topic Re: Disappering layout in ArcGIS Pro Questions

Disappering layout

mlee — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 14:53:34 GMT

I have a huge problem and wanted to know if I'm the only one on earth or if it's a general bug.

PROBLEM:
At irregular intervals (sometimes 1 time a month, sometimes 3 times a day) the entire content of a layout disappears.

The process is always similar:
I am in the layout view editing the content (moving/copying/adjusting graphic elements) and all of a sudden a misbehaviour occurs. Most common I can no longer select individual elements in the layout view under "contents". For example, the object is displayed, but I cannot change the visibility.
Another example is that I change the text in a text fiel and both the old and the new text are displayed after completion. In the map view, I can select one text object and continue working, but the other remains displayed.

Just this wouldn't be that bad. But:
When I save the project and reopen it, all map content is deleted. The layout with all settings such as "Page Setup" still exists, but all content (graphic elements, map frames, etc.) is permanently lost.

I discussed this intensively with the ESRI support about one a year ago. After a malfunction I previously copied that aprx, before reopening it in ArcGIS. This file could be opened with IZARC. All contents of the entire project were displayed correctly. We then opened the file in ArcGIS Pro and saw an empty layout. Next, we saved it and reopenend in IZARC.... And the whole layout was now empty as well.
This means that the support team was able to face the error, but no solution was found at the time. Neither what causes the issue, nor how to fix the file.
The rest of the document (maps, layouts, whatever ...) is unaffected.

Until then, I worked in a virtual environment on a Mac (which is not ideal). In the meantime, I work 100% on a Windows computer, without a virtual machine.
After a quiet start-up phase, the frequency has increased in the recent month. Hence my cry for help!
Have you ever encountered that problem?

Re: Disappering layout

skelly_rskgroup — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 12:45:35 GMT

The very same issue has just happened to me. Hours of work are lost! This is a serious bug that needs fixing fast!

Re: Disappering layout

CRennyGIS — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 14:09:47 GMT

This has happened to me twice now in the past month.

Re: Disappering layout

CarolaEklund — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 20:12:14 GMT

I had the same thing happen just now. The layout is completely empty - hours of work gone!

Re: Disappering layout

SarahKendell — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 15:19:08 GMT

This issue just happened to me. Has anyone figured out a way to recovery the lost layout data? If not, I'll just cry into my coffee about all that lost work...

Re: Disappering layout

fkashirtsev2 — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 20:48:41 GMT

Just had this happen to me. Everything occurred exactly as you described. Lost about 3 hours of work. Is there a fix for this issue?

Re: Disappering layout

Me_at_work — Tue, 27 Aug 2024 22:07:29 GMT

I had this same scenario this morning. It has not happened for me previously.

I am running ArcPro 3.3.1, on windows 10. Some data local, some data in ArcGIS Online, including publicly accessible API’s. basic point/line/polygons – nothing too complicated.

I did not encounter any errors when I saved my APRX. The amount of time it took to save and close seemed standard. ( 15 seconds )

Open it again later – and it’s a completely blank layout with no associated features, maps, text etc. TOTALLY BLANK.

There is one other map & layout in the APRX – with same sort of data. Nothing really special or unusual. The only affected layout was the one I was working on this morning.

After arranging my layout how I wanted it, I saved it as a layout template (PAGX) and that file had no issues when I imported that later into another aprx ( so far… ) so the issue doesn’t seem to be imbedded in the layout file itself.

I also had open another APRX and was doing some Raster work ( mosaic, reproject and extract by mask) and that crashed a few times.

When this issue has happened to the other people on this thread – were you working on other things at the same time similar to what I was doing and had multiple APRX open and working in them? – maybe it’s a caching issue – when my one APRX crashed, it took out all the temp/cached info?

I have worked with ESRI products long enough to have a pretty disciplined save-your-work-constantly approach to anything I do with ESRI products – but maybe the crash of my raster-work APRX is causing that “save” function in my other APRX to have no where to save to?

I am happy to send my aprx to the tech team at ESRI if they think it’s useful to examine.

Re: Disappering layout

SuzanneFordyce — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 17:12:24 GMT

This has just happened to me. I lost a day's worth of work!! So frustrating. Let's hope for a fix.

Re: Disappering layout

Jessica369 — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 18:19:46 GMT

Happened to me today 😞 first time, this is a major concern ESRI please do something :'(

Re: Disappering layout

DrewCover — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 19:47:54 GMT

AAAAHHHH! Just happened to me as well, running Pro 3.3. Also happened to both my coworkers in the last month. Its diabolical, since it doesnt matter how often you save, and most IT backups come at end of previous day. So, lost a whole day of work and now contemplating moving back to ArcMAP

This is scary esri!

info: I first noticed a layout text element acting strange when I tried to move it around, so I saved/reopened annnd everythings gone. - Dont save once you notice something screwy, just close/reopen.

I only had two layouts open and in the project, only map was default 'Map' with one Imagery service layer, and they were templates loaded from a layout file, pretty sure these templates were originally loaded from old ArcMAP .mxds. Data is on a local server. Windows 11 23H2 22631.4317. Intel Core i7-13700, 64G RAM. Sophos Security

Re: Disappering layout

KoryKramer — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 17:35:23 GMT

Hi @Me_at_work this issue was just brought to my attention by the Esri Community team.

I see that @mlee opened a case with Technical Support just yesterday which is good. For anybody else on this thread who is currently seeing behavior where layout elements disappear, it would be important to troubleshoot with Technical Support since I have checked with the them and there is no open, known bug logged that describes layout elements disappearing. So investigation will be needed to determine what causes the problem.

@Me_at_work you mentioned that you can send an aprx. Please feel free to email that to me at kkramer@esri.com. I'm not sure if the development team will be able to determine anything from the aprx alone, but we'll at least take a look.

Again, for everybody on this thread experiencing this issue, it is unlikely that community members will be able to assist with something you think may be a bug. If you experience issues that you feel are bugs, of course you can post in Esri Community first as a sanity check, but if you need/expect immediate assistance from Esri to troubleshoot the issue and get it reported, please contact Technical Support.

Thank you

Re: Disappering layout

Nelson_Schaefer — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 09:37:05 GMT

Hello @DrewCover

I work for Esri Technical Support and I am currently trying to find a common denominator that these reports of disappearing layout incidents have in common.
Only a small group of users are reporting this problem and it does not appear to be a general problem with ArcGIS Pro so far. Therefore, I think it is essential to find out what these users have in common to see if we can find some kind of pattern.

I currently suspect that this behavior may be related to network drives.
A network drive is any storage drive that is not physically located on your computer but can be accessed via the company network or VPN, for example.

Therefore, it would be very helpful if you could describe whether a network drive or file server was in play at the time the problem occurred. For example, the ArcGIS Pro project file (.aprx) could be on a network drive or only the geodatabase/data sources.

I appreciate any information on this. Thank you.

Re: Disappering layout

Nelson_Schaefer — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 09:37:53 GMT

Hello @Jessica369

I appreciate any information on this. Thank you.

Re: Disappering layout

Nelson_Schaefer — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 09:38:10 GMT

Hello @SuzanneFordyce

I appreciate any information on this. Thank you.

Re: Disappering layout

Jessica369 — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 13:01:19 GMT

I experienced this issue while working in-office. I was not using a VPN at the time. My workstation setup involves a Remote Desktop Connection to a desktop tower, and the project data is stored on a shared server. As of now, I am the only one to have experienced this problem once.

Re: Disappering layout

CRennyGIS — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 14:33:51 GMT

Hi, I experienced this problem when working in office connected to the company network. The project file and some of the data were located on a network drive.

Re: Disappering layout

SuzanneFordyce — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 16:09:49 GMT

Hi @Nelson_Schaefer, I work for local gov and we use network drives for pretty much everything. Projects are stored on our in-house servers, accessed through network drives, as well as most of our data. Data stored in a combination of FGDs and SDEs. So far, I believe I am the only one (of three GIS people) that has experienced this in our organization. We all use the same drives. For me, it has occurred three times since September, each while working on different projects.

Re: Disappering layout

DrewCover — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 19:46:13 GMT

Hi @Nelson_Shaefer, Thanks for jumping on this. Yes, my IT confirmed that our shared drive is a network drive and not file server. Both the project and data are stored there and not local on C:

Re: Disappering layout

KoryKramer — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 16:24:25 GMT

@Me_at_work trying again. Are you able to send an .aprx where this has happened? From other comments on the thread it sounds like this happens when saving to a network share, so I'm not sure what we might be able to find but we are interested in investigating the behavior. Please send an .aprx where you have had a layout(s) disappear if you have one. Thank you

Re: Disappering layout

DanielleKairovicius1 — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 17:36:53 GMT

Hi @Me_at_work ,

I'd like to thank you for your patience in working through these issues. Please reach out to myself directly if you'd like us to create a support case. Our team in interested in getting a copy of your project to help diagnose the issue.

Thank you for your continued feedback.