Renaming layers

When you add data to your map, it appears as a layer in the Contents pane. Sometimes the layer names do not clearly reflect the contents, as is the case with many public datasets. You can easily change the names to help you organize your content, without changing the file names. Let's change the layer names in the Contents pane to something that makes more sense for our project:

1. Right-click once on UScounties. A context menu will now appear. Select Properties (the last item in the menu).

1. Select the General tab. In the Layer Name box, change the name of the layer from UScounties to Counties. Change the name of USstates to State Outline.
   Note that this does not affect your filenames. Look at the files in your Catalog pane (at right), and you'll see that this does not change the names of the files in your folder.

1. Before you do anything else, it is a good idea to save your project. Click the Save button. If you wish to save your project under a different name, click File|Save As….When working on map projects, get into the habit of saving your work often!