Provide PDF output layer visibility control

[StephenHubbard1]

Map output to PDF

1)  When maps are output to PDF, provide a way to specify the on/off state of layer.  This is especially useful for Data Driven Pages when you output dozens of pages, and want a specific set of layers to be present, but not turned on.

2)  When image layers are included in a PDF, do not rasterize and collapse the vector layers above the image into it.

[RobertKlein3]

There might be some workarounds for you.

Regarding #1, once the PDF is created, if you open it and press <F4> the Acrobat side panel can show not just pages but also bookmarks and layers, where visibility of individual layers can be toggled.  Though I have a full version of Acrobat this also seemed to work in Reader

Regarding #2, I learned the hard way that having ANY transparency (or picture fill symbology, or 3-D symbology if I rightly recall)  set in ANY map layer of ANY type will rasterize & flatten the output no matter what settings you try.  Doesn't even matter if the layer is being used in your output -if it's in the TOC it will junk up your PDF output.

See this Idea

See also this Desktop Help from v. 10.0

[StephenHubbard1]

Hi Thanks. 

Yes, you are right, if you have Acrobat Pro or equivalent, you can change the file and then save it.  However, the idea not to have to go into dozens and hundreds of files and set the layer state of each file individually.

For 2, I've tired transparent layers in PDF with vectors, and PDF does support it.  So this is an ESRI limitation, not a PDF limitation.

SMH

[ScottThomas1]

#2
The whole point of transparency is to have it on top of other layers. Having this result in a failure of the pdf layer structure is absurd. This should be fixed asap. The current lack of functionality results in severely limiting the use of masks.

[JeremyWright]

Thank you for submitting this idea. ArcGIS Pro PDF exports handle transparency differently than ArcMap, namely not flattening all layers that are below a layer with transparency. Additionally, at ArcGIS Pro 3.1, users can choose to rasterize one layer, rasterize many individual layers, or even merge a group of layers into a single raster in their vector export. As there has been no further activity on this thread since 2015 we are closing this request. 

Further ideas can be submitted against the latest release of ArcGIS Pro. Thank you!