Edit feature attributes

The Attributes pane Selection tab edits feature attribute values and related records for selected features highlighted in the selection view. Additional commands appear on the context menu when you right-click a field or item in the selection view. This pane is available on the ribbon Edit tab in the Selection group.

When you edit feature attributes consider the following:

• Highlighting a layer in the selection view applies the same value to an attribute field for all features on the layer. To highlight the source layer in the selection view by default when features are selected, enable this option.
• To follow a hyperlink stored in a field, press Ctrl and click the text in the field.
• For steps to use the Layer tab, see Step through features on a layer.
• For steps to open the source attribute table, see Open tabular data.

Edit attributes and related records

Select features in the map using the Select tool , click and highlight the features in the selection view, and edit the attributes values on the Attributes tab.

1. On the Edit ribbon tab, click Attributes in the Selection group.

   Alternatively, use one of the following methods:

   • Right-click a layer In the Contents pane on the List by Selection tab and click Attributes .
   • Click Attributes on the Map ribbon tab, in the Selection group.
   • Press Ctrl+Shift+T.

   The Attributes pane appears.

2. Click the Selection tab in the Attributes pane.
3. Click the Select one or more features tool , and select the features.

   If features are currently selected, the selection tool displays Change the selection.

   To refine the selection in the selection view, right-click a feature or layer and click Unselect or Only Select This .

   Note:

   If the selection is filtered by an editing tool, the An active editing tool is filtering the selection. Deactivate the tool to restore the selection notification appears in the pane. To reset the selection, press Esc to disable the active tool or click the Select tool and make a new selection.

   The selected features appear in the selection view in a collapsable list.

4. In the selection view, click the feature or nonspatial object containing the attributes you are editing.

   If a Warning icon appears next to a related layer or table, click the selected record to edit the attribute fields in the pane, or right-click and click Add To Map .

   Alternatively, to edit the same attribute fields for multiple features and apply the same value, use one of the following methods:

   • Press the Ctrl key, and click the features.
   • To edit attributes for a range of features, press Shift and click the first and last feature in the selection.
   • To edit attributes for all features on the same layer, click the layer name.

   

   Attribute fields for the items highlighted in the selection view appear in the attributes view on the Attributes tab. Their appearance is determined by field properties that are stored on the layer, for example, visibility, read-only, and highlight settings.

5. Click the Auto Apply toggle button and turn it on or off.

   On	Automatically apply edits when Enter is pressed or if the pointer focus is clicked out of the field. This setting disables the Apply and Cancel buttons.
   Off	Require edits to be manually applied or canceled. This setting enables the Apply and Cancel buttons.

   If this button is disabled and can't be changed, consult your system administrator.

6. Click the Attributes tab.

   If the selected attribute is stored in an attributed relationship table, click the Attributed Relationship tab.

7. Click a field, edits its value, and press Enter.

   Alternatively, right-click the field and choose one of the following commands:

   Command	Description
   Set To '<Null>'	Set the value to Null if the field accepts null values.
   Revert	Revert the value to the last stored value.
   Get Unique Values	Choose a value currently stored in this field.
   Clear	Clear the value and use the current geodatabase default value.

   If the field is date field, click the field and click Calendar . To enter the current date and time, click Today.

   Tip:

   Hover over the field name to view the data type, default geodatabase value, and other field properties.

8. If Auto Apply is turned off, click the Apply button.

   If the Attributes dialog box appears, click Apply or Discard.

   Note:

   The Attributes dialog box requires edits to be applied or cancelled if Auto Apply is turned off and the selection is changed while a field contains uncommitted edits. It can be configured to always appear or never appear and silently apply or discard attribute edits.

   To change the setting on the dialog box, check the Remember choice and don't show this message again check box and click Apply or Discard.

   

   If an attribute field is referenced by an attribute rule, the resulting calculation is always evaluated at source workspace when the edit is applied. Additionally, you can specify if it is also evaluated locally in the current map with the Exclude from application evaluation setting.

   To change this setting, right-click the layer in the Contents pane, click Data Design > Attribute Rules. To learn more, see Evaluate attribute rules.

   This optional setting is described in the following table:

   Checked	Edits in the pane do not trigger an attribute rule until the edits are applied to the workspace.
   Unchecked	Edits in the pane immediately trigger an attribute rule locally in the map and when the edit is applied to the workspace.

   Tip:

   If an attribute rule updates a field value and it also references the field it updates, check this setting to exclude the rule from being evaluated locally in the map.

Find and correct invalid values

To find and correct invalid attribute values, right-click the layer in the selection view and click Select Only Invalid Objects . This command is available with layers for which a data rule exists, including attribute rules and other geodatabase behaviors such as attribute domains.

Note:

By default, if a value breaks an attribute rule, a notification appears at the top of the pane showing the rule that is preventing your changes.

If your workflow requires the ability to override values, such as domain values or fields that do not allow nulls or empty field values, turn attribute validation off.

Edit subtypes and domain values

To edit a subtype or attribute domain values, click the field drop-down arrow and choose a value. If the subtype field is symbolizing the layer, click the Choose Symbol Class button to change the symbology.

If the default attribute values defined by the new subtype are different than the current default values, the following warning appears:

Click Yes to apply the default attribute values defined by the new subtype. If a field does not have a default value associated with it for the new subtype, its value remains unchanged. Click No to preserve the existing feature attribute values.

Tip:

If your workflow requires you to always apply the default values, you can turn the subtype warning off and automatically apply the default values defined by the new subtype for all subtype changes.

Field color codes

The appearance of a field border or fill color indicates how the attribute is functioning, or its editability, validity or other status listed in the following table:

Attribute field color codes

Field color	Description
Orange shading	This is the subtype field.
Purple shading	This symbolizes the layer.
Yellow shading	The Highlight property is enabled in the Fields view.
Gray border	The field is read-only and can't be edited.
Green border	The field is not using the geodatabase default value.
Blue border	The field is using the geodatabase default value.
Yellow border	The field value is an invalid entry for the optional contingent values assigned to the field.
Red border	The field value is an invalid entry for one of the possible reasons: Attribute validation is turned on and the field value is invalid for the attribute domain assigned to the field. The field value is an invalid entry for the required contingent values assigned to the field.

Edit contingent values

To edit contingent values, click the field and choose a value on the drop-down list. If Auto-update is enabled in the attribute table, the values in participating contingent fields automatically update when a unique combination is encountered.

Contingent values act as loosely constrained look up fields for attribute domains. The participating fields are defined as a group in which specifying a value in one field determines the next set of valid choices for other fields.

Tip:

To create and manage contingent values, open the source attribute table and click the Data tab on the ribbon. In the Design group, click Contingent Values .

1. On the Edit ribbon tab, click Attributes in the Selection group.

   The Attributes pane appears.

2. In the Attributes pane, click the Selection tab and select the feature.
   1. Click the Select tool and select a feature defined with contingent attribute values.
   2. In the selection view, click the feature.
3. Click the Attributes tab.
4. Click and turn off Auto Apply .
5. Click a field and choose a value on the drop-down list.

   The specified value filters the lists of values in other contingent fields to show valid combinations. Incorrect values highlight the field with a vertical yellow bar and show a warning message in the pane.

   It is recommended that you start at the top of the value hierarchy and choose values in subsequent fields that are valid choices. Additionally, you can click the controls described in the following table that appear in drop-down lists depending on the available combinations:

   Show Matches	Show all valid choices for the field based on its primary field value. This is the default setting. This control appears at the top of the drop-down list when you click Show All.
   Partial Matches	Show domain values grouped according to matched fields. This control allows you to create partial matches that are still valid combinations with a subset of the contingent fields for the row. Other fields may require further editing until a valid combination is achieved.
   Show All	Show all domain values for the field including retired and nonvalid combinations. This control allows you to create a completely different combination of values. This control appears at the bottom of the drop-down list when you click Show Matches.

   

6. Click Apply to apply your changes.

Copy and paste attributes using the clipboard

To copy and paste attribute values using the clipboard, right-click a feature in the selection view and click Copy Attributes .

When you copy and paste attribute values, consider the following:

• By default, values are pasted to matching field names with matching data types or to fields defined by the current field mapping settings.
• To transfer attributes between features by clicking the source and destination features in a map, use the Transfer Attributes tool .
• To copy and paste attributes to applications other than ArcGIS AllSource, select records in a table interactively and click Copy on the attribute table toolbar.

Note:

To copy coordinate values, click the Geometry tab. Select the rows and click Copy on the toolbar. You can paste them to other elements in ArcGIS AllSource such as text graphics or to other applications such as Microsoft Excel.

1. On the Edit ribbon tab, click Attributes in the Selection group.

   The Attributes pane appears.

2. In the Attributes pane, click Select , select the features, and expand the selection in the pane.
3. Right-click the feature containing the attributes you want to copy, and click Copy Attributes .

   The attribute values are copied to the clipboard.

4. Right-click the destination feature or layer, and click Paste Attributes .
5. If Auto Apply is turned off, click Apply.

View, edit, or copy geometry coordinates

In the Attributes pane , you can view, edit, or copy geometry coordinates values to the clipboard using commands on the Geometry tab toolbar. The toolbar includes shortcuts to common editing tools for editing the geometry of the currently selected feature.

When you view, edit, or copy coordinate values, consider the following:

• To change the display units, click the coordinate display arrow at the bottom of the current map or scene view.
• To copy the coordinate values in the geometry properties table to the clipboard, select the rows and click Copy on the toolbar. You can paste them to other elements in ArcGIS AllSource such as text graphics or to other applications such as Microsoft Excel.