Some projects won't open and new 'transformation warning' with 2.8.1 update

[JeremyDavies]

Hey all-- has anyone else had the issue of some projects not opening since updating to 2.8.1? Most of my projects open just fine, but a few just hang indefinitely with the message "Loading <layout or map name>" and never open. I've tried renaming the ESRI folders in the AppData folder, but that didn't help. I've also tried restarting my Win10 machine.

Another change is I am now getting Transformation Warnings in some of my projects, which I have never seen before, even in projects that I have worked with regularly for a long time. I am wondering if the hanging of some of my projects and the Transformation Warnings are related in some way?

I am curious to hear if others have experienced what I am describing, and if so, did you find a work around?

Thanks!

JD

[Robert_LeClair]

Jeremy - I can not comment on why your project not opening on your PC.  There has been no "breaking" change in *.aprx's since 2.0 that would prevent an *.aprx from opening in 2.8.1.

The transformation warning message is new at 2.8 as you noticed.  A notification message is triggered when a transformation path is set to <None> for the Map View properties.  To clear this, right click each Map/Scene->Properties->Transformation and set a transformation for that map view if it's currently listed as <None>.  Save the *.aprx and the messages "should" no longer appear.

[JeremyDavies]

Thanks Robert. Unfortunately there don't appear to be any stock transformations for many of the polar projections I use, so now I'll just have to ignore those messages. It may be my imagination, but it seems like projects with these transformation errors take longer to open, so is it possible this new feature is causing some of my more complicated projects to not open at all? It would be interesting to go back to 2.8.0 or even 2.7x and see if those same projects will open in previous versions.

Too bad their isn't an aprx doctor like there was for mxds. Recreating some of these corrupt or non-functioning projects will take a while!

[BrianWilson]

Nice to know where to look for this but the UI gives me a pick list that is empty. Layer coordinate system is NAD83(NRS2007) and map is WGS 1984.

[JayantaPoddar]

Could ensure check if the following option (Project > Options > Map and Scene > Spatial Reference) is unchecked?

Does it make any difference?

[JeremyDavies]

Thanks for the suggestion, Jayanta, but that did not make a difference. And I get a transformation warning pop-up whether the box is checked or not!

[BrianWilson]

I think that option is just warning when any transformation is required, not when one is missing.

It shows the missing transformation warning either way.

[Robert_LeClair]

Related to this post, a July 26, 2021 Blog about this Transformation Warning message and workflows to consider.