A quick tour of Maplex

Labeling toolbar

The Labeling toolbar contains the various buttons that allow you to access the labeling parameters that the Esri Maplex Label Engine adds to ArcMap. From the Labeling toolbar, you can access the abbreviation dictionaries; general Esri Maplex Label Engine settings; and the Label Manager, Label Priority Ranking, and Label Weight Ranking dialog boxes.

Button	Name	Function
	Label Manager	Opens the Label Manager dialog box
	Label Priority Ranking	Opens the Label Priority Ranking dialog box so you can change the priority order of labels
	Label Weight Ranking	Opens the Label Weight Ranking dialog box so you can change label and feature weights
	Lock Labels	Locks labels at their current size and position
	Pause Labeling	Suspends drawing of labels
	View Unplaced Labels	Displays the labels that could not be placed on the map
	Placement Quality	Toggles the label placement quality between fast and best

Labeling toolbar buttons and their functions

Label Manager

The Label Manager lets you view and change labeling properties for all the label classes in your map. It enables you to specify and modify labels for layers without repeatedly visiting their property dialog boxes. The Label Manager also lets you manage the label classes within the map.

Maplex label placement properties

Label Position

The first tab of the Placement Properties dialog box, Label Position, helps you answer the question, Where does the label go? This tab controls how a label is positioned with respect to a feature. Point, line, and polygon feature classes have different label position options. You can specify curved or straight label placement, align labels with features or with the projection graticules, choose single or repeating labels for line features, and set the word and character spacing within labels. These options combine to offer a wide variety of label placements.

Fitting Strategy

The second tab, Fitting Strategy, helps you answer the question, What can I do to a label to make it fit on the map? This tab allows you to control if and how Maplex for ArcGIS will alter a label's placement or format when placing labels in crowded areas of the map. These parameters allow you to maintain the overall clarity of the map while increasing the number of labels that are placed on it. The label-fitting strategy parameters control label stacking, feature overrun, font size reduction, label abbreviation, and minimum feature size to be labeled. In addition, Maplex for ArcGIS allows you to specify a preference for the order in which these strategies will be applied to the placement of the label.

Conflict Resolution

The third tab, Conflict Resolution, helps you answer the question, What wins a space when multiple labels are competing for it? This tab contains parameters that order the importance of label class labels and their associated features. Maplex for ArcGIS has a number of label conflict resolution strategies to solve label problems in congested areas. Feature weights let you indicate which feature classes may be covered by labels. Background labels may be overlapped by other labels. You can also save space by removing duplicate labels or indicate that certain labels are important enough that they must appear on the map. A buffer size can also be set to control the space around labels.