Sorry to repeat posting on this topic. I think it's been done a few times in the last couple of years, and I either wasn't ready or skilled enough to actually take it up. And now I have a good use for it I can not find a posting that explains it sufficiently for my extremely limited MetaPost ability. The question is. How to implement selective printing of labels to pdf outputs? Back in June Martin suggested the following, and I'm tempted to try it, but I'll need some guidance on the MetaPost. The examples in the Wiki don't quite get me there. I think I need the original definition of p_label to start with? Bruce "I would just use symbol-hide command in the layout. It is possible to pre-define various sets of symbols which should be hidden at particular scale (in separate layouts which are copied into layout in use). If you want to hide only some (not all) of the symbols in a given type, you can use custom attributes combined with modifications in MetaPost definitions of symbols. (E.g. for p_label you would add condition that it should be displayed if the scale (denominator) is <=1000 or the attribute is_important is set to 1.) "