Legend is replicating layers

[ChristineParkerILSR]

I'm using ArcGIS Pro 3.3.0 (updated) on Windows 11. I'm working on some layouts and thought I was going crazy, but for some reason the legend is adding random copies of layers displayed in the map frame. These extra copies don't exist in the map...so it feels like a bug. I've already tried deleting the legend and creating a new one and it's happening again. I've restarted computer/Arc. I have layer visibility turned off in the legend settings. Some of the layers can be toggled off, but some I have to right-click > remove, and then several items will disappear from the legend. 

I've included screenshots of the legend panel, the map frame panel, and what the legend looks like. This is driving me nuts and I feel like this started after the recent update...

[JR_CHN]

this kind of worked for me, though i just had to uncheck "layer visibility" and then the legend rebuilt itself without the duplicated layers.  Not ideal, but helps get a map out the door after some extra work cleaning up the legend.

[TomBole]

All, 

An update.  There is a logged issue - "BUG-000167906 A legend item element gets duplicated when copying a shapefile from a map frame on one layout to another map frame on another layout." Though the title is specific to shapefiles I no longer believe the problem is specific to shapefiles. I've been able to reproduce with file GDB data.

The key to spotting this issue is that the duplication is done on the legend pointing to the map frame/map that you copied the layer from and not legend pointing to the map frame/map you pasted to.

Now that we have a reproducible case we can get our developers debugging the issue. Hopefully the fix is straight forward and one that can be included in a service pack. Of course we need to gather more info before making a call on the service pack.

I want to thank all of you for reporting this issue and providing as much information as you could. Special thanks to those I had the pleasure of meeting at this years UC and troubleshooting this issue in real-time. 

Thanks You!!!!

Tom

[HollyTorpey_LSA]

That's great news! Thanks for the update!

[TomBole]

All, 

We've been testing a fix to this issue and so far things are looking good.  Hopefully we will be able to provide the fix in the next 3.3 service pack. We are still evaluating the risk of including this fix into the service pack and testing the fix in general. I'll post once I know for sure it is in the service pack.

Tom

[HollyTorpey_LSA]

Thanks for sharing this good news, Tom!

[EPCGIS]

This has been happening to me as well for the past few months or so.  I just want to state it is not on just shapefiles but for GDB Feature Classes as well.  Sounds like there is a fix coming but wanted to make sure it was known that this legend replication bug seems to be related to any type of layer added to the Legend for a Layout map which happens to be in an ArcGIS Pro Project with additional Layout maps accessing the same layers. 

[-_-]

This problem also occurs when there are layers with the same name.
In that case, the legend for the topmost layer with the same name will be added, not the legend for the layer you copied.
If you try to move the legend added to the bottom up, it will multiply even more.

[TomBole]

Thanks for the information. 

[CodaRain23]

How's it looking for a bug fix on this?  It's  time-consuming because every time I remove and replace a layer I have to redo any customization in the properties pane.

[JuanitaBorden]

Is there a fix for this bug yet? This really affects workflows where there's multiple layouts in a pro file and you copy a layer from one map to others. Multiple layouts are affected as the legends of all the maps where an item was copied are duplicated, actually even more than duplicated. If I have a layer that I copied to say 10 different maps, then I have legends showing the item 10 times, in 10 different maps.