topic Re: ArcGIS Pro Labeling removes duplicate labels even when option is set to "Do not remove" in ArcGIS Pro Questions

ArcGIS Pro Labeling removes duplicate labels even when option is set to "Do not remove"

EdwardBlair — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 19:55:24 GMT

I may be missing something, but Pro labeling *always* seems to remove duplicate labels... even when I have the "Remove duplicate labels" option set to "Do not remove".

Am I missing something?

Any insights would be much appreciated.

Thx,

Re: ArcGIS Pro Labeling removes duplicate labels even when option is set to "Do not remove"

Robert_LeClair — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 20:45:54 GMT

You’re not missing it—what you’re seeing is usually not the “Remove duplicate labels” setting being ignored, but labels being suppressed by normal conflict detection.

In ArcGIS Pro, even when duplicate handling is set to "Do not remove" (for the Standard Label Engine, line/polygon layers), labels can still disappear because overlapping labels aren’t placed by default. The help documentation notes: “Depending on the map scale, labels may not appear as you expect, because overlapping labels are not allowed by default. To override this setting, use the Place overlapping labels option.”

A couple of key gotchas:

1. Duplicate-label options apply to line and polygon layers with the Standard Label Engine (there are no duplicate options for point feature labeling).
2. If you’re using the Maplex Label Engine, duplicate handling uses different settings/behavior.

Try this:
1. Turn on "Place overlapping labels" for the label class (this is the most common “why are my duplicates gone?” fix).
2. Confirm which label engine you’re using (Standard vs Maplex) and adjust the duplicate/ conflict settings for that engine.

Re: ArcGIS Pro Labeling removes duplicate labels even when option is set to "Do not remove"

EdwardBlair — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 21:35:37 GMT

Robert -

Thanks for the detailed reply. Very helpful. Turned out that the crux of my problem was that I was using the Maplex engine without realizing it

Thanks again,