shapefile coordinations

[ParisaSalimikhatibi]

Hi

I Am a new user of arc GIS. i added some shape-files to a topographic map but they are not in the right place, do i need to define coordinate system o move the files to the right place? and do i need to save it as a project for future use? can anyone help me about it?

[DanPatterson_Retired]

Yes to both... use the Define projection tool, assuming you know what the coordinate system of the files are in.

Define Projection—Help | ArcGIS Desktop 

If you don't, then it becomes a guessing game as to the match... but examining the coordinates in a new data frame might give you an idea whether if is projected or not already.

[ParisaSalimikhatibi]

thank you for your answer,

i defined projection system wgs84 for the files in arc catalog environment, then i wanted to re project coordinate system for the shp files to utm10n (san jose-ca) but the output gives me error 9999 and no matter what i try to fix it, it doesnot work.

i really appreciate your help

[JayantaPoddar]

Could you attach a screenshot of the layer's XY extent (Layer Properties > Source) before projecting to UTM10 (unprojected layer)?