idea Lock/unlock grouped elements from table of contents in ArcGIS Pro Ideas

Lock/unlock grouped elements from table of contents

wayfaringrob — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 15:32:20 GMT

For some reason, while the lock/unlock icon is visible in the layout TOC, it cannot be clicked to lock/unlock elements that are grouped. It's grayed out:

rburkebsrc_0-1629819071474.png

You can lock and unlock by clicking the parent's lock icon, but that locks everything. Sometimes, I want certain sub-elements locked. You do this by selecting and opening the Element panel and checking "Locked" there, but that's a lot of extra steps for something that could be available in the TOC like with parent layers/elements.

Re: Lock/unlock grouped elements from table of contents

Geobunga — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 15:54:27 GMT

Did you ever figure out if there was a way to change this behavior? I have been working up templates for my company and have been ungrouping grouped elements to allow me to lock/unlock individual elements, then putting them back into the group when I'm done. However, as of today all the sudden most of my elements have the lock faded out and won't allow me to lock or unlock from the contents pane even when not in a group. These are elements that were previously in a group and now taken out, so it seems maybe they aren't updating their lockable status when taken out of the group anymore. This is frustrating to say the least...

Re: Lock/unlock grouped elements from table of contents

wayfaringrob — Wed, 03 Jan 2024 17:47:03 GMT

@Geobunga idk, you never know if it's like that for some reason, a bug, or an oversight. If you have access to My Esri and the time to deal with it, you could show tech support and see if they want to log a bug or enhancement request, but whether and when they get around to doing anything about it is anyone's guess.

Re: Lock/unlock grouped elements from table of contents

NinaRihn — Wed, 08 May 2024 13:49:09 GMT

What version do you have? I do see in the the 3.1 documentation under List by Drawing Order, that is supposed to be allowed

https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/3.1/help/layouts/layout-contents-pane.htm

"You can also use List By Drawing Order to create groups of elements. Grouping allows all elements in the group to be moved, resized, or locked simultaneously. "

Re: Lock/unlock grouped elements from table of contents

wayfaringrob — Tue, 14 May 2024 16:59:46 GMT

@NinaRihn not the problem. yes, you can lock items in a group simultaneously, which I explicitly state in the post. the problem is locking/unlocking children of the group individually.

Re: Lock/unlock grouped elements from table of contents

MattRummel — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 15:58:17 GMT

Workaround - Select all of your 'greyed out' layers and move them out of the group. Save the project. Close Pro and reopen the project. Everything should be unlocked and you can move them back to your original group layer.

This worked for me. Good luck!

Addendum: It worked once....argggh.

Re: Lock/unlock grouped elements from table of contents

FourCornersMapping — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 15:30:39 GMT

@wayfaringrob I'm late to this party, but I do have a solution. Open the individual element's properties and check the "Locked" box in the Properties window. Pro 3.5.1

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Screen Shot 07-02-25 at 09.27 AM 001.PNG

Re: Lock/unlock grouped elements from table of contents

wayfaringrob — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 18:13:29 GMT

@FourCornersMapping yeah, that’s just way more tedious than it has to be.

Re: Lock/unlock grouped elements from table of contents

FourCornersMapping — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 18:55:37 GMT

@wayfaringrob I agree, but you can also select more than one or all elements in the group and do the same procedure (just check Locked).

FourCornersMapping_0-1751482483282.png

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