Set point label placement properties

When using the Standard Label Engine, there are four placement options for point features. You can only choose one:

• Offset label horizontally around the point—Choose this option if you want to place labels around the features but not on top of them. You can specify a placement pattern that ensures that a given label is only placed in one location with respect to the feature, for example, above and to the right. Or you can specify a pattern that prioritizes several placement options. For example, the Standard Label Engine first tries to place a label above and to the right of the feature. Then, if it can't fit the label, it tries the bottom and to the right. The placement pattern is created by ranking the zones on a scale of 1 through 3, where 1 is the first zone in which you want to try to place the label and 3 is the last zone. The ranking of 1 must be unique, while the other rankings can be duplicated. You can also give a zone the value of 0 to prohibit labels from being placed in it.
• Place label on top of point—Choose this option to center the label on top of the point.
• Place label at specified angles—Choose this option to enter a list of proposed angles for the labels. The point's location is used as the pivot point around which the text is rotated. The Standard Label Engine tries to place all labels using this list. As each feature is labeled, the first angle in the list is tried first. If there's a conflict, subsequent angles in the list are tried until the label is placed successfully.
• Place label at an angle specified by a field—Choose this option if you have an attribute in the layer that specifies the angle to rotate each label. The point's location is used as the pivot point around which the text is rotated. This option gives you control over label angles on a feature-by-feature basis. Specify angles in degrees.

  You can specify a rotation style—Geographic or Arithmetic—to control how the angles in the field are interpreted by the Standard Label Engine and also whether the angles are placed along the angle or perpendicular to it.

  Tip:

  If you are rotating point feature symbology based on a rotation field, you can choose to rotate the labels using the same field.

1. Ensure that the Standard Label Engine is enabled.
2. Ensure that List By Labeling is the active method of displaying the Contents pane. Click the List By Labeling tab .
3. Choose a label class in the Contents pane and click the Labeling tab.
4. On the Labeling tab, in the Label Placement group, click Label Placement Properties .
5. In the Labeling pane, click Position and click the Position tab .
6. Specify the placement style to use and set its properties.