How to freely move data labels in ArcGis Online (web map)?

Question

Hi, I wanted to know if there is a way to move around the labels you've created in your web map. I know of the up, center, down, up & right/left, down & right/left fixed movements. I wanted to know how can I move one single label around freely, such as a town name on a map. If this is possible in the ArcGis online version/ Excel plugin or the desktop version then please let me know!

Thanks!!

DavidSolari · Answer

Labels are locked to the feature they describe. If you want freely placeable text, you have a few options:

* Create a separate set of point features to hold the labels and then add them to the map with a blank symbol. These label points will work in virtually any part of an ArcGIS system but you're limited on how fancy the placement and text formatting can get
* Create an annotation feature class. These feature are explicitly designed to handle text and can store complex formatting rules. The catch is they don't play well with web services so unless you acquire a custom extension for annotation layers they're basically stuck in the desktop.
* Both maps and layouts have a layer for general graphics, such as text and images. These graphics technically aren't geospatial data and there's limits to data interoperability but if you just need a quick label for your PDF they'll do just fine.

VishalSrivastava · Answer

Thanks for getting back to me. Is this also the case for the desktop version?

RussRoberts · Answer

Currently it is not possible to edit a specific label placement for a feature. The label placement is currently driven through the label styling for the entire layer.

This info is under labelingplacement

https://developers.arcgis.com/web-map-specification/objects/labelingInfo/