topic Re: How to programmatically enable "Page Query" (Map Series) on Annotation Layers? in ArcGIS Pro Questions

How to programmatically enable "Page Query" (Map Series) on Annotation Layers?

MarcelSt-Germain — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 15:54:40 GMT

Hello community,

I am writing a Python script in ArcGIS Pro to automate the generation of annotations using the Tiled Labels To Annotation tool. The generation part works perfectly.

However, I am stuck on the final step. I have hundreds of resulting annotation layers, and I need to programmatically enable the Page Query property (found in Layer Properties > Page Query) for each of them.

The Goal: I need the script to:

Enable the Page Query (Filter based on Map Series).

Set the matching field to "TileID".

The Issue: I cannot find the correct ArcPy method or the valid CIM path to toggle this specific setting. I attempted to modify the layer definition using lyr.getDefinition('V3') by looking for pageDefinition or CIMPageDefinition, but the changes do not persist or the property seems inaccessible for these specific annotation layers.

Does anyone have a working code snippet (CIM or ArcPy) to enable the Page Query and set the field name?

Environment:

ArcGIS Pro 3.x

Python 3

Thank you for your help!

Re: How to programmatically enable "Page Query" (Map Series) on Annotation Layers?

VenkataKondepati — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 16:42:09 GMT

Yes — you don’t need CIM for this in Pro 3.x. arcpy.mp.Layer has a native method called setPageQuery() that toggles Layer Properties → Page Query and sets the matching field in one shot

A working pattern looks like this (run in the Pro Python window / as a script tool in the same project):

import arcpy TILE_FIELD = "TileID" # field in each annotation feature class/layer MATCH = True # True = match current page name, False = inverse aprx = arcpy.mp.ArcGISProject("CURRENT") for lyt in aprx.listLayouts(): ms = getattr(lyt, "mapSeries", None) if not ms or not ms.enabled: continue # Page Query only applies to layers in the MapFrame used by the Map Series mf = ms.mapFrame m = mf.map updated = 0 failed = 0 for lyr in m.listLayers(): # Annotation layers are feature layers in most projects; keep this filter simple and safe if not lyr.isFeatureLayer: continue try: # Enable Page Query + set matching field lyr.setPageQuery(TILE_FIELD, MATCH) # <-- the key call updated += 1 except Exception as ex: failed += 1 arcpy.AddWarning(f"Skipped: {lyr.longName} | {ex}") arcpy.AddMessage(f"[{lyt.name}] Page Query set on {updated} layers (failed: {failed}).") aprx.save()

A couple of “gotchas” (these bite everyone)
Page Query is only honored when the layer is inside the MapFrame that your Map Series references. If you’re updating layers in a different map/frame, nothing will appear to happen even though the property is set.

setPageQuery() expects the field in the layer whose values match the Map Series page name field (from the index layer). So your TileID strategy works best when your Map Series “Name Field” is also effectively TileID (or produces the same values).

You can verify what’s currently set using lyr.pageQuery (it returns a tuple with fieldName and match).

Re: How to programmatically enable "Page Query" (Map Series) on Annotation Layers?

MarcelSt-Germain — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 16:24:24 GMT

Thanks, I will try it later.

Re: How to programmatically enable "Page Query" (Map Series) on Annotation Layers?

VenkataKondepati — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 17:38:48 GMT

Hi @MarcelSt-Germain,

Did you accept my response as a solution or something else?
I don't see any other reply to this post. If my response helped you or planning to try later, please accept my reply as a solution.

Thank you,
Venkat

Re: How to programmatically enable "Page Query" (Map Series) on Annotation Layers?

MarcelSt-Germain — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 13:13:19 GMT

Yes, I use tis script with Gemini to make it works with my main script.