Layout exporting without legend items or aerial

Question

Below is a screenshot of what is happening to one of our ArcGIS Pro users. They create a map in ArcGIS Pro, but the moment they export the layout to a PDF they lose the aerial imagery and random pieces of their legend. Does anyone have some hints as to why this is occurring?

This user has this occur regardless of working remote or on site where the data is stored. They have tried making a fresh Pro project which didn't fix anything. I'm wondering if maybe this requires a fresh Pro install for some reason?

TSWCD_GIS · Answer

Aubri,

The problem was still occurring when exporting to PDF using the python script. I'll start a ticket with support. Thanks again for the help!

Steve

TSWCD_GIS · Answer

Hi Aubri,

So exporting to JPG worked great the first time, but then subsequent times we were still losing labels in the legend.

On Friday I'll be working with this person to test out the python method. I'll let you know here what happens. Either way I want to wait and see the results before I contact technical support.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Steve

AubriOtis · Answer

Ok interesting, this is good to know. I'm not seeing any of my usual flags (service layers or extremely high DPI) that tell me there's a simple change to fix it.

There could be a lot going on here. If you can, I recommend reaching out to Tech Support and working with them. They can do a lot more troubleshooting and log a bug for the development team if they can't resolve the issue.

Other things you can try, exporting to a different file format to see if that works. It could be a PDF specific problem and that would be good to know. You can also try exporting via Python, using a script in the Python window like this:

##Export to PDF
import time
aprx = arcpy.mp.ArcGISProject("CURRENT")
aprx.listLayouts()
for lyt in aprx.listLayouts():
#Parameters: output name, resolution, image quality, compress vector graphics, image compression, embed fonts, layer attributes, georeference, jpeg compression, clip to elements, output as image, embed color profile
#Image quality: "BEST", "BETTER", "NORMAL", "FASTER", "FASTEST"
#Image compression: "ADAPTIVE", "DEFLATE", "JPEG", "LZW", "NONE", "RLE"
#Layer attributes: "LAYERS_ONLY", "LAYERS_AND_ATTRIBUTES", "NONE"
	start = time.time()
	lyt.exportToPDF(f"C:\Temp\{lyt.name}.pdf", 150, "BEST", True, "ADAPTIVE", True, "LAYERS_ONLY", True, 80, False, False, False)
	end = time.time()
	print(f"{lyt.name} exported in {end - start} seconds")
print("Done")

If that works, then there's probably a software bug in the export pane (unfortunate!) that should be investigated. Again, tech support is the best help for that. Or if you are using an older version of Pro upgrading might fix it. I know several export bugs were addressed for ArcGIS Pro 3.2.