Annotation can be stored in a map document or in feature classes in a geodatabase. You will convert these labels into annotation stored in a geodatabase.

The Convert Labels to Annotation dialog box allows you to specify what kind of annotation to create from the labels, which features to create annotation for, and where the annotation will be stored.

ArcView licensed seats of ArcMap can view feature-linked annotation, but they cannot create it or edit datasets that contain it, so if you have an ArcView license the Feature Linked column of check boxes will be unavailable. In this example you will see how to create standard annotation features.

Small folder icons, the Browse buttons, appear beside the annotation feature class names as you uncheck the Feature Linked check boxes. Feature-linked annotation must be stored with the feature class that it is related to in the geodatabase. Standard annotation feature classes can be stored in other geodatabases, so after unchecking the boxes you have the option to specify a new location for your annotation. Standard annotation feature classes will be stored in the same dataset as their source feature class by default. If a feature layer on the map was based on a shapefile or coverage feature class, the Browse button would have been visible and you would need to browse to a geodatabase to store the new annotation feature class.

Verify that the box to Convert unplaced labels to unplaced annotation is checked, so you can manually place the annotation for the features that could not be labeled.

Each layer’s label classes will be stored as separate annotation classes within a single annotation feature class. For example, the two label classes for streams will become two annotation classes, called Intermittent and Perennial, within the StreamsAnno annotation feature class. These annotation classes can be turned on and off independently, and they can have their own visible scale ranges.