Aligning Annotation Feature Class Labels
After labeling features, such as lines, and then converting those labels to annotation within a Geodatabase, I would like to be able to align the resulting annotation labels left or right.
When labeling lines, I can make the labels appear at a specified distance from the endpoint of a line. After converting the labels to annotation in a Geodatabase, they remain in the same location:
I would like to be able to select the Annotation Feature Class Labels and align them left or right, much in the same way one can select two objects in a map, right click, and align left, right, vertical, etc. Currently, I don't know of any way to perform this alignment for labels that have been converted to Annotation Feature Classes in a Geodatabase.
Tony
Perhaps its not available on ArcPro? I am using ArcMap 10.7.1. Screenshots attached
I know it's been a while since the OP, but I came across this while trying to figure out the align-or-distribute function in Pro, and I think, @AnthonyHerhold, the ability is already there, albeit difficult to find and to execute.
After you select the desired annotation features, click the "Move" tool in the Edit ribbon and the selection anchor (yellow dot) appears at the geographic center of your selected features. You can now right-click on the map and select from the align and distribute options. However, the behaviors of this functionality have changed from what they were in ArcMap.
In ArcMap, you select various items for alignment or distribution, and the final item selected (highlighted in cyan) acts as the anchor to which the other items (highlighted in green) are aligned or distributed. In the image below, for example, everything aligns to the center of the scale bar.
In Pro, it's the centroid of the selection, so if I'm trying to label units for a building and want them centered down the middle of the polygon, I have to move the selection anchor from the centroid of the selection to the center of the polygon. This can be done by using the "Set Reference" function from the align-or-distribute menu options. In the example images below, I have added a vertex at the center of the endline of the polygon, and by snapping my cursor to that vertex and right-clicking, I can select "Set Reference" and a blue dot appears and becomes the new reference point for the next action, which in this case is to right-click again and choose "Align Center".
The result aligns each annotation feature to the center of the polygon (the new reference point). Whereas if the selection anchor is used (the centroid of the selected features), the result aligns those features to the center of that point.
The same principle applies to the extremities of your selected features for aligning right, left, top, or bottom. For example, if I choose "Align Left" in this scenario, the features will align with "174"; if I choose "Align Right" on the other hand, the features will align with "175"; etc.
Fortunately, you can also include geometric features, like the building polygon, in your selection and use the same principles for aligning and distributing. Hope this helps!