Labels Tab

The Labels tab specifies the label setup for a vector layer.

Access the Labels tab from the Overlay Control Center, by double clicking on the layer or using the Layer Options button.

Create Separate Label Layer

If enabled, this option will create a separate Label Layer that will contain all of the labels. Creating a separate label layer allows for much greater control over the location and style of the labels, and makes it so that they can be selected and manipulated with the Digitizer tool. Any settings in the original Labels tab will be used to define the label layer, but once it is created, the Labels tab will disappear, and those settings will instead be available in the Vector Options window for the new, separate label layer.

Set Up Feature Label Display

Apply Attribute Value to Labels

When creating labels, whether as a separate layer or not, there are three options to choose from regarding how the chosen attribute value for the vector data will be applied to the label. These options will appear in a pop-up window (shown below) after any changes in the Labels tab are applied, or after OK is clicked.

Link - This will get the label text from the selected attribute by linking to the attribute, so that the label is automatically updated if the attribute value changes.

Replace - This will copy the selected attribute value to the <Feature Name> field, and use it for the label. From there the Name can be custom edited.

Update - This will copy the selected attribute to the <Feature Name> field, and use it for the label, only if <Feature Name> is empty.

Labeling Method

Do Not Use an Attribute Value

This option specifies that the original or edited display label associated with a feature should be used for display and not a label based on an attribute value or custom string. When creating a new feature, or editing an individual feature, this is the value entered in the top of Modify Feature Info for the Name.

Use Selected Attribute Value

Specifies that the value of the selected attribute will be used as the display label for the feature. If the feature already had a label and the Keep Original Label if Non-Empty option is checked, the original label will be used rather than the attribute value.

Use Multiple Attributes

Allows the user to choose one or more attributes to combine to create the display label, as well as provide custom prefix, suffix, and separator strings. If the feature already had a label and the Keep Original Label if Non-Empty option is checked, the original label will be used rather than the attribute value.

Use Custom Formatting String

This allows the user to provide a custom formatted string that can contain any free-form text and attribute values embedded as %ATTR_NAME%. The name of any feature attribute can be used as ATTR_NAME or special attributes, like <Feature Name>, <Feature Desc>, <Feature Layer Name>, etc.

Label Style Options

Label Style by Feature - Choose this option to be able to edit the style of label features individually, by selecting them with the Select Labels tool, right-clicking, and choosing "Edit Label Feature Style."

Same Label Style for All Features - This option will enable the "Select..." button to set the style for all label features at once. If you attempt to edit the style of an individual label feature in the map view by right-clicking on it and choosing "Edit Label Feature Style," these changes will not appear unless you switch the label style option back to Label Style by Feature.

Attribute Label Format Options

Automatically Format Numeric Attribute Values - Check this option to format labels that contain all digit values as numbers with a specific display set in the options below.

Digits of decimal precision - Sets the number of digits to the right of the decimal place. "Automatic" uses default processing based on the data.

Remove Trailing Zeros - Removes trailing zeros to the right of the decimal place.

Use scientific notation - Formats the number using scientific notation.

Label/Attribute Language (Code Page)

Use this setting to convert label and attribute values from the layer's native code page or display in the user interface, and when setting new values for the label and code page.

Label Priority

This section allows the user to define the priority of labels at zoom extents where all the labels cannot be shown at once.

Default - This option uses automatic processing based on the data.

Prioritize features with higher values and Prioritize features with lower values - These options will prioritize labels based off of the values in the selected Rank Attribute, in either descending or ascending order.

For instance, for county population data, choosing Prioritize features with higher values for the Rank Attribute of POPULATION will make it so that the labels that represent the features with the highest populations are always shown first, if not all can be shown.