Labelling shapes

A label is a string of characters placed in close proximity to a shape. You can use labels to display information about the shapes and clarify the subject of the layer. The Label Tool uses an attribute from the layer as a label for the shape. You can create labels for vector, grayscale, and pseudocolor layers that contain attributes.

Because the automatic placement of labels may be inadequate, you can make individual changes to the labels by using the Selection Tools in the Editing toolbar. You can change the style of the labels individually using the tools in the Display toolbar. Any changes to the characters used in the label are updated automatically in the view pane and the Attribute table.

If you make specific changes to individual labels with the Selection Tools or the Display tools and then use the Label Tool for more changes, specific changes may be replaced by the options set in the Label Tool.