Latest Contributions by JohnSobetzer

Perhaps this thread, more specifically Buckley's suggestions, may provide some ideas: http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/2622-how-can-i-add-a-custom-scale-bar-or-modify-an-existing-one... ... View more

If the polygon is otherwise shaped properly, just move it using either the mouse or the Edit-Move menu option. If the polygon also needs to be reshaped some use the Spatial Adjustment tools.  There are several different adjustment options.  See http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//01m800000030000000 ... View more

Another option is tint bands. See http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2007/04/17/how-to-produce-tint-bands-for-boundaries/ and http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2009/03/06/quick-tint-bands/ ... View more

In the tool itself there is an XY tolerance setting. ... View more

The first place to look is for duplicates in the input layer, another is bad geometry and a third is a cranky project necessitating moving everything into a new one before running any tool.  Assuming they are not a problem, then are the points within the tool's, snapping or the layer's tolerance to the polygon edges/vertices?  Of course, there's always just the innate cussedness of ArcMap, and there's no good explanation, just a workaround.  I had that with one layer recently which duplicated one point every time, for no good reason. ... View more

Layers - Properties - Fields - select field - Number Format - Numeric drop down - Number Format settings What's a couple of handful of clicks in the vast universe of ArcGIS clicks? ... View more

You might get some ideas here: http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/21886-ArcMap-10-crashes-semi-regularly-when-tracing There's always some standard fixes such as moving the layers into a new project for editing, and doing so with as few other layers as possible, checking geometry, renaming your template (normal.mxt) and seeing if a new one works (and if not going back to the old to preserve customizations) to resetting your entire application profile: http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/90076-Resetting-your-ArcGIS-application-profile. I'll often prefer to edit lines, which allows me to copy and paste instead of tracing, (other line edits like extend or trim are also easier), and then build polygons (using points for attributes) mimicking the old coverage model and providing perfect fabric topology. ... View more

Many things can make an edited polygon disappear, such as layer definition or page definition queries, categorized symbology with no default checked, editing a selection created layer, etc.  If you can move your layer into a new project and things work, then either edit from the new project or look for something like the foregoing in the old.  Editing in a new project also gets around a corrupted original project.  I suppose another possibility is bad geometry.  Or if you don't wait long enough an incredibly slow redraw, might tie up your display or your perception of it. ... View more

You can use the AdvancedArcMapSettings.exe utility to change the Data Frame refresh rate.  But that changes it for all projects and since you have some that work and some that don't I'll guess that won't help. Other than that I think you need to compare your projects and/or your annotation layers and track down the key difference if any.  Can you move an annotation layer from a "bad" project into a "good" one and have it refresh the way you want?  Or vice versa?  If so look for differences in the projects or annotations.  Anything that can slow the redraw could be a source of problems.  I know that if labeling is on, it can really slow down redraws and seemingly freeze the screen in the process.  Some layers are so complex, or their symbols are, that redraws seem to hang.  Same for the annotation layer itself. There are many other performance affecting things that may be present in one project and not another.  So Google on ArcGIS performance and look for other possible bottlenecks that may be in one project or another.  I think a typical ESRI suggestion would be to do your editing in a fresh project with as few other layers in it as possible, preferably without labels, complex symbology or definitions.  If you One last thought.  If you are editing through the layout you have to redraw a very large area.  It has the advantage of showing you just how the annotation would look in the final map but if you have a lot of things slowing redraw in a project you just might have to forego it, or you might turn off a bunch of projects, suspend labeling, etc..  Or you might find it much faster to go into the view to edit but do so at the scale of display so things look like they will on export. ... View more

If you hit and hold the shift key after clicking and moving the pointer, does that give you a square?  Hitting the tab key makes it quicker to draw a rectangle but you have to rotate it later. I don't know why you aren't getting the right click options, but as a workaround you could create your squares in graphics (use the shift key trick) and then convert them to features in a shapefile. ... View more

The validation (or integrate tool) would get rid of the smallest of overlaps, depending on your tolerance setting.  You could increase it until you get unacceptable movement of vertices generally.  Use copies or maybe use one in an edit session since they change the input layer. With your larger area overlaps, you could create your many small polygons, and then use the Eliminate tool to merge the ones you select (perhaps by an area query to limit the selection to slivers and/or perhaps by selecting for polygons without attributes to get at newly created polygons) with an abutting polygon based on some input settings.  Like any automated process check your results to make sure you can live with the changes. ... View more

See http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2012/01/20/best-practices-for-using-layer-definition-queries-while-creating-features/ A definition query is a common cause, and so may your symbology, and both may be a common source of irritation, at least to me.  I wish the nanny software allowed the layer to appear with only a warning that new features may not appear. ... View more

It is getting old but you might check this out: http://support.esri.com/cn/knowledgebase/techarticles/detail/17783 Can you print to a pdf?  If you don't have Adobe Acrobat there are many good free pdf printers out there like Bullzip. ... View more

You might try renaming your ArcCatalog.gx file and see if that helps. I know it's odd but can you open your projects, at least sometimes, from Windows Explorer, by double clicking on the project file?  If so do a save as and save them as 10.2 projects. There's always the utility mxd doctor, although in my case it crashes. You might also look at this thread: http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/20256-ArcMap-10-crashes-on-start-up-need-IMMEDIATE-help ... View more

Not an explanation but can you get it to work by playing around with one of the many options that are available, in particular things like line width or styles? If you can move it down your TOC, apply something like 1% transparency, does the the rasterization get it to work without unacceptable pixelation? ... View more