Create and manage Legend directly in the Layout View

[JurajKrumpolec]

Significant improvements are needed in the field of Legend Element creation and management to be more interactive and flexible, to allow for faster and more effective workflow. No wizards or cumbersome dialog boxes necessary. This idea makes use of functionality proposed by https://community.esri.com/ideas/3260.

Fast and easy Legend creation:

• Drag and Drop selected layers from TOC directly to the Layout.
• Context menu in TOC: Add to Legend/Remove from Legend options.
• Legend context menu: Add/Remove Item.

Flexible Legend management and formatting:

• Resizing Legend Element horizontally and vertically distributes Legend Items into columns and wraps legend text, especially labels into multiple rows.
• More different shapes of Legend’s frame (not only rectangle). Wrap Legend’s contents around graphics in the Layout. Change vertical content’s alignment.
• Threading Legend Elements – allow contents to flow between connected Legends in different parts of the Layout. Possibility to rotate Legend Element.
• Edit Legend’s spacing with possibility to parametrically define each size directly in the Layout.
• Change Appearance and Arrangement of all Items directly in Legend’s context menu.
• Access map connection settings directly through Legend context menu. Possibility to define custom reference scale.
• Insert special-purpose formatting objects: Line, Heading, Space, Column Break, etc.
• Introduce overall Legend Style, which would define Legend properties and formatting including: items format, spacing between legend’s parts, title format, etc.
• Legend context menu example

Interactive Legend Items manipulation, formatting and display:

• Reorder, move or copy legend’s items directly in the Layout by drag & drop inside single Legend Element or between different Legends.
• Possibility to replace items by drag &drop while preserving item’s formatting and settings.
• Insert Placeholder or Proxy to temporarily take the place of currently unavailable layer.
• Access Legend Items directly from the Layout. Apply style or custom formatting, patch shape and size to item parts, multiple items selected or the whole legend. Possibility for each item to have custom background.
• Control display of: Item, Name, Heading, Label, Description, Patch for selected/all items.
• Legend Item context menu example:

Provide serious Undo functionality.Related idea: https://community.esri.com/ideas/3660

[JackHardwick]

ArcGIS Pro.

[MartinShutt]

Yes it is a joke, as is the speed of 10.6 as is the bugs with pro

[JoshWhite]

I'm running 10.6 without any speed issues.  This tends to have more to do with your machine (or network setup) than anything.  Pro has some bugs but what software doesn't.  Also, what does this have to do with the original idea?  

I also believe that creating legends in Pro is vastly improved over ArcMap.  

[Anonymous User]

Hi David,

This idea is so much more than automatic text wrapping. The animation laid out is perfect. Count ESRI re-address this idea?

[MartinShutt]

10.6 is 32 bit!

The layout should have been done years ago if you are asking

[JackHardwick]

Josh, 

I agree that they have made creating a legend easier in Pro, but the animation shown here is really what they should be aiming for. No more going through nested menus to change simple things like the font-type or font size. 

[BenVan_Kesteren1]

Josh White wrote:

Pro has some bugs but what software doesn't.

When you are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for a piece of software, you expect it to be 'bug free'.

If I want some freeware piece of software I will expect it to have bugs and I will not complain.

Your comment is very simple-minded in my opinion.

[BenVan_Kesteren1]

Completely unrelated to this idea, what software did you use to create the graphic in your OP Juraj Krumpolec ?

[JurajKrumpolec]

You are completely right. https://community.esri.com/ideas/8430 

[JurajKrumpolec]

Adobe Photoshop