Change text symbology or formatting

In the Attributes pane , click the Annotation tab to change the annotation symbol or formatting for a selected annotation feature. In the text preview window, you can add formatting tags and format parts of a text string. This pane is available on the Edit tab, in the Manage Edits group.

An annotation feature class can contain one or more predefined annotation classes. Each annotation class in turn references a text symbol that you can customize. Multiple annotation classes appear as sublayers in a map.

For example, a text layer for annotating city water pressurized mains can contain several annotation classes for labeling distribution mains, hydrants, and pump mains in the same annotation group layer.

To learn more, see Annotation.

Change the text symbol and formatting

Click the symbol drop-down arrow and choose a predefined symbol. To choose a symbol that is not defined with the feature class, click the Symbol button, and click the Gallery tab. To change the text formatting, click the formatting buttons and choose the formatting you want to apply.

To learn more, see Text symbols.

1. On the ribbon, click the Edit tab. Click Attributes in the Selection group.

   The Attributes pane appears.

2. 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.

3. Click the annotation feature in the selection tree view that you are editing.
4. Click the Annotation tab.
5. Click the symbol drop-down arrow and choose a predefined symbol.

   To choose a symbol that is not defined with the feature class, click Symbol, and click the Gallery tab.

   Note:

   Changing the annotation symbol changes the SymbolID attribute field value.

   

6. Click the formatting buttons and choose the formatting you want to apply.

   

7. Click Apply to apply your changes.

   If Auto Apply is checked, skip this step.

Add a background or halo property

The most common edits to a text symbol include adding effects such as a background callout to improve readability or a halo for emphasis in a complicated map or to visually separate it from competing background information.

1. On the ribbon, click the Edit tab. Click Attributes in the Selection group.

   The Attributes pane appears.

2. 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.

3. Click the annotation feature in the selection tree view that you are editing.
4. Click the Annotation tab.
5. Click Symbol, and click the Properties tab.
6. To add a background, click Callout, click the Callout symbol drop-down arrow and choose Background.

   Adding a background callout preserves the reference to the text symbol.

   

7. To add a halo, expand Halo, click the Halo symbol drop-down arrow and choose the halo symbol.

   Note:

   Adding a halo disconnects the reference and causes all symbol properties to be stored in line with the feature. This also changes the SymbolID attribute field value to -1.

   When an annotation feature does not reference a text symbol, all symbol properties are stored in line with the feature in the attribute table. This increases storage requirements and can degrade display and query performance for the annotation layer.

8. Click Apply to apply your changes.

   If Auto Apply is checked, skip this step.

Add text formatting tags

Formatting tags override the properties defined by the associated text symbol. To format parts of a text string, enclose the text in a pair of starting and ending tags. The method and syntax is the same as using XML tags. Any unrecognized balanced tag pair is ignored by the parser.

To learn more, see Text formatting tags.

1. On the ribbon, click the Edit tab. Click Attributes in the Selection group.

   The Attributes pane appears.

2. 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.

3. Click the annotation feature in the selection tree view that you are editing.
4. Click the Annotation tab.
5. In the text preview window, click the text where you want to start the format change, and type the starting format tag.

   

6. Click the text where you want the format change to end, and type the matching ending tag.
7. Click Apply to apply your changes.

   If Auto Apply is checked, skip this step.

Keyboard shortcuts

When you select a text string by dragging the pointer across it, you can use the keyboard shortcuts in the following table to format the text:

Keyboard shortcuts for formatting text

Keyboard shortcut	Action	Comment
Ctrl+U	Apply underline.	Insert inline text formatting tags <UND> the selected text string </UND>.
Ctrl+Shift+A	Apply all caps.	Insert inline text formatting tags <ACP> the selected text string </ACP>.
Ctrl+Shift+K	Apply lowercase.	Insert inline text formatting tags <SCP> the selected text string </SCP>.
Ctrl+Shift+Plus sign (+)	Apply superscript.	Insert inline text formatting tags <SUP> the selected text string </SUP>.
Ctrl+Equal sign (=)	Apply subscript.	Insert inline text formatting tags <SUB> the selected text string </SUB>.