idea Export Multiple Layouts to .pdf/.emf etc in ArcGIS Pro in ArcGIS Pro Ideas

Export Multiple Layouts to .pdf/.emf etc in ArcGIS Pro

SeanHlousek — Thu, 10 May 2018 15:07:36 GMT

It would be a nice feature to select multiple layouts and then right-click and choose "Export All". (To .pdf or other formats).

Then, while ArcGIS Pro is exporting the different layouts be able to continue working as this process is handled in the background.

Basically a "Batch Export" is what I'm suggesting.

Re: Export Multiple Layouts to .pdf/.emf etc in ArcGIS Pro

KoryKramer — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 14:20:14 GMT

For the part about exporting in the background please visit Pro - Make print and export processes run in background‌

Re: Export Multiple Layouts to .pdf/.emf etc in ArcGIS Pro

deleted-user-sYHsW3p_gN5o — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 17:31:40 GMT

Looks like this is a possibility in ArcPy (see this Stack Exchange post), but agreed that I'd like to see it as a tool in Pro. We have a set of maps we have to update quarterly, and there's 16+ to export each time.

Re: Export Multiple Layouts to .pdf/.emf etc in ArcGIS Pro

LeviCecil — Mon, 28 Oct 2019 16:34:59 GMT

It would be nice to be able to do this.

Re: Export Multiple Layouts to .pdf/.emf etc in ArcGIS Pro

RobLyons — Wed, 15 Jan 2020 17:00:03 GMT

Agree, I can’t imagine the programming would be that complicated. Some of my projects have like 20 exhibits (layouts). One command would be much easier than spending 30 seconds a layout (a total of 10 minutes) waiting for each to execute before you can switch layouts to start the next one. And make sure this isn't confused with the old Data Driven pages option (now called Map Series), this is not the same thing. The layouts can be drastically different with varying Legends, inserted graphics, text, etc. A map series option would not work for this.

Re: Export Multiple Layouts to .pdf/.emf etc in ArcGIS Pro

ChadCoziahr — Thu, 16 Jan 2020 16:38:56 GMT

This functionality is absolutely essential in my opinion. It saves such an incredible amount of time on large projects.

Unfortunately, it is NOT in ArcMap either, but a tool was scripted by someone with Python. Is the same possible for Pro?

Re: Export Multiple Layouts to .pdf/.emf etc in ArcGIS Pro

BrettShaver — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 18:00:32 GMT

This would be a fantastic addition! Great idea

Re: Export Multiple Layouts to .pdf/.emf etc in ArcGIS Pro

AlexZhuk — Mon, 26 Oct 2020 19:00:51 GMT

Why fantastic? It should be a natural addition! What were they thinking?

Bulk Export Layouts in Project to Output Format and Directory

BlairDeaver3 — Sun, 25 Apr 2021 01:26:18 GMT

Hello-

As an ArcGIS Pro user I would like to have an easier more efficient way of bulk exporting many layouts in an active ArcGIS Pro Project. I suspect there is an automation route via ArcPy, but it seem having a simple 'Bulk Export' option in the Layout context menu would be very helpful. The bulk export option would allow users to export multiple layouts based on an export format and folder path.

Thank you for your consideration.

Cheers,
Blair

Re: Bulk Export Layouts in Project to Output Format and Directory

jcarlson — Sun, 25 Apr 2021 14:08:57 GMT

It would be a very simple Python statement, so getting it into the GUI seems like it'd be easy enough. I think this is a great idea!

aprx = arcpy.mp.ArcGISProject("CURRENT") for l in aprx.listLayouts(): l.exportToPDF('some/dir/' + l.name + '.pdf')

Batch Export all Layouts

MiguelMartinezYordan — Thu, 01 Jul 2021 14:59:50 GMT

Please enable an option to export all or selected layouts from a project, including layouts configure as Map Series.

Re: Export Multiple Layouts to .pdf/.emf etc in ArcGIS Pro

ElishevaWalters — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 19:05:31 GMT

Yes, this is VERY IMPORTANT to speed up workflow

Re: Export Multiple Layouts to .pdf/.emf etc in ArcGIS Pro

caleb-thomas-smith — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 05:04:24 GMT

Yes! This would be very helpful, especially for the GIS students I TA who are creating 10-12 layouts per lab.

Re: Export Multiple Layouts to .pdf/.emf etc in ArcGIS Pro

bsanders69 — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 13:14:08 GMT

As someone has mentioned, there is a method out there that you provide a folder and it will open, save (to update all dynamic texts, etc.) and export to pdf every ArcMap file layout in the map folder (may be 200 maps in a folder, but the amount of time saved is significant! Different folder structure now as the new layouts are within the Pro folder structure, but, I agree that this functionality was utilized constantly updating the City Police, Fire, Code, Engineering, City Council, Parks, etc. wall maps. Please bring back a way to batch export these layouts.

Thank you

Re: Export Multiple Layouts to .pdf/.emf etc in ArcGIS Pro

DaveTaylor011 — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 16:49:07 GMT

Hey folks,

I realize this is an older thread, but I've actually created some Python scripts to handle this (I make a lot of layouts). I've copied the code for the Batch Export to PDF tool below, and the toolbox includes this and a Batch Export to PNG tool too. You can download the toolbox here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tYhxNO8SOimc5h_N2BqXg4097Rx7ymrl/view?usp=sharing. I suggest using the toolbox because it took a little while to set up all the parameters for the PDF tool. Both tools export only from the current open project, and use value tables so you can export as many layouts as you want and name the output files however you want. Hopefully this helps someone!

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Name: Batch Export Layout to PDF
# Purpose: Generate Layout PDFs in bulk.
#
# Author: Dave Taylor
#
# Created: 2022-05-11
# Copyright: (c) Dave Taylor 2022
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

import arcpy, os, sys
arcpy.env.overwriteOutput = True
aprx = arcpy.mp.ArcGISProject("CURRENT")
listLayouts = aprx.listLayouts()

inputRows = arcpy.GetParameter(0)
outputFolder = arcpy.GetParameter(1)
clipToGraphicsExtent = arcpy.GetParameter(2)
outputAsImage = arcpy.GetParameter(3)
imageCompression = arcpy.GetParameter(4)
compressionQuality = arcpy.GetParameter(5)
compressVectorGraphics = arcpy.GetParameter(6)
resolution = arcpy.GetParameter(7)
imageQuality = arcpy.GetParameter(8)
embedFonts = arcpy.GetParameter(9)
exportGeoreferenceInformation = arcpy.GetParameter(10)
layersAndAttributes = arcpy.GetParameter(11)
embedColourProfile = arcpy.GetParameter(12)

tbleRow = 0
numRows = inputRows.rowCount
arcpy.AddMessage ("Generating "+str(numRows)+" PDFs . . .")

while tbleRow < numRows:
rowStr = inputRows.getRow(tbleRow)
rowSplit = rowStr.split("' '")
rowClean = [s.replace("'","") for s in rowSplit]
layoutName = rowClean[0]
exportName = rowClean[1]
arcpy.AddMessage (layoutName)
arcpy.AddMessage (exportName)
for lyt in listLayouts:
if lyt.name == layoutName:
'''outputPDF = lyt.exportToPDF(os.path.join(str(outputFolder),str(exportName)))'''
outputPDF = lyt.exportToPDF(os.path.join(str(outputFolder),str(exportName)),resolution,imageQuality,compressVectorGraphics,imageCompression,embedFonts,layersAndAttributes,exportGeoreferenceInformation,compressionQuality,clipToGraphicsExtent,outputAsImage,embedColourProfile)
tbleRow += 1

Re: Export Multiple Layouts to .pdf/.emf etc in ArcGIS Pro

KyleGonterwitz — Fri, 06 Jan 2023 15:05:25 GMT

I agree batch exporting layouts to pdf is a great idea, and it was pretty easy to do with python, here is an example in a python notebook

https://github.com/gontek/CMED/blob/main/LayoutExport.ipynb

In this example rather than export all layouts I am controlling the desired layouts to be output by explicitly listing those layouts by name. To export all layouts I suppose you could change the logic to "not in" on line 9 and have an empty list.

Re: Export Multiple Layouts to .pdf/.emf etc in ArcGIS Pro

SuzyFer — Thu, 04 May 2023 10:20:03 GMT

@DaveTaylor011 I have been using your toolbox for batch PDF export and it works great! One thing I was wondering about - it doesn't take map series into consideration. Some of my layouts might have map series included and some just individual pages, but with the tool I can only get the first page of a map series as PDF. I wonder if there is something that can be added to the code to include also map series.

Re: Export Multiple Layouts to .pdf/.emf etc in ArcGIS Pro

DaveTaylor011 — Fri, 05 May 2023 17:50:27 GMT

@SuzyFer that's a good one! I'll scratch my head a bit and see if I can add a map series option to it. Stay tuned!

Re: Export Multiple Layouts to .pdf/.emf etc in ArcGIS Pro

ShannonJ — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 17:29:17 GMT

I'd like to add my support for this as well as some functionality I think would be ideal. I agree that that export multiple layouts should have been introduced by now. Being able to have multiple layouts in a project is a huge improvement over ArcMap, one of my favourite improvements as someone who does a lot of map production. The only thing missing is the ability to export all or some of them with a single click.

I'd like to see an export multiple layouts option where I can choose which layouts in my project are exported, and if they are exported to a single pdf or multiple pdfs. In a perfect world, I can export multiple pdfs at a time with a combination of layouts.

Real world example: I have a project with layouts A,B,C,D,E, and F. Currently I have to export all six layouts individually, then use adobe acrobat to combine layout A and B, layout C and D, and layout E and F for submission. This is a common practice for me and being able to export multiple PDF's would eliminate a lot of time in this process.

While I appreciate that some users on this thread have created and shared tools (which I will be taking advantage of in the mean time!), I believe a lot of users would benefit from this functionality being built into ArcGIS pro. Hopefully we can revive this thread and draw some attention to it!

Re: Export Multiple Layouts to .pdf/.emf etc in ArcGIS Pro - Status changed to: Under Consideration

AubriOtis — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 17:07:13 GMT