Using subtypes with features

When you create a new feature or edit an existing feature in ArcMap, you can apply a subtype.

When adding new features to a layer that has subtypes, you set the desired subtype as the target (by default, the default subtype is the target). As you add features, they automatically inherit the subtype code and the defaults you created for any other fields in the table.

To create a second order stream feature, choose the Second Order subtype as the editing target before drawing the feature.

You can also apply subtypes to existing features using the Attributes dialog. To do so, select the feature and apply the subtype by choosing it from a dropdown list that includes all the available subtype descriptions.

A subtype is applied to an existing stream feature using the Attributes dialog.

Be aware that when you apply a subtype to an existing feature, any attribute values it currently has will be overwritten with the default values you set when you created the subtype. If you did not specify default values for the subtype, the attribute values will remain unchanged.