Scale Legend Contents Automatically with change in size

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12-13-2017 07:26 AM
Status: Open
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TrippCorbin
Occasional Contributor

In ArcMap if I make a legend bigger or smaller the contents will scale proportionally. This makes it very simple to ensure the legend is legible and in proportion to the rest of the map. In ArcGIS Pro, when I make the legend larger the contents maintain the size they were when the legend was created. They do not automatically scale. I have not found a setting which enables this functionality. You instead must make adjustments to all the various elements within the legend to get them to change size. While this provides much greater control over those elements, it is much more difficult and time consuming. Maybe having a check box to provide the automatic scaling as an option or just make it work like it did in ArcMap. #ArcGIS Pro #Layouts legend management

33 Comments
FrankVeldhuis1

I'm trying to use pro for a printed map with a legend. The current legend controls are a pain to use. I completely agree, scale the text when I scale the overall legend. I shouldn't have to step through each piece of text and resize it. The lack of legend scaling is slowing down the map creation process. 

KarenHoelscher

Is this ever going to be fixed???

MichaelVolz

Any update on whether this very helpful ArcMap functionality will be matched in a future release of Pro?

Seems like this basic functionality that makes work more efficient (important in the business world) should have been ported over to Pro long ago as Pro has been around for quite some time at this point.

KoryKramer

Michael, there are plans to address this, but it isn't a near-term item.  It is a mid-term item (meaning it could be 2 or 3 releases).

CathyWilson2

According to this article, it should work.

https://community.esri.com/ideas/14329-scale-legend-contents-automatically-with-change-in-size?comme...

But it doesn't. It is unacceptable that the only way to resize a legend from the default too-small-for-a-poster-sized-map, to a size that is readable from maybe 4 feet away, is to either make all of the text bigger, which makes them all the same size; or convert to graphics and manually resize each element.

If I change any of the Fitting Strategy items (Format Legend pane, Legend tab, Legend Arrangement Options icon, Arrangement, Fitting Strategy dropdown box) and then resize the frame, the frame gets bigger, but the legend itself doesn't change. The only Fitting Strategy that does anything different is "Adjust frame" and all it does is make the frame match the legend. Surely this isn't the way this setting is meant to work.

Please fix this. Thank you!

JedJackson

This is definitely a down grade from functionality in ArcMap, where one can easily stretch a legend to fit how the map is displayed (especially for poster or wall maps).

I have a Project with 15 different layers that I turn on and off to create a series of maps at the same scale and layout then export to a series PDF.  Having to make a graphic image for each Legend so that I can resize and everyone of those maps and layers in order that I can dynamically stretch to fit the presentation is time consuming and dangerous if I do not check every single map and legend to ensure all the layers are on or off (not to mention symbology changes). I can have a layout for each version of the map but that still does not correct the problem of the scale of legend.

marcusperry1

Any plans to fix this yet?

CathyWilson2

I have a map series that I had created in ArcMap. I just imported it into an ArcGIS Pro, then Shared the Layout as a PDF Map Series. I have the Legend set to "Only show features visible in the map extent." Then I opened up my PDF and I was actually pleasantly surprised that it worked fine the first try! The legend resizes as needed as I switch to different pages that have different features showing.

I realize this isn't quite what you are doing. You are manually turning on and off layers, so

I also did an experiment with a layout, turning on and off layers and the legend adjusted appropriately. The issues I posted about in May of last year regarding the Fitting Strategy seem to have been resolved.

In Layout view, in the Contents pane, double-click your legend which will open the Format Legend pane.
In the Format Legend pane, under Legend Items, click "Show properties..."
Under Feature Display Options, check "Only show features visible in the map extent"
Click the back arrow at the top of the pane
Select the next icon, which is the Legend Arrangement Options.
Under Arrangement, Fitting Strategy, select "Adjust columns and font size"
I hope this helps!
SeanHlousek

Kory,

Where is this in the pipeline?

Is it still mid-term or has it graduated to near-term? 

The Legend controls, (and frankly all Layout graphics-elements), should behave similar to Microsoft Power Point where we can resize quickly by dragging on a corner.  This is quick, easy, and most importantly to ESRI, it's intuitive for users getting familiar with ArcGIS PRO.  

This functionality should work with legends, and any text-box elements or map surrounds in Layout.  (If it already works with some or all layout elements then is should ABSOLUTELY work with Legends if for no other reason than for resizing controls to remain consistent).  

TimLangner

Not sure how many releases there has been since January 2019 but I'm on the latest one and I've just hit the issue.

I guess I could have gone back to ArcMap in order to accommodate the scaling of legend but ArcMap doesn't support having 12 maps and 12 layouts in the one document.

ArcView 3.1 did but no idea if that supported scaling of legends and even if it did, it's long been out of support.