Style Label dialog box

Use this dialog box to add and style labels for features.

Size Context

Select Device to specify label widths and heights in screen units. Available units are Points, Inches, Millimeters, or Centimeters. Select Map to specify label widths and heights in Mapping Coordinate System (MCS) units. Available units are Inches, Feet, Yards, Miles, Millimeters, Centimeters, Meters, and Kilometers.

The Size Context and Unit settings apply to all items in the dialog box, not only to selected items.

Unit

Select the type of units of measurement to use.

Note: Units are not part of the style, and are not permanently associated with the style. Every time you display this dialog box, it converts your settings to the current units.

Label and Style

Use the Add Label to add elements to the label. Label elements can include both text and graphics. You can include multiple elements in a label style.

The graphical area just below Add Label the elements and the order in which they will appear. Select an element in the graphical area to change its position, appearance, and content. Use the arrow keys to change the position of the selected item. To delete an item, select it and click X.

To see how the elements will combine to form a label, check the preview area at the bottom of the dialog box.

Select Symbol

Select MText or Plain Text to create a text element. Select a graphical symbol to create a symbol element.

Text Settings

Use the style options below the graphical area to specify the font, size, style, alignment, and spacing for the selected element in the label. You can also specify any desired color for ghosting (halo effect), fill, or frame for the label, and a rotation angle.

For Text Content, select a property as the source of the label text, or select Expression to define an expression. For more information, see Using the Expression Builder. To specify static text instead of a property, select Use Static Text from the Text Content list and enter the text in the field provided.

To use an expression for a style option, scroll to the bottom of its drop-down list. Once you have used an expression, a function symbol will be superimposed on the icon for that setting.

Symbol Settings

For a symbol element, use the style options below the graphical area to specify the graphical symbol to use and its fill, outline style, line color, size, and rotation.

If the symbol graphic includes text, text styling options are also available.

Advanced

For Linear Features

Label Position

Select Fixed to show labels at fixed locations relative to the feature. Select Repeat to repeat the label at intervals along the feature.

For Point Features

Label Position

Specify whether to place labels alongside their referencing point (Next To Feature) or to superimpose labels on the referencing point (On Top Of Feature).