Viewing and changing the properties of a graphic

1. Click the Select Elements tool on the Draw toolbar and double-click the graphic to display its properties.

   The available properties will vary depending on the type of graphic you've selected.

2. Click the Symbol tab and change the desired symbol property.
3. With point graphics, click the Location tab to view the coordinates of the point. For 3D graphics, such as those created with the 3D Analyst toolbar, you can also view the height of the point.
4. With line graphics, click the Length tab to view the length of the line and coordinates of the start and end points.
5. With polygon graphics, click the Area tab to view area, perimeter, and coordinates of the graphic's center.
6. Click the Size and Position tab to set the graphic's position, anchor point, size, and name properties.

Tip:

Each map element has a name used to identify the element. When you draw graphics on a map in data view to represent geographic features or important locations, you can enter the name of that feature or location so this name is stored with the graphic as a property of the graphic. In addition, if you use the Find dialog box, Go To XY, My Places, and so on, to add a graphic to your map to represent a place, address, or location you have found, the graphic is automatically given the name of the place.

When you use the Drawing > Convert Graphics To Features command to generate a shapefile or feature class from graphics drawn in data view, the name of each graphic is automatically added to the Name field in the output shapefile or feature class that is created by the command. When you add elements like data frames, scale bars, and north arrows onto your map in layout view, ArcMap automatically gives each element a name. For example, the name of a data frame element is always the same as the data frame's name shown in the table of contents. Updating it here will cause an update of the name shown in the table of contents. Developers can use the Element Name (IElementProperties::Name) to access particular graphics or sets of graphics in data view or layout view when writing custom code to identify and manipulate particular graphic elements. This is especially helpful on the layout when writing routines that organize elements or automate the arrangement of elements on layouts.