A quick tour of the Labeling toolbar

The Labeling toolbar contains the various buttons that will allow you to control labeling in ArcMap. From the Labeling toolbar, you can access the General ESRI Label Engine Settings, Label Manager, Label Priority Ranking dialog box, and Label Weight Ranking dialog box. You can also turn on the Maplex Label Engine.

The image below shows the Labeling toolbar. To add it to ArcMap, click Customize > Toolbars > Labeling.

LicenseLicense:

Portions of the Labeling toolbar are dimmed. The Maplex for ArcGIS extension is needed to access the Abbreviation Dictionaries and Use Maplex Label Engine tools.

Labeling toolbar
Labeling toolbar buttons and their functions

Button

Name

Function

Label Manager

Label Manager

Opens the Label Manager dialog box

Label Priority Ranking

Label Priority Ranking

Opens the Label Priority Ranking dialog box so you can change the priority order of labels

Label Weight Ranking

Label Weight Ranking

Opens the Label Weight Ranking dialog box so you can change label and feature weights

Lock Labels

Lock Labels

Locks labels in their current size and position so, as you pan and zoom, the labels will stay in place

Pause Labeling

Pause Labeling

Suspends drawing of labels

View Unplaced Labels

View Unplaced Labels

Displays the labels that could not be placed on the map

Placement Quality

Placement Quality

Toggles the label placement quality between fast and best

LicenseLicense:

The Placement Quality list is only available when the Maplex extension is installed and Label Engine is enabled.

Labeling toolbar buttons and their functions

5/2/2011