Production Mapping - Batch Export

[GeoffChapman1]

We have been looking into the possibility of purchasing the production mapping extension to assist our generation of good old hard copy. However, one area I have not been able to confirm is the ability to batch export to PDF. I have found reference to this functionality in the Aviation charting extension but not explicitly in the documentation for Production Mapping. Therefore I was wondering if this was functionality available in Production Mapping out the box, is it something that we will have to automate with arcpy.mapping.

Any and all assistance much appreciated.

[Bo_King]

Hi Geoff

You are correct that arcpy.mapping is the solution for batch export, and the one we recommend for Esri Production Mapping customers.  More info here...

How To: Export map documents to PDF using Python 

Export MXD to PDF (Python Script & Toolbox Tool)

https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=4ddd1323ae0d4ebe8f8250992faab0f4 

Multiple MXD Exporter - Script to export multiple MXDs to single format

https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=bf797eadca474f0ca76e61d2fd55d0a8 

[GeoffChapman1]

Hi Bo,

Apologies for the late reply but thank you for your response that is very helpful.

I do have one further question you may be able to help with. When looking at the online support the pages for Production Mapping on ArcGIS Pro are rather thin on the ground in comparison to those under ArcMap. Is this a true reflection of the support for the extension on the Pro platform, e.g. it is not as complete a tool as on ArcMap, or is it a matter of the support pages not being complete.?

[Bo_King]

Hi Geoff

We have not yet reached full equivalency for Production Mapping in ArcGIS Pro.  This is an ongoing effort.  Please let me know if there are particular features you would like to see in the next release.  Also, if you are interested in testing the latest releases, check out the Esri Early Adopter Program...

Early Adopter Community | Esri Early Adopter Program 

[GeoffChapman1]

Hi Bo

Thanks for this. Our issue lies more about some custom tools that we've had developed for our workflow and whether we should have them rebuilt for Pro, which at this point does not seem like we are in a position to quite move over yet.

Many thanks

[GeoffChapman1]

Hi Bo,

One other question of the batch exporting of PDFs is that in non of the python sections in the ArcGIS help can I find reference to the Production PDFs.

We have a need to output a number of files with overprinting enabled on certain colors and while the manual Production PDF supports this we would rather batch our 283 pages than have a person do one at a time.

Am I missing something with scripting Production PDFs?

Cheers

Geoff

[DanHopkins]

Hi Geoff,

Have you looked at the ExportToProductionPDF function in the arcpyproduction.mapping python scripting module that is part of the ArcPyProduction site package in Esri Production Mapping? Link to the web-help and sample scripts is available below:

ExportToProductionPDF—Help | ArcGIS Desktop 

Regards,

Dan

[GeoffChapman1]

As expected I had missed something, thank you Dan much appreciated.

[GeoffChapman1]

Hi there when scripting batch export is it not possible to use Introduction to arcpy.mapping.MapDocument to access MXDs stored in an enterprise database using production mapping do the have to be stored in the filesystem to allow this to work?

[DanHopkins]

What do you mean by "MXDs stored in an enterprise database"? Have you implemented a Product Library?