Add or remove a leader line

In the Modify Features pane, Annotation Edit Annotation includes commands on the context menu for adding and deleting a leader line for the selected annotation feature.

Leader lines are useful when you need to move text away from a feature and continue to communicate to which feature in a map you are referring. Conversely, deleting a leader removes the leader from the map.

Add a leader

Adding a leader creates a two-point line anchored to the nearest selection boundary handle. You can drag the feature or the leader endpoint to draw the line or move where the line is anchored.

  1. On the Edit tab in the Features group, click Modify.

    The Modify Features pane appears.

  2. Expand Alignment and click Annotation Edit Annotation.

    The tool opens in the pane.

  3. In the pane, click Select Annotation Select Annotation and select the annotation feature.

    The selected feature appears in a list and a selection boundary appears around the feature.

    Edit annotation

    The formatting toolbar appears at the bottom of the map.

    Formatting toolbar
    Tip:

    To move the toolbar, hover over an edge until the pointer changes to the move pointer, and drag the toolbar to a new location.

  4. If you select more than one feature, click an item in the list to flash it on the map, right-click the feature you want to edit, and click Only Select This Unselect on the context menu.
  5. Right-click the text and click Add Leader Add Leader.

    The endpoint vertex appears highlighted on the selection boundary at the bottom control handle.

  6. To draw the leader line, do one of the following:
    • Hover over the highlighted vertex until the pointer changes to the Move Vertex pointer and drag the endpoint.
    • Hover over the selection boundary until the pointer changes to the Move pointer and drag the text.
    Add leader
  7. On the editing toolbar, click Finish Finish or press the F2 key.

    Editing toolbar

Delete a leader

To delete a leader line from an existing annotation feature, select the feature using Select Annotation Select Annotation, right-click the text, and click Delete Leader Delete Leader.