idea Remove duplicate legend items in ArcGIS Pro Ideas

Remove duplicate legend items

wayfaringrob — Tue, 23 May 2023 21:59:03 GMT

If you have the same layer in your legend twice, you cannot remove one without removing the other. R click > Remove removes both instances even if only one is selected . I'm sure this is supposed to be a "feature" but I propose removing only the entry clicked so I don't have to recreate the formatting of the entry or do some other workaround like adding another legend and moving it there.

Re: Remove duplicate legend items - Status changed to: Needs Clarification

AubriOtis — Wed, 24 May 2023 03:55:21 GMT

I'm not sure what you mean by the same layer is added twice. Each layer in a map should only be able to be added to the legend once. How did you get it added twice? Do you have duplicate layers in the map added to the legend as separate items? If you could take some screenshots and describe how you got into this state that would be most helpful.

Cheers,

Aubri

Re: Remove duplicate legend items

wayfaringrob — Wed, 24 May 2023 15:07:05 GMT

@AubriOtis I've taken care of it now. Only one map layer. I don't remember how I got there, sorry.

Re: Remove duplicate legend items

wayfaringrob — Wed, 24 May 2023 15:53:17 GMT

@AubriOtisOk, I must have brought it in from another legend when I was experimenting with options yesterday -- that does allow you to have two entries from the same layer.

If I click Remove on one...

...both disappear:

Re: Remove duplicate legend items

AubriOtis — Wed, 24 May 2023 16:28:57 GMT

@wayfaringrob Thanks for clarifying and pointing out a bug! I'm going to close this issue, because you found a bug where you are allowed to add two of the same legend item to a single legend (this should not be allowed ever) and the idea is based on that bug. We don't track bugs through Ideas, per the submission guidelines. If you would like to track this bug, please contact Technical Support to log it through them and get a tracking number.

Re: Remove duplicate legend items - Status changed to: Closed

AubriOtis — Wed, 24 May 2023 16:29:08 GMT

Re: Remove duplicate legend items

wayfaringrob — Wed, 24 May 2023 16:30:06 GMT

@AubriOtis I will not be doing that, thanks.

Re: Remove duplicate legend items

ZoeBelcher — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 13:20:10 GMT

Has this bug been resolved? im having the same exact issue as wayfaringrob is having.

Re: Remove duplicate legend items

AubriOtis — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 16:58:18 GMT

@ZoeBelcher The issue wayfaringrob mentioned was fixed in ArcGIS Pro 3.2. There is a different bug with duplicated legend items from shapefiles in ArcGIS Pro 3.3 that has not yet been addressed. You can track it here https://support.esri.com/en-us/bug/a-legend-item-element-gets-duplicated-when-copying-a-sh-bug-000167906.

Re: Remove duplicate legend items

JonM32 — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 18:13:06 GMT

I have this issue in ArcGIS Pro 3.3.1 as of 10/1/2024.

In my layout, Pro decided to add two of the same items to my legend contents. When I try to delete the duplicate, it deletes both of the items.

Seems like the bug is still present.

Re: Remove duplicate legend items

Nirby — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 17:02:57 GMT

Bug is definitely still present.

Mine occurred when opening the geoprocessing history and re-running a buffer on the same layer with different parameters. When the operation concluded I had two different legend items for the same layer. Attempting to move/remove/reorder somehow duplicated it a third time.

Appears to be a different bug than the one ESRI linked to.

The only solution I have found is removing the affected layer from your map frame and then re-adding it.

Re: Remove duplicate legend items

AnneRuthstrom — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 18:50:15 GMT

It's 01/02/2025 today, just upgraded to 3.4 from 3.2 after having same issue, even after multiple re-starts the issue remains. Other threads/posts have ERSI support persons saying the bug was fixed in 3.3 & 3.4, but clearly it remains. This is really disappointing, these types of persistent little bugs put a stain on ESRI given all its bells & whistles & bravado. They already know about the bug, so no need really to re-report it, right? @ESRISupport , are there any new patches anticipated for this issue?

Re: Remove duplicate legend items

AubriOtis — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 20:48:36 GMT

@AnneRuthstrom I'm so sorry this bug is still there for you. Unfortunately there were a couple of different bugs in this area that were addressed. While they all looked the same at a quick glance, they had different root causes that required different fixes. It may seem like there is no need to re-report it, but please do! If your case isn't fixed, then there is some other issue we don't know about. There are so many configurations of data and workflows, it's very possible you have a combination that wasn't addressed.

Re: Remove duplicate legend items

KennethKay — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 00:58:41 GMT

Encountered this page having the same issue and managed to get it working on my end.

My Solution:

I removed one of the legend entries and similar to the original poster it removed both of them. At that point I just dragged the layer over from my map into the legend list (where i removed the other entry) and it created a singular entry and let me sort it accordingly. Nothing amazing but hopefully that can help others who encounter the bug.