You can create a legend for the map layers in your Map window. The legend you create displays in a Legend Designer window where you customize the elements of the legend to enhance your map presentation. A LEGEND tab displays on the ribbon where you can access modify legend content and align legend frames. To learn about map legends and the Legend Designer window, see What is a Legend? and About the Legend Designer Window.
Creating a legend that represents the styles in your map is done through the Create Legend wizard when you select the Add Legend option from the MAP tab or select the Legend window from the HOME tab. The wizard has three screens; the first screen selects the vector, raster, and thematic layers in the map to create legend styles for, the second and third screens provide customization options and are optional. You can also customize a legend afterwards from the Legend Designer window.
If you already have a Legend Designer window active, you can add more legends to it by choosing Add Legend from the LEGEND tab.
Thematic legends are automatically created when you create the theme on a map layer using the Create Thematic Map wizard. For more information see Working with a Thematic Map Legend.
Customizing Your Map Legend
If after creating a map legend, you want to customize it by changing a map legend's titles, list text, and font styles, then see the sections under Customizing the Contents of a Legend Frame.
- Aligning Map Legends in a Legend Designer Window to learn how to use the Legend Designer window grid and guidelines to help you reposition and align legend frames in the Legend Designer window. To better view the contents of the Legend Designer window when repositioning legend frames, see Zooming the Legend Designer Window View.
- Deleting Map Legends from a Legend Designer Window to exclude map legends for map layers from the Legend Designer window. By default, legends for all the visible layers on your map are included in the Legend Designer window when you select to create a legend for a map, unless you select to exclude map layers during the creation process.
- Adding Map Legends to a Legend Designer Window to include map legends to the Legend Designer window for layers on your map.
More advanced users who are familiar with working with map legends, may want to review the sections under Advanced Options when Creating Map Legends, to learn how to use table metadata and attributes when creating a legend, and how to work with special columns with a table join.