Locked Multiple Layouts in ArcGIS Pro

[MikePrice]

In ArcView 3 (AV 3) users often created multiple layouts and disconnected the live link to each one.  The AV 3 help text below briefly explains what we could do in the program.

Add a view

To create a map for output containing geographic data you must first add a view to your layout. When you add the view you can choose to make it live linked. This causes any changes in the view to be reflected in the layout. If you decide not to live link your view, it will not change in the layout even if you make changes to the view.

Layouts were not especially powerful in AV 3, but users could create multiple static objects and print them as displayed. 

In ArcGIS Pro, multiple layouts are available for within a single Pro project and multiple layouts are associated with a specific Pro map within the Project.  In each layout, the user specifies the extent, layers displayed, cartographic elements, and more.  In each individual Pro layout, the user now refines/updates the associated map, before printing or exporting the layout.  If the map is modified later, the layout changes, too.

It would be very helpful to lock individual layouts to preserve user settings and parameters, without modifying the underlying map.

I strongly recommend that this feature should be submitted as a near term enhancement.  I, and others, once used this AV 3 feature often.

[DanSmith27]

When I first started to use ArcGIS Pro, my first instinct was that I could create a single map and have each layout control the appearance of that map. That is not the case (unless I'm missing something). It seems that if I have one map with all of the elements I need for a project, say "existing and proposed conditions", I should be able to have 2 layouts share the map, one with the existing condition layers turned on, another with the proposed turned on. Instead, I have to create 2 maps and 2 layouts. This complicates larger projects where a single symbol change needs to be repeated for as many new maps as you had to create for every layout. Logically, it seems that when you save a layout, it should save the map state that is referenced in that layout.

A larger project becomes slow and unwieldy with a large number of maps and layouts. 

My idea is to add the ability to allow layouts to control layer appearance and visibility for the maps, which would reduce the number of needed maps and make projects easier to manage.

[wayfaringrob]

This would be very handy - some way to disconnect the visibility of layers in a layout from the visibility of layers in the map. ArcGIS Online has some functionality that's similar to this. I find myself doing little "cheats" like setting scale ranges on layers as a workaround, but this only works if your layouts use different scales.

[BMCGIS]

Agreed! This is a critical functionality missing from ArcGIS Pro. Practically all of my work involves using one map with different layers turned on and off to produce multiple map outputs.

[DavidDurst]

I would suggest something like how AutoCAD handles this.

It is achieved using the "freeze layers" command. Essentially, what is turned off in model space (equivalent to the Map in Pro) will be turned of in all viewports (equivalent to a Map Frame in Pro). The difference comes in when you run the freeze layers command within the viewport.

This way of doing things could be implemented in Pro by having the Map control the main on-off for a given layer and have all layers by default checked on within the Map Frame element in Contents when viewing the Layout. Then, when you wanted a specific layer turned off within a specific Layout, you would uncheck the layer within the Map Frame element in Contents.

Note that the formatting code here is:

    AutoCAD

    Pro feature (directly related to AutoCAD feature)

    Pro feature (indirectly related)

I hope this doesn't come off as AutoCAD is great and ArcGIS isn't. I work in both on a regular basis and they each have their benefits and huge frustrations.

[GeoffPopple2]

The biggest shortcoming of this product....

[Ozzie_Mike]

This functionality really needs to be turned on. It would greatly help at improving organization within the APRX. We wouldn't have to have one map for every layout just because we want other layers turned on. Sometimes a page query just isn't enough and we need to be able to turn layers on and off for various sheets in a map series or layout. It gets really aggravating having a long list of maps because we can't do this.

One of the selling points over ArcMap is being able to have multiple layouts, similar to what we had with AV3.  

[NoeliaVolpe]

I can't believe this idea has been up since 2017 and still hasn't been implemented.  I also remember it from the ArcView days, and spent an hour trying to find how to do it in ArcPro as I assumed something this basic would still be around. Please add this feature!

[GayleNeufeld]

We use different layouts to show different data categories from the same project.  In ArcMap, we had to make a new map for each data category to get the different layouts and be able to make edits on each one without affecting the others.  I was excited when I saw we could make multiple layouts from the same map because I thought each layout would be independent from the others.  What a disappointment to find out that I still have to make multiple maps to have independent layouts!  Honestly, why would you bother giving us the functionality of multiple layouts if they aren't independent from each other?

[SimonSchütte_ct]

Thematic map series

You can now create thematic map series. In contrast to other map series types, in a thematic map series, the map frame on each page keeps the same extent, and the map data updates instead. Each page of the map series shows a different layer or group of layers in the map. The map series is built by iterating through all the features in a radio group layer, creating a page for each layer. Only one layer from the radio group is visible for each page; the other layers in the group are not visible. Layers outside the radio group are visible on each page in the map series.

What's new in ArcGIS Pro 3.2—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation

[CherylTrine]

This certainly looks promising!  Finally! Thanks Esri! 

I can hardly wait until I can update to Pro 3.2 to give it a try!