Mxd Requires 2 Double-clicks to Open

[JohnBranum]

In ArcGIS 10.5.1 my coworker and I both have to double-click two times to open any of our mxds.  The first double-click spins for a bit, then stops, presenting nothing.  The second double-click opens the map normally.  This wasn't always the case, but now it's consistent.  Has anyone else run in to this?

[DanPatterson_Retired]

have you confirmed that it is unique to *.mxd s?  what about *.pdf s?

anything in the project housed on a server? or similar? or is everything local?

[JohnBranum]

Hi Dan (WOW, that was fast!) -

PDFs and all other docs open fine.  We're only experiencing this with MXDs which are all stored on a server, as are the PDFs.  Is the server the culprit?

[DanPatterson_Retired]

As for that test, make a small project on your local machine and give it a whirl.

If your project is inordinately large and gdb's etc haven't had a house cleaning, give that a go as well.

It does sound like you may be suffering from mxd bloat.  Happens in aprx's in Pro as well and I usually know it is time to clear out the cache files

[JosephCarter]

This could be tough . . .I have seen .mxd s stored way too deep in a file structure (10 folders deep . .). Examine the mxd by File/Analyze Map and view the messages, then clean it up!  It is probably not the drivers, and this little blurb from long ago may help: "If you go to Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs > Set Program Access and Defaults, usually you will find the configuration is 'Custom', yet under there everything is set to use your default program. If it is, just set it back to 'Microsoft Windows' and click 'OK'. You'll immediately see all windows and icons blink a couple of times, then hey presto - and also, if you found your computer had been inexplicably slow for a long time just to do very basic things, it seems this will fix it."

Good luck,

Joe

[JohnBranum]

Thanks Joe -

I'll try your configuration reset, but without Admin access I'll have to submit an IT ticket, so don't hold your breath...

We've got a few hundred MXDs 5 to 7 folders deep on this server, and this happens on all of them regardless of their complexity.  I analyzed my current map which notified me that 61 layers "draw at all scale ranges" (shouldn't be a problem...?), but 11 layers have "different projections than the data frame" (I believe that's only nominally), and 1 "layer's data source doesn't have a spatial index".  I suppose those last two might create problems, but if the fix is to open and correct a few hundred maps I might just choose to accept the resulting second double-click.

Oh, and perhaps another hint: The spinning delay doesn't actually require a double-click, a single click on an MXD creates the same result.