Move the labels in a manual way

[IvanAlvarez]

Many times we have automaticaly Labels when we activate the Label Features, but sometimes we need to move a label without transform to graphic. I think that will be important that we will have a label tool that let you to move or edit only a layer from features without lose the link with the table from the feature.

[KAWarack]

@WendyHarrison I'm with Andrea on this one. What you're putting forward are workarounds or just alternate ways of putting text on a map, not a way of manually moving one label, which is what the thread was about.

Of what you offered, graphics layer/auto text is the most promising, but it appears to be bugged: centering the text caused it to disappear. It's also a workaround for this issue, not a way to move a label.

[WendyHarrison]

Labels are dynamically placed by the label engine.  Geodatabase annotation and graphic text are static and can be edited.

If text is needing to be edited it will need to be geodatabase annotation or graphic text.

What is the issue with this one label?  Maybe we need to back up and look at the problem label and then come at it from there.

for your additional issue - "centering the text caused it to disappear" - can you provide more info?

[Anonymous User]

@WendyHarrison Thank you for the links and the info. Converting labels to graphics is probably what I was looking for and would probably work. I also like the info on the auto text tool and then sql querying out the labels that are in the graphics layer.

I still support the idea of manually moving labels, however, with no conversion.

[SherryMartin1]

I agree that converting the labels to graphics or annotation is not a work around for me. I have several labels and only a few of them need to be moved. Converting all of the labels restricts the flexibility I have with modifying that map afterwards. 

I would like to ability to select individual labels and move them manually to another location. 

Thank you all (in the meantime) for offering up work-arounds! I have been exporting the maps into PowerPoint or Adobe Illustrator to add slick text boxes as labels.

[wayfaringrob]

Yes. Annotation/graphics are way too cumbersome in practice. There should just be some sort of manual override for positioning individual labels without converting.

[RoseF]

Understanding that annotation layers are cumbersome for certain situations, I will say that they are very useful for our application of labels. If no one has mentioned it before, if the biggest issue is that as you change the data/attributes, the labels in an annotation layers doesn't update, try looking at "feature linked" annotation. I'm not overly familiar with it but I know other folks who have used it successfully. This is only intended as a suggested work around, not a complete solution to your problem. Hope it helps!

[wayfaringrob]

@RoseF  right, there are many limitations with feature-linked that prevent me from using them, namely, that they have to live in the same location as the data. I don't want to put annotation layers in our data library nor do I want to make redundant copies of our data for each project. Also, the options for adjusting the formatting of annotation are strewn all over the UI; it's way too difficult and clunky to make updates to be worth it.

[RoseF]

@wayfaringrob I completely understand. We don't have the same issues you do with annotation layers but I can see why they are not an adequate solution for your team. Fingers crossed Esri will be able to make some improvements to the auto labeling!