Enforcing consistent patch spacing in legends

Question

I've been wrangling with legend settings lately and I can't seem to find one that spaces lines based on the distance between patches rather than the distance between labels.

For example, this multi-class feature has three patch space widths. These vary based on whether the patch label in question and the two adjacent patch labels are one line or two lines. Basically, the patch spacing is set to be whatever is needed to keep the labels equally spaced, but I'm looking to do the opposite.

The only patch-based setting in the spacing section of the legend properties is based on the horizontal spacing between a patch and its label. I thought this might be fixable using some setting in the label text properties of the legend, but there's no setting there for vertical paragraph spacing, and I don't want to change vertical line spacing.

I'm hoping that the solution to this issue is a quick fix that I'm being silly by overlooking. Any ideas?

RonaldHaug · Answer

Hi Crinoid,

Thanks for clarifying what you want. I certainly know what you're going through. I have a few friends who are graphic designers, and it's just this kind of thing which drives them nuts.

So I did a little digging in Legend properties, and found what I think is the solution. Under Spacing, add some points to the Items and you will get that vertical spacing you are looking for. And as I said in my previous post to you, play around with these settings and see what they do.

If you already did this and your picture above is the result, I see two other options:

Increase your vertical patch size a couple points so it matches your double line label height, or as I mentioned previously, reduce your label font size so the double line label size is the same height as your patch height. I think the vertical spacing is not determined by the patch height of your symbology, but by the overall dimension of the legend items, and the double line label is taller than the patch height of the symbology. Let us know how this works for you!

Crinoid · Answer

Thanks for the response! Basically, I'm looking to decrease the vertical spacing between labels without changing the font size or the line spacing within labels. It would be a setting equivalent to changing the paragraph spacing in a word processor, but the "paragraphs" in this scenario are individual labels. That may be asking for more control than what ArcGIS is able to offer, though.

What I'm trying to avoid is scenarios like the one below, where the labels have more than enough breathing room that the patches could be equal widths apart, but because of an inbuilt (and possibly unchangeable) paragraph spacing setting, the patches adjacent to multi-line labels aren't uniformly spaced.

RonaldHaug · Answer

Hi Crinoid,

I'm not 100% sure what you want because what I see from your picture is your patch width and heights are the same. If you want to have the spacing between your colored rectangles the same, then reduce your font size. If you want to have your labels all on one line, then increase your label width. Here's where you find it in legend properties.

One can spend quite a bit of time inside legend properties. Make your big changes in the top hierarchy before moving down to individual legend items (if you have to). Try a few things out and see what they do. You can always exit the map without saving and open it again if you can't find your way out.  When you're happy with what you've done, save your project.

Here's an ArcGIS Pro Legend help topic I googled for you. https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-pro/mapping/tips-and-tricks-for-working-with-legends-in-arcgs-pro/

Write us back and let us know how you did, Crinoid. I'm rooting for you.