Even when using seemingly symmetrical north arrow symbols like ESRI North 74, the symbol will not stay centered as the data frame rotation changes. It seems as though the anchor point of the symbol is not centered and I am not aware of any way to change the position of the anchor point.
This behavior can be observed by following the steps below:
1) Insert a north arrow into a data frame (ex. ESRI North 74) and apply a frame with a visible outline to the north arrow
2) Rotate the data frame and observe the frame size changes as the data frame is rotated
This is very annoying when many maps are generated based on a common template/north arrow and varying map rotations are used to optimize space in the page layout. For example, say that you want to generate a map series of hundreds of maps with varying rotation based on the index layer using data driven pages. The north arrow shifts as the rotation angle changes.
Does anyone have a solution to this problem? Would a custom north arrow solve this problem? I am hesitant to create my own custom north arrows as this compromises the compatibility/portability of template MXDs.
Cheers!