The Fields tab lists the fields in the annotation feature class. The following are required fields and can't be deleted:
- ObjectID
- Shape: Polygon shape representing the outline of the annotation
- FeatureID: For feature-linked annotation contains the ObjectID of the linked feature
- ZOrder: Unused at this time
- AnnotationClassID: The annotation class the annotation belongs to
- Element: "Blob" field that stores symbology and text geometry
- SymbolID: The symbol in the symbol table
- Status: Whether the feature is placed or unplaced
- Shape_length
- Shape_area
The SymbolID field will normally contain a value greater than or equal to 0. This value is the number of the text symbol in the symbol collection. If the value is -1, the annotation feature is storing the display properties in the record, and it is not referencing a text symbol in the symbol collection. When the SymbolID value is -1, the Override field value will be 0, as every property is overridden.
Learn more about text symbols in the symbol collection.
Other fields in the feature class reference the annotation feature's display properties. These fields can be edited, and the change will update the features BLOB element. Likewise, any change to the annotation feature through the Annotation tab on the Attribute Editor will be updated in the fields. These fields can also be deleted. The list of these fields is below:
- TextString: The text string for the feature
- FontName: The name of the font, e.g., Arial
- FontSize: The size of the font
- Bold: Whether the font is bold—true/false
- Italic: Whether the font is italic—true/false
- Underline: Whether the font is underlined—true/false
- VerticalAlignment: The vertical alignment of the text—top/center/baseline/bottom
- HorizontalAlignment: The horizontal alignment of the text—left/right/center/full
- XOffset: Shifts the text position right or left
- YOffset: Shifts the text position up or down
- Angle: Rotates the text angle
- FontLeading: Adjusts the spacing between lines
- WordSpacing: Adjusts the spacing between words
- CharacterWidth: Adjusts the character width
- CharacterSpacing: Adjusts the spacing between characters
- FlipAngle: Adjusts the angle at which point rotated text is flipped in place
Learn more about editing fields in the Attribute dialog box.
The Override field is a noneditable field that is maintained by ArcGIS. When the override value is 0, the annotation feature is displayed using the SymbolID text symbol that it references and no display properties are stored in the record. When the override value is greater than 0, the annotation feature uses the SymbolID text symbol as a base display and then applies the overridden properties to that symbol. See the table below for a list of these possible values. The values that are seen in the attribute table are a sum of the values below. For example, if the override value is 65, then both the XOffset (1) and Size (64) properties are overridden (1+64=65).
| Override value |
Overridden property |
|---|
| 1 |
XOffset property |
| 2 |
YOffset property |
| 4 |
Horizontal Alignment property |
| 8 |
Vertical Alignment property |
| 16 |
Flip Angle property |
| 64 |
Size property |
| 128 |
Color property |
| 512 |
Character Spacing property |
| 1024 |
Character Width property |
| 2048 |
Word Spacing property |
| 4096 |
Leading property |
| 8192 |
Bold property |
| 16384 |
Italic property |
| 32768 |
Underline property |
| 65536 |
Background Symbol |
| 131072 |
Font property |
If the annotation feature class has more than one annotation class, the annotation classes are implemented as subtypes. The Subtypes tab lists the annotation classes. However, to manage annotation classes, use the Annotation classes tab.
For feature-linked annotation in ArcCatalog, the Relationships tab shows you the
that links the annotation feature class to its linked feature class.
The Annotation Classes tab allows you to manage
. You can add and remove annotation classes from the list. To modify or view the properties of an annotation class, select the annotation class in the list and access the properties with any of the controls on the tab.
Learn more about annotation in the geodatabase.
The Annotation tab allows you to change the
of the annotation feature class. Changing the reference scale takes a long time to complete, so change it only after you've carefully chosen a new scale by experimenting with your data in ArcMap.
The Annotation tab also allows you to set properties that affect how the annotation can be edited.
Learn more about annotation feature class editing properties.
The symbol collection lists the predefined text symbols you can assign to annotation features when creating or editing them in ArcMap.
Learn more about annotation in the geodatabase.
