Common annotation editing tasks
Creating annotation that follows a feature
When you are creating annotation for a stream network, you might want the annotation feature to match the curves in the stream that it annotates. You can set options for how the text follows the feature, such as whether the annotation feature is straight or curved, parallel or perpendicular to the feature, which side of the feature it will follow, and how much of an offset there will be. Once these options are set, you can create the new annotation feature and specify which feature it is to follow.
Creating annotation that follows the edge of a line or polygon
Moving annotation along a feature
Sometimes you have an existing annotation feature class that you want to edit so the features follow the streams in a stream network. You can set options for how the text follows the feature, such as whether the annotation feature is straight or curved, parallel or perpendicular to the feature, which side of the feature it will follow, and how much of an offset there will be. Once these options are set, you can edit the existing annotation feature and specify which feature it is to follow. Once the feature is specified, you can drag the annotation feature along the stream feature to determine its best location.
Editing the placement of individual words in an annotation feature
When working with a multiple-word annotation feature, it is sometimes necessary to edit the placement of only one of the words and not the annotation feature as a whole. This can easily be done by converting the annotation feature to a multiple-part annotation feature, then editing the individual part. If your annotation is feature-linked, it will still maintain its link to the features' attributes.
Constructing new annotation with text derived from attributes
Sometimes when you are creating new annotation for a feature class, the text that you want to use already exists in the attribute table of the feature class—for example, parcel identification numbers. You can pull this value from the feature and use it as annotation, thereby preventing any mistakes while typing. If the annotation feature class you are editing is a standard annotation feature class, the text will be based on the label expression of the layer containing the first visible and selectable features. If the annotation feature class is a feature-linked annotation feature class, the text will be pulled from a feature in the origin feature class.
Adding new annotation with a leader line
Sometimes you need to create annotation for features that are either very small or close together, and it is difficult to distinguish which annotation feature annotates which feature. This is when leader lines can be used to point to the feature that is being annotated.
Adding a leader line to an existing annotation feature
If an annotation feature is in a congested area, it is not always easy to tell which feature it is annotating. You can easily add a leader line to this annotation feature to point to the feature.
Stacking the words in an existing annotation feature
Some annotation consists of multiple words for a street name or a long legal description of a parcel feature. When editing these longer annotation features, you can stack them to make them more compact and easier to place. When the text is being stacked, it uses the spaces in the string to determine where to break the text.
Editing the baseline of an annotation feature
When editing annotation for stream features, it is sometimes necessary to change the curve of an annotation feature to fit the curve of the stream. You can do this by editing the baseline of the annotation feature.
Editing the symbology of an existing annotation feature
Sometimes you may need to change the color or size of several of your annotation features but not for the entire annotation feature class. You can easily change how the annotation features look by editing their symbology on the Attributes window.