topic Re: Save a copy of mxd in Python Questions

Save a copy of mxd

MitchHolley1 — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 17:24:39 GMT

Hello All,

I am trying to open an existing .mxd--> add some layers to it--> then save it to a new location. I keep getting the same error over and over which is :

I've tried using arcpy.mapdocument.saveACopy() as well as shutil.copy(). But I get the same error.

I'm sure it's a simple syntax error, but I've tried re-naming the file, changing the output location... and I still get the same error.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Please excuse my elementary knowledge of Python and my ugly script!

Re: Save a copy of mxd

DarrenWiens2 — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 17:28:45 GMT

Try changing your path references to r'C:\...' style. Your path may be getting escaped by the backslashes.

mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(r"C:\Users\holleym\Desktop\Projects\temp.mxd")

Re: Save a copy of mxd

MitchHolley1 — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 17:41:19 GMT

Thanks so much @DarrenWiens! It worked!

What exactly did that do? Make it readable?

Re: Save a copy of mxd

DarrenWiens2 — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 17:57:35 GMT

The 'r' indicates raw string notation (see here). It says that the following string is not to be escaped by backslashes. In your example, '\t' is interpreted as 'tab' (see here for a list of escape sequences).