About creating and editing annotation

Using annotation is one option in ArcGIS for storing text to place on your maps. Annotation can be used to describe particular features or add general information to the map. With annotation, the position, text string, and display properties are all stored together and are all individually editable. Annotation provides flexibility in the appearance and placement of your text because you can select individual pieces of text and edit them.

When you are working with geodatabase annotation—that is, an annotation feature class stored in a geodatabase—you can use the ArcMap editing environment within an edit session to create and edit annotation features.

Before you can create annotation features using these tools in ArcMap, you'll need to create an annotation feature class in your geodatabase. Once you have an annotation feature class, some of the tasks you can complete include creating annotation features using various construction methods and modifying where your annotation is placed and how it looks. In addition, you can use keyboard shortcuts to make editing annotation features quicker and more efficient.

Annotation stored in a map document is edited in ArcMap, but an edit session is not required and you will use a different set of tools—those on the Draw toolbar. The tools on the Editor toolbar cannot be used with map document annotation.

Creating new annotation

The Create Features window and the Editor toolbar provide the tools you need to create new annotation features. The Create Features window allows you to choose the construction method for your new annotation—horizontal, curved, leader line, and so on. Once you choose the tool to use, the Annotation Construction window appears, so you can enter the text of the new annotation, control how the text is placed, and override the default annotation properties as defined by the feature template. The text is shown in the Annotation Construction window with the same formatting and sizing as the new feature will have when it is placed on the map (the reference scale is not used in the window).

The default construction tool is one of the properties of a feature template. When you choose a template on the Create Features window, the default construction tool is activated. For example, if you are creating annotation that identifies the names of roads or rivers, you might want to make the default construction tool be the Follow Feature Annotation tool, which is used to create annotation that follows along the shapes of polygons or lines. To set the properties of a feature template, double-click it in the Create Features window.

When you are creating annotation, you can change the symbol properties for the annotation. If you find that you are making many changes to the symbology, you should consider using or creating a new symbol rather than modifying the symbol extensively.

Editing annotation

You can use the editing tools in ArcMap to edit both standard annotation and feature-linked annotation. Some of the editing tasks you can complete include resizing, moving, rotating, and applying various follow feature options to your annotation.

You can use the editing tools, including the Edit Annotation tool, to change how your annotation looks. You modify annotation appearance with the Edit Annotation tool and the Attributes window.

The Edit Annotation tool shortcut menu, which you can open by selecting an annotation feature and right-clicking, provides you with a list of many annotation editing functions. With a menu open and a command highlighted, you can press SHIFT+F1 to get a description of that command.

Shortcuts you can use when constructing annotation

The following keyboard shortcuts are available when constructing annotation:

Keyboard shortcut	Editing function
E	Toggle between construction, Edit, and Edit Annotation tools
F6	Absolute x,y
A	Activate the Text box on the Annotation Construction window, so you can change the text for constructing new annotation
CTRL+W	Find Text: Populate the text box on the Annotation Construction window with a text expression from a feature under the cursor position. If the target is a feature-linked annotation feature class, text is derived only from a feature in the origin feature class. With a standard annotation feature class as the target, the text is based on the label expression of the layer containing the first visible and selectable feature.
O	Open Follow Feature Options dialog box when creating new annotation in follow feature mode
L	Flip selected annotation features 180 degrees when creating new annotation in follow feature mode
P	Toggle annotation placement angle between parallel and perpendicular when creating new annotation in follow feature mode
TAB	Toggle annotation placement between left side and right side when creating new annotation in follow feature mode

Annotation construction tools keyboard shortcuts

Shortcuts you can use when editing annotation

The following keyboard shortcuts are available when you are editing annotation:

Keyboard shortcut	Editing function
CTRL	Move the selection anchor
SHIFT	Add to/Remove from the selection
N	Select next annotation
R	Enter/Exit rotate mode
F	Enter/Exit follow feature mode
L	Flip annotation
O	Set follow feature options
P	Toggle annotation placement angle between parallel and perpendicular when in follow feature mode
TAB	Switch to the other side of line while in follow feature mode
E	Toggle between construction, Edit, and Edit Annotation tools

Edit Annotation tool keyboard shortcuts

Editing annotation stored in ArcGIS 8 geodatabases

If your annotation feature classes were created in ArcGIS 8 and you want to use the Convert Labels To Annotation command or the Editor toolbar editing and construction tools, you'll first need to upgrade your geodatabase and use the Update Annotation Feature Class tool. It is important to note that you won't be able to view updated annotation in ArcGIS 8. You can always view earlier versions of annotation in later versions of ArcGIS. Geodatabases and annotation feature classes created in ArcGIS 9 do not need to be updated.