topic Re: How do you preserve symbology when categorizing a layer in arcmap? in Data Management Questions

How do you preserve symbology when categorizing a layer in arcmap?

deleted-user-Vdxw2N8yTRz6 — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 18:56:33 GMT

I have a feature class of historical signs, and I want to make the legend list them all by number (which they are labeled by in the map), and the actual name of the specific marker. To do that I decided to categorize them by Unique values through the symbology properties, so that generating the legend would be easy. What I am envisioning is that the legend displays the symbol, with the number inside of it, and then the name next to it (for 23 different markers).

The symbol I am using is a sort of bullseye design with 2 concentric circles, and it was arduous to make it once. My problem is that when I select the categorize by unique values option, ArcMap automatically sets each unique value (numbers 1-23) to a unique symbol, in this case a colored dot that is vastly different from my preferred symbol. Is there any way I can retain the original symbology, so that I do not have to go through ArcMap's hellish graphics menus 20+ times to set all these symbols up? Conversely, if I have explained my situation clearly enough, is there an easier way to generate the ideal legend I described in the first paragraph?

Re: How do you preserve symbology when categorizing a layer in arcmap?

ShelleySchott — Thu, 29 Aug 2019 01:57:54 GMT

Bonner Alexander‌,

Have you tried to save the historic symbols into a style sheet before changing the symbol category?

Creating new styles—Help | ArcGIS Desktop

This will make it easier to select the customized symbol which you have created when changing symbol category.

Re: How do you preserve symbology when categorizing a layer in arcmap?

deleted-user-Vdxw2N8yTRz6 — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 16:47:34 GMT

I've sine finished that project and moved on, but this does seem to be the solution I was looking for. Thanks for your help!