idea Dynamic text for symbology labels in ArcGIS Pro Ideas

Dynamic text for symbology labels

JeffThomasILM — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 23:41:59 GMT

Pro needs the ability to display dynamic text for symbology labels, which will then appear in the legend. That is, it should be able to symbolize map features based on one attribute, then display a different attribute in the legend. The reason I can't just symbolize on the attribute I want labeled is because it's subject to change, but I don't want the symbology to change.

Here's an example use:

I have a layer showing zones for enforcement officers. The zones are symbolized on a field with values 1, 2, 3, 4. But I want the officers' names displayed in the legend, which are stored in another field. The names of the officers occasionally change, so I can't symbolize on them without having to fix the map. Zones 1, 2, 3, 4 never change and can be reliably symbolized upon, but I have to manually update the names in the labels. I wouldn't have to if I could put dynamic text in the symbology label specifying the name field! Like this:

Re: Dynamic text for symbology labels

RoseF — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 14:09:03 GMT

Agreed! If we could choose a field upon which to sort and the field from which the label and description should come from, it would save us hours and hours of work.

Re: Dynamic text for symbology labels

JesseWickizer — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 15:02:32 GMT

This isn't exactly what you want, but as an alternative you could use table attribute dynamic text elements placed next to each legend item to label the region colors. Each dynamic table attribute could use a custom query to only show text for 1 zone, and for the text choose the Name field that regularly changes.

Insert a legend for the zones layer but turn off the Label (or layer name) so labels don't draw.

Move the dynamic text boxes next to each zone color in the legend.

Now when you change the Name field values, the map and custom legend update accordingly.

Re: Dynamic text for symbology labels

JeffThomasILM — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 15:18:37 GMT

@JesseWickizer That is a good workaround, thanks! That is essentially what I want built into the symbology labeling itself. But it would also have to deal with the potential for non-unique values for symbology that return multiple associated field values: first, last, count, concatenate, etc. ArcGIS already has this functionality for other geoprocessing tasks so it wouldn't have to be created from scratch, but it's worth asking at some point if the usefulness justifies the complexity. It all depends on demand!