{"id":162071,"date":"2009-01-21T21:15:31","date_gmt":"2009-01-21T21:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=162071"},"modified":"2018-12-18T12:01:08","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T20:01:08","slug":"how-to-save-label-classes-in-layer-files","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/mapping\/how-to-save-label-classes-in-layer-files","title":{"rendered":"How to Save Label Classes in Layer Files?"},"author":4331,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[22941],"tags":[128002,38411],"industry":[],"product":[36991],"class_list":["post-162071","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mapping","tag-labeling","tag-mapping-center","product-arcgis-desktop"],"acf":{"short_description":"You can save your labeling rules to a style by clicking the Label Styles button while viewing your label class in the label manager.","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Question:<\/strong>\u00a0I put this question on the following ESRI Forum thread:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/forums.esri.com\/Thread.asp?c=93&f=986&t=146650<\/p>\n

and the reply that I had was that I should try asking a cartographer \u2013 so that is what I am doing:<\/p>\n

ORIGINAL QUESTION<\/p>\n

I am not working with Geology data, however, I came across this thread when I was trying to find a way of saving Label Classes within Layer Files or in some way so that they could (along with their Label Expressions and Styles) be re applied to other Feature Classes.<\/p>\n

I am using ArcGIS v9.3 & working mainly with personal & file geodatabases though occassionaly shape files & I wondered if there is any non programming way of doing this?<\/p>\n

I have tried Willy Lynch\u2019s script (many thanks) but because the Layer Files I have don\u2019t seem to have the Label Classes stored within them \u2013 I think because they have since been converted to Annotation it does not seem to solve my issues completely.<\/p>\n

I am also curious if anyone has worked out how to re apply Layer Files saved from Annotation Feature Classes to new Labels or directly to new Annotation as I can\u2019t seem to find a way i.e. there is no \u201cimport\u201d as there is for Feature Symbology?<\/p>\n

With thanks,<\/p>\n

Answer:<\/strong>\u00a0Okay, so there are a bunch of things to address here:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Saving a layer to a .lyr file does save the label classes\u2026 AND the SQL Queries.<\/li>\n
  2. Converting labels to annotation just turns off labeling\u2013it does not changing your layer\u2019s or label classes settings\u2013if you turn off the anno and turn labeling on for your layer(s) you will get the correct result.<\/li>\n
  3. You can save your labeling rules to a style by clicking the Label Styles button while viewing your label class in the label manager.\u00a0 That will show the Label Style Selector, and you can click the Save button to save your label style (Expression, Rules, & Symbol) to a style\u2013this will not preserve your SQL Query.\u00a0 Use the Label Styles button to retrieve your saved element to be used on another layer.<\/li>\n
  4. All that said, the easiest way to reuse the label classes from one layer on another layer is to copy the layer and change the data source of the copied layer.\u00a0 Of course this will only work if your second data source has the same attributes as the first layer\u2019s data source.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Formerly a Mapping Center Ask a Cartographer \u00a0Q & A.<\/em><\/p>\n"}],"authors":[{"ID":4331,"user_firstname":"Aileen","user_lastname":"Buckley","nickname":"Aileen Buckley","user_nicename":"abuckley","display_name":"Aileen Buckley","user_email":"abuckley@esri.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2018-03-02 00:15:57","user_description":"Dr. Aileen Buckley is a cartographer researcher and Senior Principal GIS Engineer at Esri. I'm on the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World Team, making, writing, and talking about maps. I'm also involved in a number of cartographic societies and association, and I'm the chair of the ICA Ethics in Cartography Commission.","user_avatar":""}],"related_articles":"","card_image":false,"wide_image":false},"yoast_head":"\nHow to Save Label Classes in Layer Files?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/mapping\/how-to-save-label-classes-in-layer-files\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Save Label Classes in Layer Files?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/mapping\/how-to-save-label-classes-in-layer-files\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ArcGIS Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" 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