The labeling features in MapInfo Pro make it easy for you to display, edit, and save labels. You can specify whether to display labels automatically when you display the map or display the map without labels. You can edit automatic labels, use the customizing options to make your labels unique, and create individual labels with the Label command. Haloing and positioning options enable you to get the precise look you want for your labels.
Label options are available from the Layer Properties dialog box when you double-click on a layer. A Labels tab is available on the ribbon when you highlight a layer in the Layers window. While both access points give you control over the labeling, the Labels tab on the ribbon provides quicker access and a few additional capabilities. See LABELS Tab.
Understanding the design of the label feature in MapInfo Pro is important for understanding how to create and manipulate labels on your map. Most important among the design elements are the following:
- Labels are attributes of geographic objects in the map layer. The text is based on data associated with that object.
- Labels are always selectable and editable.
- Edited labels are saved to a workspace.
A label is a short description of one geographic object from a map layer, so a street label states the name of that street for example. The label's text comes from the same table that the layer is based on.
A label is located at or near its geographic object. You can choose a preset position in the Layer Properties dialog box to place point labels, such as on top of or to the right of points.
As attributes, labels are dynamically connected to their map objects. If the layer is closed or is made invisible, the labels no longer display. If the data or geographic information changes, the labels change. If you create an expression for your labels and change the expression, the current labels are dynamically replaced with new ones.
Labels are always selectable and editable, so you do not have to make the map layer editable or selectable to work with them. And, since labels are not Cosmetic objects, you do not have to remember to make the Cosmetic layer selectable or editable to label your map. They are already part of the map layer.
Saving labels is easy. Because labels are attributes of the map object, you do not have to remember to save them to a separate table. Any label edits you have pending, or changes you have made to the Layer Properties settings, are easily saved to a workspace. Because labels are saved in a workspace, you can always create and edit whatever custom label settings you want, and you can always save those labels-even if the tables you are using are read-only.
You can label your map automatically through the Layer Properties dialog box which is accessible from the Explorer window by double-clicking on a layer name in the Maps list. You can customize how labels display from this dialog or customize them directly on the map.
- To see labels displayed for your entire map layer, click the Automatic Labels
icon beside the layer name. The display of custom (edited) labels is not affected by the Automatic Labels command. - To make a change that applies to all the automatic labels in your layer, double-click the layer name in the Explorer window and make your changes in the Layer Properties dialog box. All automatic labels are updated to use the settings that you choose: for example, if you change the label font so that it is Italic, all automatic labels for that layer refresh to use Italic.
- To customize a single label, double-click that label on the map. For example, you might want most of your labels to draw in 9-point Arial, but you might want one particular label to display in 18-point text to show the importance of that geographic feature. Double-click the label that you want to customize on the map, and in the Label Style dialog box customize the label.
- When you edit a label, the label becomes less dynamic. For example, if you double-click a label to change its font, then that label has its own font setting. If you then assign a different label font to your layer, the new label font will not apply to the label that you edited, because the edited label remembers that it has a custom font. You can reset all edited labels on the MAP tab, in the Label group, by clicking Clear Custom.
- As an alternative to turning on automatic labels, you can label geographic features by hand one at a time on the MAP tab, in the Label group, by clicking Label Tool and then clicking the geographic feature that you want to label.
Note: The Label Tool only draws labels if the layer that you are clicking on is marked Selectable in the Explorer window.
To control whether you can select labels when you click on the map, click Selectable Labels in the Layers window. By default, labels are selectable. You might make labels unselectable if you find that you are accidentally selecting labels on the map when you were trying to select points or lines. This is a per map setting, so each Map window has its own setting. Each map's Selectable Labels setting is preserved when you save a workspace.
For an overview of the LABELS tab on the MapInfo Pro ribbon, see Enable Preview Command.