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"Inverse Labels" in Symbology Pane

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3 weeks ago
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GISAdmin_RTC
Emerging Contributor

Maybe someone here can help me with this. I need to either invert the order of my symbology labels (note: NOT feature labels) or find a way to only have the upper value of each class display as the label. I have reached out to the extent of my network and nobody can think of a way to do this. AI can be useful when finding existing documentation from the ESRI website, but neither we nor it can seem to find anything about this anywhere.

I need to either swap the order of the label ranges (large to small/left to right) or only display the upper value as a label. I have to make dozens of maps with this same general scheme so I would love some kind of automation or setting to do this by default rather than making a manual edit each and every time.

I have a line of code that should be able to make the swap easily, but I can't find any sort of "Format Labels" or "Label Expression" dialog specifically for these symbol labels. I looked at a few expression dialogs but they only seemed to filter the data fields themselves, not the symbol layers.

GISAdmin_RTC_0-1748896902222.png

I swear I have done this before and done so easily, but my memory wires may be getting crossed. Any help you can offer would be appreciated!

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10 Replies
Robert_LeClair
Esri Esteemed Contributor

Can you clarify for me?  So if I'm understanding correctly, for the Label column in your screen grab, you want to reverse THIS order with -100% - -75% at the top?  Or something else?

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GISAdmin_RTC
Emerging Contributor

Not exactly. I want the labels to read:

"+500

+300 - +200

+100 - +60

Etc."

The values are positioned in the vertical order I want them to be at, it's the labels themselves that I want to read in the opposite order.

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MErikReedAugusta
MVP Regular Contributor

If I'm understanding your post correctly...

The easy answer is to manually change the labels.  I've definitely done that many times, because it's faster than trying to find some automated solution.

The other option is to write an Arcade script that returns a raw value equal to what you want from the Label.  Then, the label will automatically match that raw value, by default.

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That said, I have a funny feeling I might be misunderstanding your goals.  It might be helpful to include a second image: One image shows the labels as they are by default, and the second image shows them manually changed to what you want.  That way, we can clearly see the difference and help you get there.

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M Reed
"The pessimist may be right oftener than the optimist, but the optimist has more fun, and neither can stop the march of events anyhow." — Lazarus Long, in Time Enough for Love, by Robert A. Heinlein
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Robert_LeClair
Esri Esteemed Contributor

Agree with @MErikReedAugusta - if all you're looking to do is change the text for the labels themselves, just double click in the Label box to the right of the Upper Value box and type the syntax that you wish to see.  I'm sure there's some automatic way to do this with scripting but manually changing the text is faster overall.

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GISAdmin_RTC
Emerging Contributor

Here is a another screenshot of the default label order:

GISAdmin_RTC_1-1748970874246.png

 

And here is a manually-updated version of the labels as I want them to read. Note that each label now reads from largest value to smallest value. The greatest value is at the top-left-most spot, while the lowest value is at the bottom-right-most spot.

GISAdmin_RTC_0-1748970789550.png

 

That's why I refer to this as "inverting" the labels, because all I need them to do it switch places in their order. It's easy and simple to re-order the values and symbols themselves (vertically). I wish there was a similar option for the label's read order.

MErikReedAugusta
MVP Regular Contributor

Okay, it looks like I was understanding the objective correctly, then.

The only time I can see automating something like this being an effective use of time would be if you had hundreds of symbology classes, and then you're going to have cartographic legibility problems.

I think it is pretty safely a truism that any "reasonably comprehensible" number of graduated symbology classes is also going to be a "reasonable" volume to change manually one at a time.  And this is coming from someone who's perennially making XKCD #1319: "Automation" into an accidental lifestyle choice and also pushing the boundaries of "reasonably comprehensible" symbology densities.

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M Reed
"The pessimist may be right oftener than the optimist, but the optimist has more fun, and neither can stop the march of events anyhow." — Lazarus Long, in Time Enough for Love, by Robert A. Heinlein
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GISAdmin_RTC
Emerging Contributor

I've added this as an Idea on the ArcGIS Pro page.

GISAdmin_RTC
Emerging Contributor

Here is a another screenshot of the default label order:

GISAdmin_RTC_1-1748970874246.png

 

And here is a manually-updated version of the labels as I want them to read. Note that each label now reads from largest value to smallest value. The greatest value is at the top-most left spot, while the lowest value is at the bottom-most right spot.

GISAdmin_RTC_0-1748970789550.png

That's why I refer to this as "inverting" the labels, because all I need them to do it switch places in their order. It's easy and simple to re-order the values and symbols themselves (vertically). I wish there was a similar option for the label's read order.

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Robert_LeClair
Esri Esteemed Contributor

Okay, I understand what you are saying now - thank you for the graphics.  Agreed - it would be nice to have a "click" that reverses the label order from low to high to high to low.  I looked to see if there was an ArcGIS Idea for this item and there was not.  I would recommend you add a new ArcGIS Idea with this desired workflow.  That way it gets views from the ArcGIS Pro Development Team.

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