You can configure your portal to generate printable documents from web maps and apps; this is done with print services. There are varying levels of functionality and customization available depending on the print service configured with the portal. Print service options include the following:
- The Portal for ArcGIS default print service
- The PrintingTools service from an ArcGIS Server site
- A custom print service
The portal comes with a default print service as described below. You can configure your stand-alone portal or federated portal and server site to use the PrintingTools service from an ArcGIS Server instance. If you federate your portal and server site and configure a hosting server, the hosting server's print service is automatically started and configured with the portal. However, if you've previously configured a print service with your portal, the URL is not updated when specifying a hosting server. You'll need to start the service, share the service, and configure it as a utility service.
Legacy:
In 10.3, if you specified a hosting server for your portal, the service was automatically configured with the portal, but you were required to start the service and share it. Beginning at 10.3.1, you only need to share the service.
A custom print service can be used with a stand-alone portal, with a portal that has been federated with a server, and with a portal that has a hosting server configured.
When using an ArcGIS Server print service with services added to the portal through HTTPS, additional configuration is necessary. Any machine that runs the print service will need to be configured to trust Certificate Authority (CA) signed certificates from the site providing the HTTPS services. This configuration needs to take place at the operating system level. See Enabling SSL using a new CA-signed certificate for details on how to do this.
The Portal for ArcGIS default print service
By default, Portal for ArcGIS comes with a print service with basic printing functionality. The default print service allows you to print or preview map and feature services from the map viewer in PNG format. This PNG image will be a MAP_ONLY view of the web map and will be 670x500 pixels. The default print service does not support printing other service types, such as WMS, or files. As well, cached map services can only be printed using the default print service when dynamic layers are enabled for the service. You will not be able to use the default print service with web app templates or Web AppBuilder for ArcGIS.
Note:
Make sure the portal is configured to trust certificates from your certifying authority so the default print service can print map and feature services added to the portal that use HTTPS.
The default Portal for ArcGIS print service is configured when the Printing dialog box in the portal's Utility Services settings reads Default.
The PrintingTools service
PrintingTools is a preconfigured service in the Utilities folder of an ArcGIS Server instance that creates a printable document using one of a set of predefined map layouts. These include basic designs using 8.5 by 11 inch, 11 by 17 inch, A3, and A4 paper sizes in both portrait and landscape orientations. Each layout contains a north arrow, scale bar and ratio, legend, date, and title. The supported output formats from the PrintingTools service are PDF, PNG32, PNG8, JPG, GIF, EPS, SVG, and SVGZ.
The PrintingTools service is stopped by default. You must use ArcGIS Desktop or ArcGIS Server Manager to start the service if you want to support printing workflows. Once the PrintingTools service has started, you can access it using a URL with the following format: https://webadaptorhost.domain.com/webadaptorname/rest/services/Utilities/PrintingTools/GPServer/Export%20Web%20Map%20Task.
To configure PrintingTools with your portal, see Configure utility services. After the PrintingTools service has been configured as the portal's print service, it will be used automatically in the Web AppBuilder print widget and the web app templates that contain print widgets. With the PrintingTools service configured with the portal, the map viewer Print button will generate a MAP_ONLY view of the web map. To print using the predefined layouts that come with PrintingTools, share the web map in an app from Web AppBuilder or a web app template with printing functionality enabled. You can print from the Basic Viewer, Classic Viewer, and Map Tools web app templates.
Legacy:
At 10.3, the web app templates with printing capabilities were Basic Viewer and Classic Viewer.
When your map service is cached, the PrintingTools service may use a resolution that is too low (for example, 96 DPI) for large-format or high-quality printing. To print at higher resolutions, it is recommended that you enable dynamic layers on your cached map service. This allows the print service to obtain map images (through an export map request) at the desired resolution (for example, 300 DPI) instead of the lower resolution tiles. To learn more, see About dynamic layers.
Custom print services
If you want to use your own map layouts, you can publish your own service for web map printing similar to PrintingTools. You configure this service to reference your own folder of ArcMap documents (MXDs) that you've prepared with various map layouts.
You can find instructions for publishing your own service for web printing (and pointing it at your own layouts folder) in Tutorial: Publishing additional services for printing. The tutorial also explains what to do if you later decide you want to update your layouts. Your update approach will vary based on whether or not you registered your layouts folder with the server before publishing; the tutorial contains instructions for both scenarios.
Once you have published a custom print service, you can configure the service with your portal. See Configure utility services for steps on how to do this. Note that the portal requires the custom print service to use HTTPS. After the custom print service has been configured as the portal's print service, it will be used automatically in the Web AppBuilder print widget and the web app templates that contain print widgets. With a custom print service configured with the portal, the map viewer Print button will generate a MAP_ONLY view of the web map. To print using your custom layouts, share the web map in an app from Web AppBuilder or a web app template with printing functionality enabled. You can print from the Basic Viewer, Classic Viewer, and Map Tools web app templates.
Legacy:
At 10.3, the web app templates with printing capabilities were Basic Viewer and Classic Viewer.
When your map service is cached, your custom print service may use a resolution that is too low (for example, 96 DPI) for large-format or high-quality printing. To print at higher resolutions, it is recommended that you enable dynamic layers on your cached map service. This allows the print service to obtain map images (through an export map request) at the desired resolution (for example, 300 DPI) instead of the lower resolution tiles. To learn more, see About dynamic layers.
Custom print layouts in the map viewer
Beginning at 10.4, you can provide custom layouts for printing from the map viewer. Layouts are based on what's provided in the organization's print service.
You will need to add a print service according to the steps provided in Configure utility services. After the portal validates the REST URL you provided, you will see all the initial layout templates provided by your print service (with the option to print the legend if it is available). If your portal has more than one print layout available, the map viewer Print button will include a drop-down list of the different print layouts. You can create, edit, or delete templates to have a more customized experience for printing maps in the map viewer. These changes are saved as a setting in your portal; they are not saved to the print service.
You can manage the layout templates in the following ways:
- To create a new layout, click Create Print Template and enter a name up to 50 characters in length and a description up to 120 characters in length. The characters < and > are filtered out. Choose the format—Image (PNG32) or PDF—and a layout (provided by your print service). Check the box to print the legend if your service includes a legend. Click Create and Save to save the new layout.
- To view information about a template, click the information button
next to the template. - To edit an existing template, click the edit button
next to the template and make your updates. Click Update to see your changes and Save your changes. - To delete an existing template, click the delete button
next to the template. - To update the template list to include what's currently provided in your print service, click Refresh. New print layouts in the service will be added to the template list. Templates based upon print layouts that are no longer available in the service will be removed.
- To reset the templates back to what's provided in your print service, remove the print service URL, click Save, and enter the print service URL again.
- If you want the default map viewer print experience, delete all your layout templates and click Save. You see Map Only in your template list.
- The Map Only layout comes with all print services by default. This layout contains only the contents of the map with no other layout elements.
Legends
Whether your portal is configured to use PrintingTools or a custom print service, the legends in your printed output will behave similarly. When printing feature services, the legend in the printed document will only include legend entries for the features found in the map extent, whereas legends for other service types will include all the legend entries for the features regardless of the map extent.
Note:
Legends for stream layers, WMS, layers with transparency, and layers using smart mapping may not display correctly.