Symbology Switcher

[ArthurCrawford]

You have a symbology for a layer that's complex and broken out by attributes.  You get in new data with different attributes, but you want to use the same symbology.   I wish there was a way to change the field /attributes you want to use for that symbol without having to save the symbol, add the data, set the new fields, add the attributes and then go find the symbol you saved.  

With this, you could take your old mxd and apply new data to it quickly.   It would really help with the Templates, especially the Community Map Template.   It would also save people from having to use ETLs or Data Interoperability to import data to a new model to support your mxds.

[DavidKnudsen]

Do you mean that you want to use symbology based on certain attributes and values with a data set whose field names are different (but whose values are the same)? In that case, you should be able to export the layer in the TOC to a layer file, switch the layer to your new data set, and then import the saved layer file on the Symbology tab. It then prompts you to map the field names used in the layer file to the field names of the current data set. Doesn't this accomplish what you need to do? Unfortunately, there's no similar thing for labelling, but that's a different story.

[DanaNolan]

I also think you can do this now, using layers. Yes, you can change field name sources in symbology.

Also, Label Manager does support cross-layer copying and pasting of label rules and expressions, even for Maplex. This feature is not documented well. At 9.2, you have to copy label class to label class, not layer to layer and you have to set up the names for the classes in the target layer before the copy. (I never tried copying a simple layer's labels with no classes, so perhaps it can be done.) This is still pretty easy, much easier than staring at dozens of Maplex screens. It does not copy the class visibility scale range, which makes sense as you should retest this for different data. I also think it omits the SQL for the classes, which makes very little sense but you can save and load SQL selects easily.