Stopping leader lines overlapping each other?

Question

I am using ArcGIS Desktop 10.3.

I often have a problem where my leader lines are overlapping other leader lines in the same layer. I do not want to convert to graphics. I understand how to stop labels overlapping other features, it is the leader lines that are the problem. I use Maplex a lot and have altered all the settings I can think of. Sometimes changing the leader tolerance makes a slight improvement but not all the time.

Example below.

Here I have a long offset because some areas are very busy. All the external zones are allowed. These are currently advanced callouts but I'm having the same problem with simple ones.

Is there a setting I'm missing somewhere?

Answer 1

Maplex tries to avoid overlapping leader lines, but it still does happen occasionally. You could convert to annotation and manually move the problem labels, but as you stated, you don't want to do that.

Are you using the maximum offset option? You may get better results with a smaller initial offset (say 5 points), but a large maximum (say 1000%). This will give you labels with an offset between 5 and 50 points, but will greatly increase labeling time, however.