idea Draft Mode for dataframe in ArcGIS Pro Ideas

Draft Mode for dataframe

francescaadrienne — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 02:13:33 GMT

In layout view there should be a button that when clicked turns the data frame to draft mode while you edit the map elements, then when all map elements fixed clicked agai to turn the dataframe back normal mode.

Re: Draft Mode for dataframe

DavidKnudsen — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 09:25:45 GMT

The third button from the right in the layout toolbar should do that for all framed elements in the layout. Did you mean that the button should work on the selected layout item(s) (i.e. the data frame) only?

Re: Draft Mode for dataframe

DamonPettitt — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 16:55:10 GMT

Yeah, I think that is what's meant. This feature would be helpful b/c often the layout items like the north arrow and scale bar don't really need to be in draft mode, and once in draft mode it's harder to design the layout items since their look and feel gets obscured by the draft mode setting.

Re: Draft Mode for dataframe

DanaNolan — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 21:42:12 GMT

Yes. The text and sizes of the boxes in draft mode is so far off from the actual size, the current draft mode is only partly useful. Moving around a giant scale bar box doesn't make sense when the finished map's bar will be small.

Re: Draft Mode for dataframe - Status changed to: Closed

ValeriaChavez — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 18:22:18 GMT

Hi @francescaadrienne

ArcGIS Desktop retired March 1, 2026 so we won’t be considering this idea. We recommend that you migrate to ArcGIS Pro, our fully supported desktop GIS application.

Thank you for taking the time to share your ideas. We truly appreciate your contributions to continuously improving the software to help you do your work and look forward to what ideas you have for ArcGIS Pro.