Edit feature attributes

The Attributes pane contains tools for selecting features and editing their attributes and related records. Right-click a layer in the pane selection tree view to select only invalid attribute values. This pane is available on the ribbon, on the Edit tab.

When you use the Attributes pane, consider the following:

• To follow a hyperlink stored in a field, press Ctrl and click the text in the field.
• If a feature class or a related table for a selected feature is not in the project, a warning icon appears next to the feature or record entity. Click the feature or record to edit the values directly, or right-click and add the feature class or table to the map.

The tabs appearing on the pane are described in the following table:

Tab	Description
Selection	Edit feature attributes and related records.
Layers	Step through features on a layer.

Tip:

To edit all attributes for a feature layer in in a tabular view, right-click the layer in the Contents pane and click Attribute Table .

Edit attributes and related records

Select the features in the map. In the pane selection tree view, click the feature to view and edit its attributes on the Attributes tab. Expand the tree to click and edit related features or records.

Note:

If an active editing tool is filtering the current selection, a 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.

1. Confirm that an active editing tool is not currently filtering a selection.
2. On the ribbon, click the Edit tab. In the Selection group, click Attributes .
3. In the Attributes pane, click the Selection tab.

   

4. Click the Select tool and select the features.
   1. To refine the selection in the pane, right-click a feature in the tree view, and use the commands described in the following table.

      Command	Description
      Only Select This	Select this feature and remove all other features from the selection.
      Unselect	Remove this feature from the selection.

   The selected features appear in the pane selection tree view.

5. Click the Attributes tab to show the attribute fields for the selected features.

   To edit a selected attribute in an attributed relationship table, click the Attributed Relationship tab.

   

6. Check or uncheck Auto Apply

   Checked	Press Enter or click another field to apply changes to a field value.
   Unchecked	Click Apply to apply changes to a field value. Click Cancel to restore the last saved value.

7. In the pane selection tree view, click the selected feature or record to show its attribute fields on the Attributes tab.

   If a warning icon appears next to the feature or record, click the selected record to show the attribute fields in the pane or right-click and click Add To Map .

   To edit the same attribute field for more than one feature, use the following methods:

   Method	Description
   Click the layer name.	Apply the same value to a field that is common to all selected features in a layer.
   Press Ctrl and click the features.	Apply the same value to a field that is common to several selected features.
   Press Shift and click the first and last feature in the selection.	Apply the same value to a field that is common to a range of selected features.

8. Click a field and enter a 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.

   1. Right-click the field to set the value to Null or to a value stored in the source geodatabase. These commands are described in the following table.

      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.

9. If Auto Apply is checked, click Apply.

   If the the change prompt is turned on for uncommitted edits, and you do not apply or cancel your edits before switching to another map, you are prompted to apply or cancel any uncommitted attribute edits.

   

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

If a field or a field border is highlighted or shaded, the color indicates a specific status or how the field value is defined. The color codes are described in the following table.

Attribute field color codes

Field color	Description
Orange shading	Subtype field.
Purple shading	Symbolizes the layer.
Yellow shading	The Highlight property is enabled in the Fields view.
Grey 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 where 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 ribbon, click the Edit tab. In the Selection group, click Attributes .
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. Uncheck 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.

   The best practice is to 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 non-valid 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

Right-click a feature in the selection view to copy and paste attributes between features. By default, values are pasted to matching field names with matching data types or to fields defined by the current field mapping settings.

Note:

To transfer attributes between features by clicking the source and destination features in a map, use the Transfer Attributes tool .

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

   

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

View and edit geometry

Click the Geometry tab to view the coordinate values for the selected feature. To edit feature geometry, click an editing tool on the toolbar.

Tip:

To change the display units, click the coordinate display arrow at the bottom of the current map or scene view.