane NAD83, you will prompted whether you want the output shapefile to be in the data source units (decimal degrees) or in projected units (State Plane NAD83).
You are recommended not to overwrite an existing shapefile when you convert a theme while that existing shapefile is also being displayed as a theme in an open view. But if you have done that and get some unexpected results, you need to open the theme's table and choose Refresh from the Table menu.
Shapefiles are always stored in double precision. However, if the source of the shapefile was a single precision coverage, the shapefile will still be stored in double precision but only to the accuracy of single precision.
If you convert a theme in ARC/INFO labelpoint coverage format to a shapefile, features will be stored as multipoint shapes in the shapefile. If you convert a theme in ARC/INFO annotation coverage format to a shapefile, features will be stored as polygon shapes in the shapefile. The polygon will correspond to the extent of the baseline used to create the annotation in ARC/INFO.
The attributes of the shapefile are stored in a dBASE file. dBASE has limitations as to field names, item types, etc. If you are converting an ARC/INFO coverage to a shapefile, you should be aware that the shapefile's attributes may be slightly different than the original coverage's. See the Tables Frequently Asked Questions for more information.