Managing annotation feature class properties
The Feature Class Properties dialog box is used to set the alias, spatial, and attribute indexes, as well as manage properties unique to annotation feature classes—annotation classes, symbols, and settings that determine how the annotation features can be edited.
To open the Feature Class Properties dialog box, double-click an annotation feature class in the Catalog tree. Note that some properties are editable, while others are read-only.
Fields
The Fields tab lists the fields in the annotation feature class. The following are required fields and can't be deleted:
- ObjectID
- Shape: Polygon shape representing the outline of the annotation
- FeatureID: For feature-linked annotation, contains the ObjectID of the linked feature
- ZOrder: Unused at this time
- AnnotationClassID: The annotation class the annotation belongs to
- Element: BLOB field that stores symbology and text geometry
- SymbolID: The symbol in the symbol table
- Status: Whether the feature is placed or unplaced
- Shape_length
- Shape_area
The SymbolID field normally contains a value greater than or equal to 0. This value is the number of the text symbol in the symbol collection. If the value is -1, the annotation feature is storing the display properties in the record, and it is not referencing a text symbol in the symbol collection. When the SymbolID value is -1, the Override field value is 0, as every property is overridden.
Learn more about text symbols in the symbol collection
Other fields in the feature class reference the annotation feature's display properties. These fields can be edited, and doing so updates the feature's BLOB element. Likewise, any change to the annotation feature through the Annotation tab on the Attribute Editor is updated in the fields. These fields can also be deleted. The list of these fields follows:
- TextString: The text string for the feature
- FontName: The name of the font, for example, Arial
- FontSize: The size of the font
- Bold: Whether the text is bold—true/false
- Italic: Whether the text is italic—true/false
- Underline: Whether the text is underlined—true/false
- VerticalAlignment: The vertical alignment of the text—top/center/baseline/bottom
- HorizontalAlignment: The horizontal alignment of the text—left/right/center/full
- XOffset: Shifts the text position right or left
- YOffset: Shifts the text position up or down
- Angle: Rotates the text angle
- FontLeading: Adjusts the spacing between lines
- WordSpacing: Adjusts the spacing between words
- CharacterWidth: Adjusts the character width
- CharacterSpacing: Adjusts the spacing between characters
- FlipAngle: Adjusts the angle at which point rotated text is flipped in place
The Override field is not editable and is maintained by ArcGIS. When the override value is 0, the annotation feature is displayed using the SymbolID text symbol that it references and no display properties are stored in the record. When the override value is greater than 0, the annotation feature uses the SymbolID text symbol as a base display and applies the overridden properties to that symbol. See the table below for a list of these possible values. The values that are seen in the attribute table are a sum of the values below. For example, if the override value is 65, then both the XOffset (1) and Size (64) properties are overridden (1+64=65).
|
Override value |
Overridden property |
|---|---|
|
1 |
XOffset property |
|
2 |
YOffset property |
|
4 |
Horizontal Alignment property |
|
8 |
Vertical Alignment property |
|
16 |
Flip Angle property |
|
64 |
Size property |
|
128 |
Color property |
|
512 |
Character Spacing property |
|
1024 |
Character Width property |
|
2048 |
Word Spacing property |
|
4096 |
Leading property |
|
8192 |
Bold property |
|
16384 |
Italic property |
|
32768 |
Underline property |
|
65536 |
Background Symbol |
|
131072 |
Font property |
Subtypes
If the annotation feature class has more than one annotation class, the annotation classes are implemented as subtypes. The Subtypes tab lists the annotation classes. However, to manage annotation classes, use the Annotation Classes tab.
Relationships
For feature-linked annotation in ArcCatalog, the Relationships tab displays the relationship class that links the annotation feature class to its associated feature class.
Annotation classes
The Annotation Classes tab allows you to manage annotation classes. You can add and remove annotation classes from the list. To modify or view the properties of an annotation class, select the annotation class in the list and access the properties with any of the controls on the tab.
Other properties
The Annotation tab allows you to change the reference scale of the annotation feature class. Changing the reference scale takes a long time to complete, so change it only after you've carefully chosen a new scale by experimenting with your data in ArcMap.
The Annotation tab also allows you to set properties that affect how the annotation can be edited.
Learn more about annotation feature class editing properties
The symbol collection lists the predefined text symbols you can assign to annotation features when creating or editing them in ArcMap.