Setting line label placement properties

There are three categories of settings under placement options for line labels. Unlike point labels, all these settings work together to determine label placement.

• Settings that control label orientation—The default line label orientation setting is Parallel, meaning straight and placed at an angle that follows the line. Choosing Perpendicular rotates labels 90 degrees from parallel. The Horizontal option is primarily used when labeling road features with highway shields. This option places labels horizontally on the page.

  To place labels that follow the curve of the lines being labeled, choose the Curved option. This option has no effect unless the option for Location along the line is set to At Best.

• Settings that control the position of labels with respect to the side of line features—Choose an orientation system to use when constraining the placement of labels to a particular side of your line features. If you choose Page orientation, you can constrain your labels to any of the following positions: Above, On the line, or Below. You can choose more than one.

  If you choose line orientation, you can constrain your labels to any of the following positions: Left, On the line, or Right. Again, you can pick more than one. Use this system if you want labels to be positioned based on the digitized direction of the line features being labeled. If you choose to place labels on either side of the line (not on the line), you can specify a perpendicular offset distance from the line for each label. This distance is measured from the center of the line symbol in map units. If the value is zero, the label is placed at a distance approximately one-half the text height from the line. You can also specify a value for Y-Offset to adjust the position of the text symbol further.

• Settings that control label location along each line—You can specify whether you want labels to be placed at the start, end, or best position along the line. At Best is the default setting. If you choose At Start or At End, you can specify label placement relative to the start or end point (Before, At, After) by clicking the Priorities button.

1. Open the Label Manager by clicking the Label Manager button on the Labeling toolbar.
2. Click a label class in the Label Classes list.
3. Click the placement options you want from the Placement Properties box.

Optionally, click Properties to see the complete set of label placement properties.

4. Click OK.