make the scale bar adjust when zooming on a layout

davedoesgis — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 19:12:01 GMT

When zooming in/out on a map in a layout, the scale bar doesn't adjust width, but rather puts some unusual numbers in for the divisions.

This is especially problematic for map series that zoom to different features in the area.

Re: make the scale bar adjust when zooming on a layout

davedoesgis — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 19:16:31 GMT

Set it like this to have the scale bar keep more normal mile numbers and instead the whole scale bar will grow or shrink to adjust:

Just note that you need to put it in a place on your layout where it can expand and contract. This worked great for me for a Map Series of wildfires, where the extents were pretty similar scale for all pages in the Map Series. This might not work if you are doing something like US states with highly variable scales when you zoom to each one (e.g.: WY vs. DE).

topic Re: make the scale bar adjust when zooming on a layout in ArcGIS Pro Questions

make the scale bar adjust when zooming on a layout

Re: make the scale bar adjust when zooming on a layout