Working with duplicate labels

When labeling line and polygon layers, you can choose one of the following three options for handling duplicate labels.

Note:

There are no duplicate label options when labeling point features.

• Remove duplicate labels—This is the default when labeling line features. When two or more contiguous line features have the same label text string, only one label is placed. When labeling polygon features, only one label is placed; the features need not be contiguous. This prevents seeing potentially many of the same labels on your map.
• Place one label per feature—A label is placed for every feature. Duplicate labels are not removed. If you have a multipart feature, this option places one label for the entire multipart polygon.
• Place one label per feature part—This is the default when labeling polygon features. A label is placed for each part of a multipart feature. Duplicates are not removed.

Note:

If you enable the Maplex Label Engine, you will see different options for working with duplicate labels.

Learn more about labeling with the Maplex Label Engine

Steps:

1. Open the Label Manager by clicking the Label Manager button on the Labeling toolbar.
2. Click a label class in the Label Classes list.
3. Click the Properties button.
4. Click the Placement tab on the Placement Properties dialog box.
5. Click one of the Duplicate Labels options.

   Depending on your scale, you might not see labels as you expect, as by default overlapping labels are not allowed. To override this setting, check the Place overlapping labels option.

6. Click OK on all dialog boxes.