"Failed to execute (PackageMap)"

[PaulHuffman]

I got an unhelpful ERROR 999999 when trying to use Package Map tool on a small ArcMap 10.5 project.  "Failed to execute (PackageMap"   What can I try?

[DanPatterson_Retired]

Let's start with the sequence of steps in the help topic... Package Map...

some people miss this step

The input layer must have a description in order for the tool to execute. To add a description, right-click the layer, click Properties, and enter a description.

And what else did you do?

[PaulHuffman]

A guy here wanted to take over analyzing our sockeye data.  Although I would have preferred showing him the links to the data, he requested map packages of two of my maps.  This makes a little sense since he will often be working off our network and the spawning data is embarrassingly disorganized.   The first map of the lake bathemetry produced a package swimmingly, even though I was unsure that Package Map could handle a terrain correctly. 

The second map is a big mess of spawning data, produced from a jumble of formats from GPS units,  some as shapefiles, some as text files that I had displayed as XY events, and some of those converted to shapefiles.  What has happened here is that a third guy, for the last three years, has emailed me a bunch of file dumps from his crew's GPS units, or sometimes brought me the units, in a panic, saying "I need to present this tomorrow,  just add all this to last years map."  I made it happen but I haven't gone back to reorganize this data.  

First I got a ERROR 001117 because there was no map description, so I corrected that.  Then I found five layers with projection undefined, so I corrected that.  But then I hit ERROR 999999, and I didn't know what do try next.  I removed the layers that referred to Events from text files but still got 999999. 

Dropbox - Screenshot 2017-12-05 08.38.55.png 

[PaulHuffman]

Because I couldn't make a map package,  I ended up exporting the feature classes used in the map to a file database to hand off.  One feature class sockeyegroups2.shp failed to convert,  throwing an ERROR 999999.  This is probably the reason the Package Map operation failed. 

Dropbox - Screenshot 2017-12-05 09.11.27.png 

[PaulHuffman]

I tried this again without checking the box "Convert data to file goedatabase (optional)", and the map package was successfully created.  That one layer that caused an error 999999 when I tried to export the data to a file geodatabase instead of a map package may have been what was causing my original problem with Package Map with the box checked.