Edit feature attributes

In the Attributes pane you can view and edit attributes for selected features, related records, and nonspatial objects. Features are listed by their display field layer property setting. If the field is null, the FID field value is shown. This pane is available on the ribbon, on the Edit tab.

The pane contains two tabs described in the following table:

Tab	Description
Selection	Click a selected feature or nonspatial object and edit its attribute values and related records.
Layers	Choose a layer and pan to each feature in a manual or automated stepwise sequence using Play and Pause transport controls.

When you edit feature attributes on the Selection tab, consider the following:

• To follow a hyperlink stored in a field, press Ctrl and click the text in the field.
• If a feature class or a related table is not in the active project, a warning icon appears in the selection tree view. You can click these items and directly edit attributes, or right-click them and add the data to the map and edit them in the properties table.
• If an active editing tool is filtering a selection, a notification appears in the pane. To reset the selection, press Esc to disable the active tool or click the Select tool and make a new selection.

Note:

To edit feature attributes in the layer attribute table, right-click the layer in the Contents pane and click Attribute Table .

Edit attributes and related records

Select the features in the map and click the feature or nonspatial object in the selection tree view whose attributes you are editing.

1. On the ribbon, click the Edit tab. In the Selection group, click Attributes .
2. In the Attributes pane, click the Selection tab.
3. Click the Select tool and select the features.

   To refine the selection in the pane, right-click a feature and click Only Select This or Unselect .

   The selected features appear in the pane selection tree view.

4. Click the feature or nonspatial object in the selection tree view whose attributes you are editing.

   To select and apply the same attribute value to multiple features, press the Ctrl key, and click the features.

5. Check or uncheck Auto Apply.

   Checked	Press Enter or click another field to apply changes to a field value.
   Unchecked	Click Apply to apply changes to a field value. Click Cancel to restore the last saved value.

6. Click the Attributes tab.

   To edit a selected attribute in an attributed relationship table, click the Attributed Relationship tab.

7. Click a field and type a value.

   Alternatively, right-click the field and choose one of the following commands:

   Command	Description
   Set To '<Null>'	Set the value to Null if the field accepts null values.
   Revert	Revert the value to the last stored value.
   Get Unique Values	Choose a value currently stored in this field.
   Clear	Clear the value and use the current geodatabase default value.

   If the field is date field, click the field and click Calendar . To enter the current date and time, click Today.

   Tip:

   Hover over the field name to view the data type, default geodatabase value, and other field properties.

8. Press the Enter key or click Apply if Auto Apply is not checked.

   Note:

   If the change prompt is turned on for uncommitted edits, and you do not apply or cancel your edits before switching to another map, you are prompted to apply or cancel any uncommitted attribute edits.

   

Find and correct invalid values

To find and correct invalid attribute values, right-click the layer in the selection view and click Select Only Invalid Objects . This command is available with layers for which a data rule exists including attribute rules and other geodatabase behaviors such as attribute domains.

Note:

By default, if a value breaks an attribute rule, a notification appears at the top of the pane showing the rule that is preventing your changes.

If your workflow requires the ability to override values, such as domain values or fields that do not allow nulls or empty field values, turn attribute validation off.

Edit subtypes and domain values

To edit a subtype or attribute domain values, click the field drop-down arrow and choose a value. If the subtype field is symbolizing the layer, click the Choose Symbol Class button to change the symbology.

If the default attribute values defined by the new subtype are different than the current default values, the following warning appears:

Click Yes to apply the default attribute values defined by the new subtype. If a field does not have a default value associated with it for the new subtype, its value remains unchanged. Click No to preserve the existing feature attribute values.

Tip:

If your workflow requires you to always apply the default values, you can turn the subtype warning off and automatically apply the default values defined by the new subtype for all subtype changes.

Field color codes

If a field or a field border is highlighted or shaded, the color indicates a specific status or how the field value is defined. The color codes are described in the following table.

Attribute field color codes

Field color	Description
Orange shading	Subtype field.
Purple shading	Symbolizes the layer.
Yellow shading	The Highlight property is enabled in the Fields view.
Grey border	The field is read-only and can't be edited.
Green border	The field is not using the geodatabase default value.
Blue border	The field is using the geodatabase default value.
Yellow border	The field value is an invalid entry for the optional contingent values assigned to the field.
Red border	The field value is an invalid entry for one of the possible reasons: Attribute validation is turned on and the field value is invalid for the attribute domain assigned to the field. The field value is an invalid entry for the required contingent values assigned to the field.

Edit contingent values

To edit contingent values, click the field and choose a value on the drop-down list. If Auto-update is enabled in the attribute table, the values in participating contingent fields automatically update when a unique combination is encountered.

Contingent values act as loosely constrained look up fields for attribute domains. The participating fields are defined as a group where specifying a value in one field determines the next set of valid choices for other fields.

Tip:

To create and manage contingent values open the source attribute table and click the Data tab on the ribbon. In the Design group, click Contingent Values .

1. On the ribbon, click the Edit tab. In the Selection group, click Attributes .
2. In the Attributes pane, click the Selection tab and select the feature.
   1. Click the Select tool and select a feature defined with contingent attribute values.
   2. In the selection view, click the feature.
3. Click the Attributes tab.
4. Uncheck Auto Apply.
5. Click a field and choose a value on the drop-down list. The specified value filters the lists of values in other contingent fields to show valid combinations. Incorrect values highlight the field with a vertical yellow bar and show a warning message in the pane.

   The best practice is to start at the top of the value hierarchy and choose values in subsequent fields that are valid choices. Additionally, you can click the controls described in the following table that appear in drop-down lists depending on the available combinations.

   Show Matches	Show all valid choices for the field based on its primary field value. This is the default setting. This control appears at the top of the drop-down list when you click Show All.
   Partial Matches	Show domain values grouped according to matched fields. This control allows you to create partial matches that are still valid combinations with a subset of the contingent fields for the row. Other fields may require further editing until a valid combination is achieved.
   Show All	Show all domain values for the field including retired and non-valid combinations. This control allows you to create a completely different combination of values. This control appears at the bottom of the drop-down list when you click Show Matches.

   

6. Click Apply to apply your changes.

Copy and paste attributes using the clipboard

Right-click a feature in the selection view to copy and paste attributes between features. By default, values are pasted to matching field names with matching data types or to fields defined by the current field mapping settings.

Note:

To transfer attributes between features by clicking the source and destination features in a map, use the Transfer Attributes tool .

1. On the ribbon, click the Edit tab. In the Selection group, click Attributes .
2. In the Attributes pane, click Select , select the features, and expand the selection in the pane.
3. Right-click the feature containing the attributes you want to copy, and click Copy Attributes .

   

4. Right-click the destination feature or layer, and click Paste Attributes .
5. If Auto Apply is turned off, click Apply.

View and edit geometry

Click the Geometry tab to view the coordinate values for the selected feature. To edit feature geometry, click an editing tool on the toolbar.

Tip:

To change the display units, click the coordinate display arrow at the bottom of the current map or scene view.