Feature Labels on Graphic Elements

[Anonymous User]

I have drawn a graphic using the polygon tool on the Drawing toolbar.  It is in an area where there are features being labeled.  Attached is a screen shot from ArcMap.  You can see parcel labels avoiding the blue dotted line representing the shape's extent.  How do I tell ArcMap that it's OK for feature labels to overlap the graphics?

[shan_sarkar · Accepted solution]

Roger,

From the screen shot that you have attached it seems like the moment you create the polygon as a graphic layer the labels for the feature below the underlying area disperse and move out of the bounds of the polygon graphic.

You can use the Lock Labels tool available in the Labelling toolbar to retain your label settings even with the polygon graphic.

You may refer A quick tour of the Labeling toolbar—Help | ArcGIS Desktop 

I hope this helps!

~Shan

[Anonymous User]

This was a pretty good answer.  Locking the labels technically worked, but then my labels were too large in layout view.  I used the Label Weight Ranking dialog, set the Feature Weight of my graphics layers to Low, hit Apply, and that worked!  Thank you for pointing me in the right direction!

[shan_sarkar]

Yes, labels can be a wee bit tricky to work with, but you get to know a lot of minute settings which eventually works out in t best possible way. I am glad I could help you out. Cheers!

~Shan