I have a ArcGIS Pro 2.5 map in which legend items (group layer name, layer name, etc.) are locked. They are checked but grayed out. See attached snips.
I have tried deleting the legend and creating a new one. I have tried creating a new layout. I have tried removing layers and re-importing them from the database. I have re-started the application. None of these has solved the issue.
I just opened another project, and it has the same issue. Could this be a ArcGIS Pro 2.5 issue?
Dan,
In the table of contents, for the layout can you toggle on/off and have it reflected in the Legend Properties?
The only difference I noticed in you images was that it said [multiple items] which makes me think that "whatever" .. has to do with the fact that something is applying to multiple items. Is this a complex legend? Just a project from 2.4 or prior? I would check within the table of contents and see if the participating featureclass layers have something applied to them
1. The legend is not locked, as shown in the 'Legend_properties" attachment.
2. The panel always says [multiple items] because there are multiple items in the legend. I don't think that the meaning of 'items' here is the same as the meaning of 'Legend Items' in the panel tab.
3. The first project I had issues with was from ArcGIS Pro 2.4. The second may have been older; I had not opened it in a while.
Legend Properties properties never shows multiple items no matter what I throw at it ... single layers, group layers etc.
All data stored locally. Pro 2.5
Dan(s),
The "grayed out" layer name property in the first screenshot provided in the initial post indicates that the property is not the same for all the selected legend items. There is nothing "locked". You can still work with the property. Please see Work with a legend item—Layouts | Documentation for more information on working with legend items.
Here is an example. In this layout I have a legend with 3 items, Capital, River and States by Region. Note that the layer name is positioned to the left of the symbol for Capital and River, while the layer name States by Region is above the symbols.
When I click the "Show properties..." button in the Element (Legend) pane the Element pane switches to the "[multiple items]" pane. Note that all the legend items are select in the Contents Pane (left side of the screenshot).
The "gray" box next to Layer name" indicates that the layer name for all the selected elements do not share the same properties. Some could be visible, while others are not. Or, as in this case, the positioning of the text name text is not consistent for all selected items.
If you toggle the check box you can turn off the visibility of the layer name for all items as seen below.
If you toggle the checkbox once again you will see the layer name for all the selected items appear in the same relative position.
If you wish to change properties for a single (or a sub set) of legend items select the item(s) you want to work with from the Contents pane as shown in this example. Here I turned off Layer name and rearrange the label and patch order.
These property changes ONLY affect the selected legend items. If I select ALL the legend items again, after turning Capital layer name off, I see that I get the "gray box" next to layer name indicating a property "mismatch" amonth the selected items. Layer name for Capital item is off, while the layer name for the other elements is on.
Hope this helps,
Tom
Unless I have no features in the Legend at all, it always says [multiple items] for me. Not all of my features are local, some are on the Internet and some are on ArcGIS Online. I also have group layers.
I discovered something else. I opened a project created in Pro 2.4 (or earlier), and the Legend worked OK. Until I saved the project, then it did not work anymore. So I'm pretty sure this is a 2.5 bug, but I'm not sure what conditions trigger it.
Thank you, but doesn't solve my issue. If I create a brand new legend, all features are in the legend, and when I look at properties, the Group Layer name level is greyed out, though I haven't made any modifications to any feature label. Nothing I do to that legend, except remove every single feature, brings the group layer name back to unlocked. So the issue is not that I've set different properties.
I've attached a screen snip. On the right is the properties panel with Group Layer name greyed out. On the left is a portion of the Legend layers, all are selected, even those not visible, and those that are off the screen. Below are the features, showing the students group layer as turned on. The Legend showing on the map has these layers properly ordered (I've changed the order but nothing else). But the group layer name is on, and I don't want it to be, and I can't turn it off because the group layer name box is greyed out.
I know that this is different behavior from Pro 2.4, see my comment above that a 2.4 project worked correctly until I saved it, then it did not.
Thanks Tom... I really should make layouts more
If you've attached a new screenshot as opposed to the 2 provided in the original post, they do not seem to be available. However, I believe your issue is that you want to turn the visibility of the Group Layer Name (students group layer) and do not know how to do this. Group layer name support is a recent addition to Pro - see https://community.esri.com/ideas/1958
Unfortunately, you have run into a known usability issue.
This is a bit tricky because the legend list is flat, while the layer list in the map can be nested with group layers and groups within groups. This allows you to split group layer items within a legend.
The visibility of the Group Layer Name item is controlled by the top-most member of the group that is present in the legend. For example, if I have group USA with layers City, Road and State. City is the top-most member of the group and its legend item controls the visibility of the Group layer name.
Toggle visibility off.
If you select either of the legend elements belonging to the group you will not be able to toggle the visibility of the Group layer name.
In order to successfully toggle the visibility of the the Group layer name the top-most member layer of the group needs to be in the legend and this item needs to be listed above all the other elements of the group. If the top-most sub-layer is not the top-most legend item toggling the visibility does not work. This is a bug.
If you don't want the top-most layer to appear in the legend you can toggle its visibility in the Contents pane.
We are aware that this is not a good user experience and hope to improve this in a future release.
Thank you. It doesn't work exactly this way for me, perhaps because there are features above the group in Map list.
I did figure out a work-around. I create a new legend and format it the way I want, then remove every item from the legend list, so that I can click off the Group Layer name item in properties, then add back in the items I need by dragging from the map list.
Many thanks Tom that you made such effort and thoroughly explained the bug with Group layer name toggle. Unfortunately, I am still not able to do it right, even in the way you described.
I was fighting with this stupid bug for some time now and only by accident I found out that I am not alone. Just frustrating, indeed.
This bug is just one case more which keeps me from using ArcGIS Pro in many workflow cases and it does not get much better with increased version number. Such a bitter and unfortunate situation.
When we are speaking of legends, please, could anybody shed a light in the matter of size of legend? Why on earth when I resize legend, the frame with grips gets at some point off the legend? For what purpose could that be good? How could one control that? I am completely stunned.
And than, to say the very last frustrating point in the whole story today, please does anybode has a clue why I get no result after search in ArcGIS Pro online Help?
For example, I go to the first page of online help
and enter my search word "legend". This word should be in that help text by any means, isn't it?
I hit search button and get as follows
I should try again later??? Very, very fine stuff, thank you ESRI for the help.
Thank you for any input.
Cheers.
I get the "try again later" on occasion. I simply hit enter again and it usually works on the second try. I appears it times out when the search term is too broad and many items are being returned. In the case of legend, it says About 113 results (page 1 of 😎
Seems I'm having a similar issue. I can't post a screenshot for reasons of protocol for the map I'm working on, but essentially at 2.5 the 'Show' tick boxes on the legend properties are greyed out commonly for group layer name, headings and descriptions pretty much whether it be for all layers or individual layers - all boxes I normally clear to reduce the size and busyness of my legends. This is a significant bug for mapping but it does seem it's already known and I've also raised it with my local technical support Eagle NZ. Hopefully there'll be a patch soon enough .
Edit - I've also been able to work around by removing all items from the legend, setting the tick boxes then re-adding layers. However since the default legend creation behaviour is to add all items, then requiring that users remove items they don't need, this function needs to be available with items already in the legend.
Hi GIS Officer,
Glad you found a workaround. You can still toggle the visibility of the Group Layer name for existing items. If you select ONLY the top-most item in the group you can still do this with ArcGIS Pro 2.5. It is when you select multiple legend items, or select a legend item that is not the top-most legend item in the group that you run into BUG-000128688.
If you are running into an issue where you are selecting only the top-moist legend item and are unable to toggle Group Layer name - this would be a different bug and one that we have not reproduced. In all my testing selecting JUST the top-most legend item works.
We understand that this workaround is cumbersome.
I faced this issue after update ARC pro to 2.5 , The Group layer name are not available, And the Descriptions
Same issue here
Hi Zubair Alabdo and Shayan Seyedi
Tom referred to BUG-000128688: The Group layer name option in the Format Legend Ite.. It looks like that will be fixed when 2.6 releases in a couple of months. Sorry for the frustration. The layout team understood that this was frustrating so have improved the experience in the coming release.
Thank you!
I have the same issue.... keenly awaiting 2.6 bug fix....
Kory and others,
Release notes in ArcGIS Pro 2.6, Beta 2 showing that this BUG not fixed. The same is for BUG-000104316. Really frivolous! Obviously ESRI enjoys playing with its customers.
HI Branislav,
Have you made this comment in the Beta forum?
As to BUG-000128688 The Group layer name option in the Format Legend Item window is grayed out in ArcGIS Pro 2.5 if the layer is not the first in the table of contents. - this issue has been addressed for 2.6 and should be available with the Beta. Unfortunately, it appears that this is not being reflected in the release notes. We will look into this.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Tom,
Thanks for question.
No! Only on the geonet.
Greeting!
Hi Branislav - part of your agreement to participate in beta testing, is to use the Early Adopter Community (EAC) forums to report and discuss issues. I'd encourage you to direct feedback about a beta version of the software to the EAC forum rather than GeoNet.
That said, from your post about the release notes, it isn't clear whether you have tested the functionality discussed on this thread, using Pro 2.6 beta. If you have not, I'd encourage you to do so, as testing new/fixed functionality and providing feedback on said functionality through the EAC forum is the primary purpose of participating in the beta. If you discover usability issues when testing the beta version, please provide that feedback directly in the forum, as product teams are monitoring those forums and make their best effort to assist in resolving issues. We appreciate your participation and your willingness to participate in ArcGIS Beta Programs, which helps Esri make better products.
A different workaround is to select all those layers within the legend.show properties and the group layer name will toggle back for you to disable it.
Kory,Thanks for the note. YES! You're right about the EAC ... but it's just your response to @ Shayan Seyedi on May 11, 2020 in which you say "It looks like it will be fixed when 2.6 releases in a couple of months", as well as the post of Vanese Giles (see above) inspired me to write this on the forum where the discussion started (GeoNet) and where you, personally, invite users to report problems with ArcGIS Pro and where some explanations of these problems are actually expected.Concerning the EAC, let me also praise the development team; they really try to solve problems! That is indisputable! However, many small things, such as this one named with "locked legend items" or with "setting up the attribute-driven color in symbology", etc. (essential in daily cartographic production), seem, in personal experience, to remain invisible to them. This is understandable, because new options and possibilities are predominantly discussed at the EAC forum and incomparably less existing problems - BUGS.
Regards.
BUG-000128688: The Group layer name option in the Format Legend Ite..
Oh wow! That actually worked. Very simple and easy and more efficient than doing them individually. Thank goodness - it was pretty frustrating not being able to make a nice, functional legend.
Just to add to this excellent writeup, you have to have the "top most item" checked, in order to uncheck the group layer names and it have an effect. If the top most item is not actually displayed, then unchecking the group layer name box simply does nothing. Minor additional bug, lol. V2.5.2 here.
You're referring to this?
That selects all the entries in legend but doesn't undo they greyed out
Soooo...this inability to select/de-select the group layer from displaying was a known bug nearly a year ago. I've encountered the same thing now in Pro 2.7 and have been pulling my hair out until I found this post. Is this going to be fixed anytime soon?
I'm seeing this in version 2.8.2:
Mine's greying out the Headings checkbox. Single legend item, legend isn't locked, and I tried removing the layer from my legend and readding it - same result. Restarted Pro, nothing. I could try a new project file, but it's not an old project; I created this project last week.
Any feedback on this would be greatly appreciated. This is the first time I've seen this, and I'm a daily Pro user.
Deleting the Heading text worked, but that's goofy. Especially if I change my mind later and want to format that text and show it.
Just upgraded to 2.8.3 and it's still not been fixed.
I am having this exact same issue with legend items being checked and greyed out. I specifically need to turn off the Heading. I am working with a raster layer, which could possibly be the reason, but I haven't found any documentation that states rasters would cause the greyed check box. I am unable to find a solution in all of the documentation and community answers I've read; did you eventually find a solution?
This problem still persists in May 2023. We use v. 2.8.8. I still cannot gain control of the greyed-out header box. Although the header does not show in the layout view on-screen, when I export to a pdf or png the header appears as VALUE in the legend. This is a very minor bug, but a large annoyance and I and many other users have collectively wasted probably hundreds of hours of paid working time, not to mention elevated stress levels, trying to resolve it. Perhaps ESRI would put in a similar effort to get this fixed please?
Hi Jeremy,
I'm sorry you are having trouble getting your legend exported correctly. Your issue sounds a bit different than the one initially described. Options like header and group layer name for legend are designed to be greyed out (disabled) when they aren't applicable to the layer type. So if the layer isn't in a group you won't be able to interact with group layer name, if the layer symbology doesn't support headings then heading will be disabled.
From your description it sounds like you are experience a difference between what is drawing on the layout, and what is appearing in an export. This sounds like an export bug. Since 2.8.8 we have fixed several reported export bugs in the software, and done work to make exports faster and more robust. It's possible upgrading might fix your problem.
If it doesn't, or if that is not an option currently, I recommend reaching out to technical support to log a bug. They can make sure it gets seen by the right team, and help you figure out if upgrading might resolve your issue. You can reach them here https://support.esri.com/en-us/overview.
You have just saved me from an unimaginable headache! The pesky heading is now able to be toggled. Thank you!!
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