About editing attributes

When you want to add, delete, or update attribute values, you can use either the Attributes window or the table window.

Editing attributes in the Attributes window

The Attributes window allows you to view and edit attributes of features you have selected. You can open it by clicking the Attributes button on the Editor toolbar.

While the window can be reoriented, it is vertical by default. The top of the window lists the features you have selected. Features are listed by their display expression and grouped by layer. Use the Fields tab of the Layer Properties dialog box to customize how the fields appear by setting up field aliases, hiding fields, and changing the field order.

The bottom of the Attributes window contains two columns: the attribute fields of the layer you are viewing and the values of those attribute properties. The attribute values that appear depend on what you click in the tree at the top.

• To modify a value for a single feature, click the feature and make your changes in the attribute value column.
• To modify values for all selected features in a layer at the same time, click the layer name and make your changes in the attribute value column.
• To modify values for just a few of the selected features in a layer, click each feature you want to update so it is highlighted in the Attributes window, and make the edits.
• To edit the attributes of feature or records that are related to the selected features, click and traverse through the tree, and edit the values.
• To modify the attributes of multiple related features or records, click each related item you want to update so it is highlighted it in the Attributes window, and make the edits.

Keyboard shortcuts in the Attributes window

You can use keyboard shortcuts to navigate the Attributes window and attributes grid. In the top of the window, use the up and down arrow keys to navigate through the list of selected features and the right arrow key to expand the tree. In the attributes grid, press the up and down arrows to move to the previous and next rows. Press the ENTER key to start editing the current row, type the attribute value, and press ENTER again to commit the edit and advance to the next row.

For fields containing drop-down menus, such as coded value domains or subtypes, press the ENTER key to open the menu. You can type the first letter of the list item to move to it or use the up and down arrow keys, then press ENTER to choose the value.

Editing attributes in the table window

You can also edit attributes in the table window. An attribute table window can show you the values for all features in a layer. Editing attributes through the table window also allows you to quickly make changes to several features (records) at once using the field calculator.