Contour Labels, is there a better way for us?

[claimed4all]

Currently looking for a better way to label contours for us.  The engineers in the office all demand that the contour label goes above the contour line, visually, not elevation related.  The engineers under no circumstances want the label on the counter line.  I find it silly, but in the end they make the decisions, and I draw them.

So we currently have two label styles.  One called P-Con-Above and P-Con-Below.  All these two styles do is add a Y offset of .05 and -.05.  So when I label my propsoed contours I have to constantly switch between the two labels.  A task that should take less than 2 minutes can easly take 30 minutes.

Can I get the same function with one style?   When looking at the plan, we would like the ELEVATION to be above the contour line, visually speaking.

[Joe-Bouza]

You say you want it above but I missed why you need a style below?

Are you labling single or multiple? I'd go with multiethnic at one style then you can use match properties around the drawing if you have to switch below

[troma · Accepted solution]

In the label editor, go to edit the text.
Add a return code, and on the next line add a space.
Now your label is two lines tall, but the bottom line is invisible.

Get rid of the Y offset to put the label centred on the contour line. The text will show up above, and the invisible line below.

[claimed4all]

I currently have a style for above and below.  When labeling the contours with the above style, about half of them are actually below the contour line.  So for those I flip the style to Below with then places the label on top.

I did not create these styles, just something I walked into and looking for a better method.

[claimed4all]

Dude, this is Genius.  Going to try it after lunch.  We currently do not background mask the contour labels, but with this method it looks like I could never background mask labels.  Which for now is okay.  Thanks!!  I will report back with results in a bit.

[troma]

It's something that I came across on here somewhere, originally for making profile grade labels behave themselves when the direction is swapped on the profile view. Glad it worked for you too.