Edit a geometry

Editing is performed with tools that appear on the ribbon, on editing toolbars, and in panes.

The following sections provide an overview of the editing user interface.

Note:

Select a geometry in the Project Tree pane to enable the Edit tab on the ribbon.

Edit tab

On the Edit tab, named groups contain related tools and commands that are essential to common editing workflows.

Selection

In the Selection group, you can see the geometry you are editing, set the active selection method using the Select tool, clear a selection using Clear , and zoom to the selected feature using Zoom To .

Clipboard

In the Clipboard group, the Copy and Paste tools allow you to copy polygons to the clipboard and paste them to the same layer. To paste features to a different layer, click the drop-down arrow and select Paste Special.

Manage edits

The Save tool saves active edits on any geometry with uncommited changes.

The Discard tool discards active edits on any geometry with uncommited changes.

Snapping

In the Snapping group, click the Snapping drop-down arrow to enable snapping and set snapping preferences. These controls are also available on the status bar at the bottom of the Globe view.

Features

In the Features group, you can click Create Polygon to create a new polygon feature or click Delete to delete the selected features.

Tools

In the Tools group, you can adjust your features using Move , Rotate , Scale , Edit Vertices , or Reshape .

After using these tools, click Finish on the editing toolbar to apply uncommited geometry sketch operations.

Elevation

In the Elevation group, you can select your elevation source and click Get Heights , or specify z-values when you create z-aware features. You can specify a constant z-value or set the elevation mode to get a z-value from the available world terrain layer.

To turn on elevation mode, on the Edit tab, in the Elevation group, click the top half of the elevation Mode button. The elevation mode is enabled. You can specify a constant z-value by typing in the elevation box.

By clicking the terrain with the elevation mode turned off, the z-value will be automatically taken from there.

You can also use the Set Constant Height tool to select features and change their height to a constant value.

Note:

When adjusting the elevation attribute of features, they may disappear under the terrain. To select such features again, click the Globe tab and click Terrain to hide or show the world terrain elevation layer.

Keyboard shortcuts for editing

You can use Keyboard and mouse shortcuts to editing, select, modify, and more during your editing workflow.

General editing

Keyboard shortcut	Action	Comment
C	Override the active navigation tool with the Explore tool.	Press and hold C to use the Explore tool when you are in the middle of another task using another tool. Click and drag to pan Click to open a pop-up Wheel button scroll to zoom Wheel button click and drag to tilt and rotate in 3D Right hold to continuos zoom
X and drag	Zoom out .	Release the pointer to zoom out.
Z and drag	Zoom in or out .	Zoom the view in or out.
Esc or Ctrl+Delete	Cancel edits .	Deactivate the current interactive editing tool and cancel any unfinished edits.
F2	Finish .	Apply your changes to the current feature and complete the active operation.

Undo and Redo

Keyboard shortcut	Action	Comment
Ctrl+Z	Undo .	Incrementally undo actions and edits recorded in the undo stack.
Ctrl+Y	Redo .	Incrementally restore actions and edits recorded in the undo stack.

Selection tools

Keyboard shortcut	Action	Comment
Shift+Select	Add the selected feature.	Add the selected feature to the current selection. Note: When using editing tools that sketch geometry such as the Reshape tool, this shortcut pauses the sketch mode and allows you to add features to the selection.
Ctrl+Select	Remove the selected feature.	Remove the selected feature from the current selection.
Ctrl+Shift+Select	Select only this feature.	Keep the selected feature and remove all other features from the current selection.

Move

Keyboard shortcut	Action	Comment
Ctrl and click	Relocate the anchor.	Relocate the selection anchor to the clicked location. You can zoom in to a feature without the current location of the anchor being visible in the active view.
Ctrl and drag	Move the anchor.	Move the selection anchor.

Rotate

Keyboard shortcut	Action	Comment
A	Specify the angle.	Open the Angle dialog box.
Ctrl and click	Relocate the anchor.	Relocate the selection anchor to the clicked location. You can zoom in to a feature without the current location of the anchor being visible in the active view.
Ctrl and drag	Move the anchor.	Move the selection anchor.
S	Access the secondary anchor.	Turn the secondary anchor on and off. When it is turned on, the anchor is positioned at the pointer location.

Scale

Keyboard shortcut	Action	Comment
F	Apply a scale factor.	Open the Scale dialog box.
Ctrl and click	Relocate the anchor.	Relocate the selection anchor to the clicked location. You can zoom in to a feature without the current location of the anchor being visible in the active view.
Ctrl and drag	Move the anchor.	Move the selection anchor.
S	Access the secondary anchor.	Turn the secondary anchor on and off. When it is turned on, the anchor is positioned at the pointer location.

Edit vertices

Keyboard shortcut	Action	Comment
Shift and click vertices	Select multiple vertices.	Drag multiple segments in unison between the selected vertices.
Shift and click segments	Select all vertices between the clicked segments.	Drag multiple segments in unison between the selected vertices.
Shift+Ctrl and click a selected vertex	Unselect a vertex.	Unselect one of many selected vertices.
A and click	Add a vertex .	Create a vertex where you click a segment.
D and click	Delete a vertex .	Delete the clicked vertex.
H and drag	Edit the elevation.	Move a z-enabled vertex vertically and preserve its x,y coordinates. Hover over a control handle until the pointer becomes a vertex and drag the vertex. This shortcut is available in 3D scenes.
Ctrl and drag	Move a Bézier curve.	Move a Bézier curve and preserve its shape. Hover over a curve until the pointer becomes a segment, and drag the curve.
Ctrl and drag	Move a Bézier handle.	Move a Bézier control handle that can't otherwise be selected when it is coincident with another vertex. Hover over a control handle until the pointer becomes a vertex and drag the handle.