Turn snapping on or off

On the Edit tab, in the Snapping group, Snapping List By Snapping controls the accuracy of the pointer when you click feature geometry. The settings comprise a set of configurable snap agents that snap the pointer to specific geometry such as to vertices or to midpoints of lines.

Snapping can be utilized when creating and modifying features as well as with measurement and transformation tools that require accurate pointer clicks. When you hover near a feature, the enabled snap agents become active and display the layer to which they are snapping.

Optional settings include snapping to z-values stored with z-aware features in 2D and 3D scenes, snapping to sketches, distance tolerances, and the screen tip color. These settings are also available on the status bar located at the bottom of the active map or scene.

To learn more, see Change snapping settings.

Turn snapping on or off

Turning snapping on or off does not change your snap agent settings.

  1. On the Edit tab, in the Snapping group, click Snapping List By Snapping.

    You can also click Snapping List By Snapping on the status bar at the bottom of the active map or scene.

    Each subsequent click turns snapping on or off.

    Tip:

    Press and hold the spacebar to temporarily turn off snapping as you create, modify, or measure features.

Enable snap agents

Enable the snap agents you want active when you turn on snapping, for example, to snap to vertices and edges of polygons or to point features when you work with cloud data on a LAS dataset layer.

  1. On the Edit tab, in the Snapping group, click the Snapping drop-down arrow List By Snapping.

    You can also click Snapping List By Snapping on the status bar at the bottom of the active map or scene.

  2. Click a snap agent to enable or disable it.

    Snapping agents

    Enabled snap agents appear shaded.

Snap agents

The following snap agents are available:

Snap agentDescription

Point Point

Snaps to the nearest point or LAS point feature

Endpoint Endpoint

Snaps to the nearest start or endpoint of a polyline feature

Vertex Vertex

Snaps to the nearest vertex of a polyline or polygon feature

Edge Edge

Snaps to the nearest edge of a polyline or polygon segment

Intersection Intersection

Snaps to the nearest intersection of two or more lines or edges

Midpoint Midpoint

Snaps to the nearest midpoint of a polyline or polygon segment

Tangent Tangent

Snaps to the nearest point of tangency on an arc or curved segment