Configure the organization to print maps

You can configure ArcGIS Enterprise 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 your ArcGIS Enterprise organization. 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 must start the service, share the service, and configure it as a utility service.

Additional configuration is necessary when you use an ArcGIS Server print service with services that members add to the portal through HTTPS. You must configure any machine that runs the print service to trust Certificate Authority (CA) signed certificates from the site providing the HTTPS services. This configuration must take place at the operating system level. See Configure ArcGIS Server with a new CA-signed certificate for details on how to do this.

Default print service

By default, ArcGIS Enterprise comes with a print service. Web apps created with a template or in ArcGIS Web AppBuilder will use the organization's print service in their print widgets.

PrintingTools service

PrintingTools is a preconfigured service in the Utilities folder of an ArcGIS Server site 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, SVGZ, TIFF, and AIX.

The PrintingTools service is stopped by default. Use 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 for your ArcGIS Enterprise organization, see Configure utility services.

Custom print services

If you want to use your map layouts, you can publish your own service for web map printing similar to PrintingTools. Configure this service to reference your folder that you've prepared with various map layouts—ArcGIS Pro layout files (.pagx).

You can find instructions for publishing your own service for web printing (and pointing it at your own layouts folder) in Share custom layouts for printing from ArcGIS Pro. 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 you registered your layouts folder with the server before publishing; the tutorial contains instructions for both scenarios.

Next, configure the custom print service with your ArcGIS Enterprise organization. See Configure utility services for steps on how to do this. Note that ArcGIS Enterprise requires the custom print service to use HTTPS.

Use print services in apps

After you configure a PrintingTools service or a custom print service for the organization, the service is used automatically in several apps. For example, in the Web AppBuilder print widget, the web app templates that contain print widgets use the configured service automatically, and the Map Viewer Print button generates a MAP_ONLY view of the web map. To print using the predefined layouts that come with PrintingTools or 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.

Note:

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, 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 Dynamic layers.

Configure custom print layout templates

Print layout templates contain page setup information for creating printer-friendly documents for maps in Map Viewer. You can create and configure custom print layout templates for your organization by configuring the organization's layout template group or creating templates based on what's provided in the organization's print service.

Configure the organization layout template group

You can publish custom print layout templates as items to your portal and share them with a group. You can then configure the group as the organization's layout template group. All custom print layout templates shared with this group are available as template options when printing in Map Viewer.

Note:

The option to set the layout template group is only available if the print service configured with the organization is hosted on a federated ArcGIS Server site. The custom layout templates shared with the layout template group are only supported in Map Viewer and not in Map Viewer Classic.

To publish a custom print layout template and configure the organization's layout template group, complete the following steps:

1. Make a layout in ArcGIS Pro and save the layout as a .pagx file.
2. Sign in to the portal and verify that you have the privilege to create content.
3. Add the file as an item to the portal.

   The layout file appears in your content.

4. At the top of the site, click Groups, and create a group with which to share the layout file or share it with an existing group.

   The layout file is shared with a group and is available for printing in Map Viewer.

5. Verify that you are signed in as a member of the default administrator role or a custom role with the administrative privilege to manage the organization website.
6. At the top of the site, click Organization and click the Settings tab.
7. Click Utility services.
8. In the Printing section, under Layout template group, click the Edit button for Layout template group to open the Group drop-down menu and choose your group.

   Note:

   To make custom layout templates available to all organization members in Map Viewer, the layout template group must be viewable by all organization members, and the template items must be shared with both the group and the organization.

9. To change how the templates are sorted in the Template drop-down menu in Map Viewer, select a field in the Sort order menu, and to change how the templates are ordered, choose Ascending or Descending.

All custom layout templates shared with the group are available in the Template section of the Print pane when printing a map layout in Map Viewer. You must be signed in to your organization to access these items.

Create print templates using the print service

You can create custom print templates based on what's provided in the organization's print service.

Add a print service according to the steps provided in Configure utility services. After ArcGIS Enterprise validates the REST URL you provide, you'll see all the initial layout templates provided by your print service. You'll also see the option to print the legend if it is available. If your ArcGIS Enterprise organization has more than one print layout available, the Map Viewer Print button includes 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 Map Viewer and Map Viewer Classic. These changes are saved as a setting in ArcGIS Enterprise; they are not saved to the print service.

You can manage the layout templates in the following ways:

• To create a layout, click Create Print Template and type 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 click Save to 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 are added to the template list. Templates based on print layouts that are no longer available in the service are removed.
• To reset the templates back to what's provided in your print service, remove the print service URL, click Save, and type 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.

Note:

Map Viewer Classic only supports custom print templates provided by the print service. Map Viewer additionally supports print templates shared with the organization's layout template group. If your organization has print templates configured through both the layout template group and the print service, the Print tool in Map Viewer will list all available print templates in the Template drop-down menu.

Legends

Whether your ArcGIS Enterprise organization is configured to use PrintingTools or a custom print service, the legends in your printed output behave similarly. When you print feature services or map services (those published from ArcGIS Pro to ArcGIS Server 10.7.1 and later), the legend in the printed document only includes legend entries for the features found in the map extent, whereas legends for other service types include all the legend entries for the features regardless of the map extent.

Note:

Legends for stream layers, WMS, layers with transparency, and layers that use smart mapping may not display correctly.