Manage labels

Labels are short pieces of attribute-driven text that describe features in a layer and help your audience understand what is being presented. You can edit the properties of existing labels that are predefined in your layers, or create and manage new ones. You can also control basic properties such as text size, color, and alignment. The labels for vector tile layers cannot be turned on or off or managed in the extension.

1. In the Compilation window, point to the options button for the layer and click Manage Labels.
2. Select a field value to use as your label from the Text drop-down menu.

   Note:

   If the layer has several fields, you can type a search term in the box to reduce the list of field names.

   You'll see field aliases instead of the field names from the data if the layer has field aliases defined.

3. Do any of the following to specify how the label should be displayed:
   • Make any adjustments to the size, style, and color of the text.
   • Choose how to align the label relative to the feature.
   • Choose whether to show overlapping labels so all features in the layer are labeled on the map.

     Caution:

     By default, the application tries to optimally place text labels around features, which can result in only some features being labeled on the map. The Show overlapping labels setting allows you to add labels for all features, but this can result in a cluttered map and a longer download time.

4. Click OK when you are finished creating labels.

   Tip:

   You can also use the attributes pop-up to add labels to specific features of interest. You can make similar label adjustments by changing the font and alignment.

Labeling considerations with ArcGIS Online

The following are considerations to keep in mind regarding labeling in the ArcGIS Maps for Adobe Creative Cloud extension. These considerations are similar to using ArcGIS Online when creating labels.

• ArcGIS Maps for Adobe Creative Cloud places as many labels on the map as possible without overlapping them. Thus, in areas where features are tightly clustered, some features may not get labeled.
• Labeling priority follows the layer order in your map from top to bottom. Layers at the top are labeled first and will have the most labels. There is no guarantee that the labels will be positioned exactly where you want them. Dynamic labeling is the best option for maps where you don’t need precise control and only want to label a few layers.
• When creating labels for all supported layer types other than ArcGIS Server map image layers that support dynamic layers, you can change how dates and numbers are displayed if the label uses a field value that has date or number as the field type. If your date field includes time data, you can also change how time is displayed. For these layers, labels display the same date and number formatting as configured in pop-ups. To change the display format of a date or number field, in the Configure Pop-up pane, select the field in the Configure Attributes pop-up. Click Manage Labels and click OK to apply the new formatting to an existing label.
• When you create labels based on a date or number field for ArcGIS Server map image layers that support dynamic layers, the labels are displayed with the same date or number formatting used in the field. Any changes made to the date or number display format during pop-up configuration are ignored when labels are generated for this layer type.
• ArcGIS Maps for Adobe Creative Cloud does not support multiline labeling.

Note:

Recommendations for preparing labels in ArcMap have moved to ArcMap best practices.

ArcGIS Desktop is in mature support and will be retired March 1, 2026. There are no plans for future releases of ArcGIS Desktop, and it is recommended that you migrate to ArcGIS Pro. See Migrate from ArcMap to ArcGIS Pro for more information.