Prioritizing labels
Label priority controls the order that labels will be placed on the map. Labels with a higher priority will generally be placed before labels with a lower priority. Also, lower-priority labels that conflict with higher-priority labels might be placed at alternative positions or dropped from the map.
Label priority can work on a layer-by-layer basis, or you can specify label priority within layers by further dividing a layer's labels into label classes. For example, you could divide your city labels into two label classes, major cities and secondary cities. Then you could give the major city labels a higher priority and a higher label weight than the secondary labels.
To increase the chance that more important features are labeled first, assign these features a higher label priority.
- Click the Label Priority Ranking button on the Labeling toolbar.
- Click the label class or classes for which you want to change the label priority.
- Click the arrow buttons to move a label class up or down in the list.
- Click OK.
Hold down SHIFT or CTRL to select multiple label classes.
Clicking the Up arrow gives the class a higher priority, while clicking the Down arrow gives the class a lower priority.