Sometimes you need to create a new piece of annotation, or delete an annotation feature that is not necessary. Because standard annotation features are stored in an annotation feature class in a geodatabase, you can create and delete them using the tools on the Editor toolbar, as well as the tools on the Annotation toolbar.

In this example you’ll see how to create a new annotation feature for an existing line feature, and place it near the feature.

When the Edit Annotation tool is active, you can press the E key to quickly switch between Sketch, Edit, and Edit Annotation tools.

To create a new annotation feature, verify that the Task dropdown list says Create New Feature. If it does not, click the dropdown arrow and click Create New Feature.

Click the Target dropdown list and point to the annotation feature class; in this case it is Major_RoadsAnno. If the annotation feature class has annotation classes within it, you can also choose the annotation class in which to create the new annotation feature. Click the plus sign to expand tha annotation feature class and click the annotation class.

If the annotation feature class has annotation classes, it may have a variety of text symbols. When you select an annotation class to be the edit target, the Symbol box on the Annotation toolbar should show the appropriate text symbol to use for that annotation class.

When you click the dropdown lists, the Sketch tool loses focus. Pressing the Esc key returns focus to the tool.

The Text box on the Annotation toolbar says "Text" by default. If you create a new annotation feature with this default text, you can select it and edit its TextString attribute in the feature class attribute table or in the Attributes dialog box. You can also type annotation text into the Text box on the Annotation toolbar before you create the anotation feature. The new feature will have the text that you typed in the box.

Frequently, a new piece of annotation will have text based on a nearby feature. You can quickly copy the label expression of a feature by pointing at it with the Sketch tool and pressing Ctrl+W. This activates the Find Text command and takes the label expression of the first visible and selectable feature that you are pointing at and adds it to the Text box on the Annotation toolbar.

When you use Ctrl+W while editing a feature-linked annotation class, it uses the expression of the annotation class to derive the text and will only derive the text from a feature in the linked feature class.

Click with the sketch tool to place the text from the Text box as a new annotation feature. In this example, because the construction method was Horizontal, one click placed the annotation feature.

After the new feature is placed, the pointer is still in Construct feature mode, and the Text box contains the same annotation text, in this case it says STATE HWY 9. If you needed to annotate more features, you could click somewhere else on the map to add another piece of annotation with the same text, or you could move the pointer over another feature and press Ctrl+W to pick up new text from its label expression. You could also type new text directly into the Text box on the Annotation toolbar. In Construct feature mode the A key is a shortcut that lets you set the focus to the Text box, so you can type new text without having to click in the box.

Now you'll see how to use a different construction method to create a new annotation feature that follows a feature.

Click the Construction dropdown list on the Annotation toolbar and click Follow Feature.

Click the feature that you want the annotation to follow, then move the pointer along the feature. The feature should be highlighted, and the annotation feature should move along it as you move the pointer. Click again to finish the annotation sketch.

To delete an annotation feature, press the E key to switch to the Edit tool pointer, then click the annotation feature that you want to delete and press the Delete key.

You could continue to place the unplaced annotation, edit annotation, create new annotation features, and delete unwanted annotation until the map suits your needs. This annotation is stored in geodatabase annotation feature classes, each of which can be reused on other maps. When you're done editing annotation features, click Editor and click Save Edits, then click Editor and click Stop Editing.