topic Re: Unwanted Legend Item Appears After Export in ArcGIS Pro Questions

Unwanted Legend Item Appears After Export

RyanBarber1 — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 11:56:15 GMT

Working in ArcGIS Pro 2.6, I'm trying to export a figure with Esri's "World Transportation" layer in the map. I have the layer unchecked in the legend, but when I export to PDF, World Transportation is in the legend (the group heading, too). Removing the layer from the legend portion of the TOC doesn't solve the problem- it appears in the legend unless I remove the layer from the map entirely.

Re: Unwanted Legend Item Appears After Export

TomBole — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 15:11:00 GMT

Hi Ryan,

This is a bug and may be related to an existing issue - BUG-000131306. I'll make sure your scenario is included. It is important to note that removing the item from the legend will not remove it from the export.

To get around the bug you will need to create a new legend that does not include this layer when the legend is created. You can do this in two ways. As you point out you can create the legend first and then add the service to the map. If the service is already in the legend you can create a legend without this layer by selecting the layers you do want in your legend and then insert the legend.

From Add a legend—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation

Optionally, if you don't want all the layers added to the legend, expand the map in the Contents pane and select the layers to add to the legend. If no layers are selected, a legend is added containing all applicable layers from the map contained in the default map frame.

We hope to have this issue addressed by the next release.

Thanks for the feedback,

Tom

Re: Unwanted Legend Item Appears After Export

RyanBarber1 — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 15:14:40 GMT

Thanks, Tom!

Re: Unwanted Legend Item Appears After Export

RyanBarber1 — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 15:23:22 GMT

Hi Tom,

I'm running 2.6.1 now, and had the same issue again. Your solution still worked, but I wanted to let you know that it's still happening.

Thanks,

Ryan

Re: Unwanted Legend Item Appears After Export

TomBole — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 16:15:08 GMT

Hi Ryan,

We have fixed this issue and will be available with the 2.7 release.

Tom

Re: Unwanted Legend Item Appears After Export

CaroleCarpenter — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 17:02:08 GMT

Hi!,

Making a new Legend didn't work for me. I had to cover the items in the legend with a white box. This work around doesn't always work when working with Map Sheets though. I work for a pretty big organization and we make a lot of figures and this is a REALLY big issue. Any chance this can be released in a Patch and not wait until 2.7. We are working in Pro 2.6.

Thanks!

Re: Unwanted Legend Item Appears After Export

TomBole — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 18:03:32 GMT

Hi Carole,

I'm assuming that the "extra" legend items are coming from an ArcGIS Map Service layer. If they are not, if the data source is local like a file geodatabase, then this is a different bug. If so, please let us know because at this time I'm only aware of this issue being particular to ArcGIS Map Service layers.

To get around the bug you will need to create a new legend that does not include this layer when the legend is created. You can do this in two ways. You can create the legend first and then add the service to the map. If the service is already in the legend you can create a legend without this layer by selecting the layers you do want in your legend and then insert the legend.

From Add a legend—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation

Optionally, if you don't want all the layers added to the legend, expand the map in the Contents pane and select the layers to add to the legend. If no layers are selected, a legend is added containing all applicable layers from the map contained in the default map frame.

Did you try either of these workarounds? If you did please let me know of the steps you took. I may have missed something in the workaround and would really like to get you to a workaround that is not putting a white box over the extra items if possible.

We are currently evaluating if this something we can include in a service pack.

Thanks for the feedback,

Tom

Re: Unwanted Legend Item Appears After Export

SamLewis — Thu, 29 Oct 2020 15:35:33 GMT

I was not able to resolve this issue using the work arounds posted, but found that if I just removed everything from the existing legend and then re-added the items I needed (click-dragging in the contents pane) one at a time it no longer printed the unwanted entries when exporting to pdf.

The unwanted legend entries were coming from ArcGIS Map Service (imagery) layers.

Re: Unwanted Legend Item Appears After Export

KurtisKettler — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 15:09:48 GMT

None of the mentioned workarounds worked for me. I am running Pro 2.6.2, and specifically trying to use World Transportation from (Reference/World_Transportation (MapServer) ) and it still adds 'World Transportation' in my Legend. I fully turn off the Legend(s) in my TOC, export it out, and all that draws in my legend is 'World Transportation'. What finally worked for me was to select the layers I wanted in my Legend, inserted it, and converted to graphics. This was the only way to rid my legend of the 'World Transportation' text. I am hopeful that the 2.7 release will fix this bug.

Re: Unwanted Legend Item Appears After Export

TomBole — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 16:42:00 GMT

Hi Kurtis,

I'm glad you found a way around this issue. We have resolved the export issue (issue #1) where this type of layer displays in the export result even if removed or if the visibility is unchecked.

However, we are still working on excluding Map Service layers that have have no legend info from the legend (issue #2). Some Map Service layer do have legend items, so we need a way to distinguish the difference and that may require work from multiple parts of the software stack. If this fix doesn't get into 2.7 you will be able to remove the Map Service layer item from the legend and not see it in the export result.

As far as I know the work around is applicable for the World_Transportation service layer. I was able to exclude this layer from the legend using this work-around described above:

From Add a legend—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation

Optionally, if you don't want all the layers added to the legend, expand the map in the Contents pane and select the layers to add to the legend. If no layers are selected, a legend is added containing all applicable layers from the map contained in the default map frame.

1. Select the layer in the Contents pane under the "Map" node that you want in your legend - in the order you want them to appear in the legend top-down

2. Insert the legend

If these are the steps you are taking and you are still seeing the World_Transportation layer in the legend - then this is a different bug and should be passed along to https://support.esri.com/en/contact-tech-support.

Thanks for the feedback,

Tom

Re: Unwanted Legend Item Appears After Export

dns — Tue, 29 Dec 2020 16:08:24 GMT

I am running 2.7, selecting only the layers I want, then Insert-> Legend and I am still getting unwanted raster layers in the legend upon Export.

How does the flagship desktop GIS software for your platform still have this bug in its latest release? It's truly bizarre. I appreciate the presence on this community forum to walk us through it, but it's so disappointing to have to fiddle with this still.

Re: Unwanted Legend Item Appears After Export

JustinJohnston — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 18:04:41 GMT

I am still having this same problem in ArcGIS Pro 2.7.0. The workarounds above are also not working. I have a map service providing aerial imagery that will not leave my legend when I print. I have not tried to see if Export works any different from Print yet. I will try that next.

Cheers,

Justin

Re: Unwanted Legend Item Appears After Export

JustinJohnston — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 18:21:49 GMT

I am still having the issue as well. None of the workaround above work and I am also running 2.7. I have no idea what to try to fix it at this point.

Re: Unwanted Legend Item Appears After Export

JustinJohnston — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 18:53:10 GMT

OK, I found a solution that worked for me! After doing the workarounds above to create the legend without having the offending map service layer and before printing, I opened the legend properties and unchecked ALL of the synchronization settings. Open the legend Options, expand Synchronize with map, uncheck all 4 boxes. By default, I believe "Layer Visibility", "New Layer", and "Rerference Scale" are selected. You might be able to unselect only one or two of those, but I unchecked all and it worked! Legend without the map service layer!

Cheers,

Justin

Re: Unwanted Legend Item Appears After Export

PeteJordan — Fri, 08 Jan 2021 14:58:57 GMT

Not sure if this is exactly the same thing, but seems like it and I am using 2.7. I've documented what I call Ghost Layers in the Dynamic Legend. This is where a legend shows the layers you want and looks good, and like the OP stated, upon exporting to a *.jpg, suddenly the legend shows the [...] meaning there are hidden layers (Fig 1.jpg).

Expanding the legend, I see a lot of layers on my map that were not included in the legend at all. Looking at the layers in the legend, they don't appear to show up either, but they show in the legend itself on the map (Fig 2.jpg) - The red shows what should be displayed and what the legend shows is displayed, the blue is what the legend in the map is actually displaying.

My solution that I find works, is to just delete the legend, then use your <Ctrl-z> to undo the delete and then I always find all those hidden "ghost" layers now displaying in my legend in the Contents Pane. They are always listed below my last layer I want displayed. So it's easy to just select all those unneeded layers and delete them and then resave the project and re-export and I haven't yet had a map with it coming back after doing this (Fig. 3).

Note: My figures were taken from various maps I've experienced the issue with and not the same map, but the general principle is the same.

Just my little fix for something similar or even the same issue. Hope it helps...

Re: Unwanted Legend Item Appears After Export

trw_ri — Sat, 08 May 2021 13:42:50 GMT

Hi - I jumped into this thread because I am having a similar issue when trying to export a layout (either JPG or PDF) using ArcGIS Pro 2.7.3. In my case, the unwanted legend layer is the NOAA Raster Chart map service. I have tried rebuilding a new legend with only a few selected layers included, but the exports still included the NOAA Raster chart layer in the legend. The only way I found to eliminate this legend entry was to turn the NOAA Map Service layer off in the TOC (though that layer is helpful for the layout). This is not a big issue for where we are in this project, so don't want spend lots of time investigating a work-around. Hopefully a fix will be incorporated into some future software update. Thanks - Tom

Re: Unwanted Legend Item Appears After Export

JenniferBorlick — Fri, 03 Sep 2021 19:14:48 GMT

Just throwing it out there that I'm in 2.8.1 and the issue is still here. I used the workaround, plus turned off the synchronization and then it works. It should also be noted that the legend items weren't spaced correctly initially. They were overlapping. This was fixed using the work arounds supplied.

Re: Unwanted Legend Item Appears After Export

JeffGray — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 15:28:50 GMT

Another way to workaround this problem is to create a legend with the items you want to display and then convert the legend to a graphic.

Re: Unwanted Legend Item Appears After Export

AngusWarfieldMc — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 06:09:26 GMT

This is still happening in 2.9. I can confirm turning off all the synchronization settings worked for me. Thanks!

Re: Unwanted Legend Item Appears After Export

RayMcPherson — Thu, 12 May 2022 16:10:24 GMT

I'm running in 2.9.2 and turning off just the "New Layer" option in the Legend settings worked for me. Thanks!