The Legend Designer window displays the legend for each layer in your Map window. You can create an individual Legend Designer window for each layer in your map, or you can have several map legends in one Legend Designer window. When creating a map legend, you choose the map layers that you want to include.
Each legend within the Legend Designer window is enclosed in a frame. A legend frame is another way to refer to a particular layer's legend. The properties for each legend frame can be edited individually, such as the legend title and subtitle, row text, and font.
Each Map window can have one or more Legend Designer windows, which are not shared with any other Map window. The Legend Designer window gives you control over the design of the legend for your map: it provides controls, in the form of a grid and guidelines, to accurately set the alignment of the contents of the legend; it offers a zoom feature, so you can see a more detailed view of the contents; it lets you add titles for each legend frame; and you can set the text and font styles in each legend frame.
Legend frames are added in a top down fashion (portrait option when creating a legend) or from left to right (landscape option when creating a legend). This organization is maintained when adding or removing legend frames, so that there are no spaces between the frames. Once you begin moving legend frames in the Legend Designer window, the automatic arrangement is no longer preserved and you must position frames appropriately to remove gaps between them.
LEGEND Tab Commands
The LEGEND tab provides a number of commands for modifying legends and aligning legend frames. It is available on the ribbon when you add a legend or a theme to a map. For details, see LEGEND Tab.
Legend Designer Window Right-Click Context Menu Options
The Legend Designer window provides the following commands when you right-click on the canvas.
| Add Frames |
Opens the Add Frames wizard where you can select map layers that you want to add to the map legend on display in the Legend Designer window. You can also set unique attributes for the legend frame for each map layer that you add. For instructions, see Adding Map Legends to a Legend Designer Window. |
| Add Text Frame |
Opens the Text Frame Properties dialog box where you can add text to display in the legend; this can be text for a title, subtitle, or description of the contents of the legend for example. You can include carriage returns in the text. |
Refresh |
Opens the Refresh Legend dialog box where you can specify how you would like to redraw the contents of the Legend Designer window by refreshing styles. This can be useful after opening a workspace with a legend and you suspect the underlying map data has changed. For more information, see How a Layer Style Override Affects the Map Legend. |
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Delete Selected Frames |
Removes all frames that you selected from the Legend Designer window. For instructions, see Deleting Map Legends from a Legend Designer Window. |
Modify Legend Frame Properties |
If there is a legend selected in the Legend Designer window, then this option opens the Legend Frame Properties dialog box, which allows you to modify the legend frame. If the selected legend frame is a theme legend, then the Modify Theme button on the LEGEND tab enables. Therefore, if you want to modify the thematic properties of the layer, which may affect the legend, use the Modify Theme button on the LEGEND tab. |
About Hidden Legends
Thematic legends may be shown or hidden in the Customize Legend dialog box, which is accessed from the LEGEND tab, in the Content group, by clicking Modify Theme.
Hidden legends are not persisted to workspaces. If a Legend Designer window has all its legends hidden it will not be saved to a workspace (WOR).