Is there any way to show the extent of the view of the map frame (layout) on the map view?
Accepted Solutions
There's a gotcha that means this solution will not work when followed exactly as described, at least when the view frame has a coordinate system that isn't squared on latitude and longitude.
The right of the Map Frame Extent pane displays decimal degrees no matter what you have set the dropdown for Display Units to. These coordinates will correctly define the bottom left and top right corners. (Confusingly, the user interface lists the values in the order Top, Left, Right, Bottom. This suggests, at least to me, that the first two values defined the top left corner. They don't. The first and third values are one coordinate pair, and the second and fourth the other.)
The problem is that knowing the bottom-left and top-right coordinates in decimal degrees doesn't imply that you can find the top-left and bottom-right by transposing the northing and easting values. If you do you'll end up with a rectangle as defined in decimal degrees but not in your CRS.
The way you can make this solution work is to follow the directions for getting the coordinates, then in the Create Features pane select Rectangle. From the control that pops up select Horizontal/Grid Aligned but unselect Square.
Then right-click and define the bottom left corner (using the Left and Bottom coordinates) and right-click and define the top right corner (using the Right and Top coordinates). The created rectangle will be square in the CRS for the view frame. And you've bought yourself having to enter two coordinates instead of four 😁.
Following up what I wrote: There is a way to get the coordinates in your CRS from the Map Frame Extent dialogue but it's a bit hidden if you have more than a few layers. As of Pro version 3.5.2 there is a drop down in the bottom right corner of the dialogue, while the coordinates are top right. You need to drag the dialogue window to the very top of the screen to see the drop down, and in Windows if the taskbar is visible the drop down will still be half hidden. (Red arrow inserted below.)
Fixing this so the drop down is right below the coordinates is logged as BUG-000178161: In ArcGIS Pro, the "Display Units" dialog box for the Map Frame Extent will become hidden when the project contains a large number of layers in the Contents Pane.
Related: Export Extent Indicators or Map Frame Extents to F... - Esri Community
I have a tool that will do it as well; dm me and I can send it to you. (Currently investigating a bug in it so not willing to share it here-- there's a failure with certain types of curved map frames, but a rectangle is fine).
