ArcMap 9.x

1. Click File > Page and Print Setup.
2. Click the printer Name drop down and select a printer.
   
   Turn off either the 'Scale map elements proportionally to changes in page size' option or 'Use Printer Paper Settings' option so the existing map is not affected.
   
3. Click the Properties button. This opens the Windows printer driver properties for the currently selected printer.
4. Set the custom page. This varies from driver to driver. Consult the manufacturer's documentation for specific instructions.
   
   Availability depends on the printer's Windows driver.
   
5. Click OK on the Properties dialog box. The custom printer page size appears on the Page and Print Setup dialog.

ArcMap 8.x

1. Click File > Page Setup.
2. Select a printer and the Windows printer engine. A different printer engine can be selected later; however, the custom printer page size must be set using the Windows printer engine and driver.
   
   Turn off either the 'Scale map elements proportionally to changes in page size' option or 'Same as Printer' option so the existing map is not affected. Click OK once completed.
   
3. Click File > Print and click the printer engine Properties button.
4. Set the custom page. This varies from driver to driver. Consult the manufacturer's documentation for specific instructions.
   
   Availability depends on the printer's Windows driver.
   
5. Click OK on the Properties dialog box.
6. Click Cancel on the Print dialog box. The custom printer page size appears in the Printer setup information on Page Setup. The Windows printer engine, the PostScript, or the ArcPress printer engine can now be used for printing.

ArcMap does not have the functionality to host multiple layouts within the same map document. Multiple data frames can be added but will reside on the original layout.

ArcMap 9.x recognizes and uses TrueType fonts(*.ttf), PostScript Type 1 fonts (*.fon, *.pfm) and OpenType fonts (*.ttf).

ArcMap 8.x recognizes and uses TrueType fonts for all text and labels. For PostScript printing, and exporting to EPS and PDF files, ArcMap 8.x can either download TrueType fonts in the map to PostScript Type 3 or map the TrueType fonts in the map to a resident PostScript Type 1 on the system.

This can happen when the active data frame is grouped with other elements. To workaround this select the group element that contains the active data frame in the layout, right-click on it and click ungroup. Now you will be able to insert map surrounds.

When you insert a document from another application (Insert > Object), it is inserted as a linked object. This means any updates to the original document will automatically update in the map document.

When you copy and paste from another application, ArcMap pastes a static copy of that picture or text; any subsequent changes to the original will not be updated to the copy within ArcMap.

Insert your document as an object when you need to make updates to the document often.

Paste your document, as text or pictures from other applications, when you need to distribute the ArcMap document to other users, or if updates will not be needed.

The Windows Enhanced Metafile (EMF) is the best format for inserting images as pictures in ArcMap. EMF files allow resizing of images in ArcMap without the loss if integrity or resolution, which you may see if you use a JPEG or BMP formatted image.

If the image is in ArcInfo 1040 Graphics Format (.gra), you can convert it with the EMF command.

Opening an existing map document (*.mxd) file produces the following error:

"Invalid raster dataset. Failed to insert picture element."

This can happen when an inserted picture element in the Layout of the map document has become corrupted or is empty. This can be caused by moving the source of the inserted picture on disk, renaming the picture, or deleting it altogether. An inserted picture, by default, will only contain a path pointer to the raster file like a layer. If anything happens to the raster on disk that does not allow ArcGIS to locate it, the picture element becomes invalid (empty) and the error message is the result.

To workaround this the invalid element must be removed. The document can then be recreated with the new copy of the raster.

1. Click ok to the error message to gain access to the MXD.
2. Go to the Layout view.
3. From the Edit menu select 'Select All Elements.' This will place graphic editing handles around the extents of the invalid picture.
4. Pan to the general area of where the picture was located.
5. Select only the empty boxes where the inserted pictures used to be.
6. Zoom out to the full extent of the layout, and ensure no other elements (legend, data frames, titles, etc.) are still selected.
7. Press the delete key, or use the Edit > Cut option to remove
8. the selected empty picture elements from the layout.
9. Save the MXD.

There may be more than one invalid picture element in the map document. If you get the same error message reopening the document, repeat the process until the error message stops. If it does not, then there could be other corruptions in the MXD. To avoid this error in the future, you can store the picture within the map document. In the Properties of the inserted picture, on the Picture tab, there is a check box for "Store Picture as Part of the Document". This option will store the image data in the MXD file. This will increase the size of your MXD, but will ensure that the picture will always be there. This is NOT suggestible for large files. Small company logos, for example, would be fine.

After exporting or printing a map document that contains an inserted image, the image appears black in the output. The picture is not being interpreted correctly by the printer driver or export driver. This issue seems to occur most often with images stored in a compressed image format.

To workaround this, after inserting the picture, select the image > right-click and choose Properties. On the Picture tab, check the box 'Save Picture as Part of Document'. Try exporting the map again.
If the first option does not work, convert the inserted image to a different format (.bmp, uncompressed .tif, .gif) and insert the new picture. Check the 'Save Picture as Part of Document' box as described above and export or print the document again.

Steps to create custom legend patch shapes using the New Legend Patch Shape tool available through the Customization dialog:

1. Open the Customize dialog by selecting Tools > Customize.
2. On the Commands tab, select Page Layout from the Categories list. This will populate the Commands list with all the available page layout commands.
3. Select the New Legend Patch Shape and drop it onto any toolbar.
4. Select an area or line graphic or a polygon or line feature.
5. Click the New Legend Patch Shape button.
6. Set options as desired and click Add to Styleset.
7. Enter a name for the new patch shape and click OK.

The legend symbol can display an opaque shade for polygons or marker symbols assigned transparency values. You can mimic transparency in your legend, but to do this you must convert the legend to graphics. The following steps provide a way to assign the transparent shade to the legend symbol.

1. In ArcMap, click Tools > Customize.
2. Navigate to the Commands tab > Categories: Page Layout > Commands: Eye Dropper
3. Click the Eye Dropper, drag and drop it onto a toolbar.
4. Click the docked Eye Dropper tool, click a polygon feature in the data frame, then click OK.
5. The color dialog displays the color name in Red, Green, Blue combination. The displayed color will now be saved to the color palette style.
6. In Layout View, click the Select Elements tool on the Draw toolbar.
7. Right-click the Legend and select Convert to Graphics.
8. If there is no legend in the layout view, add it by clicking on Insert > Legend.
9. On the Draw toolbar, click Drawing > Ungroup. Do this twice to completely ungroup the legend patches and text.
10. Select the legend patch, which is now a simple graphic.
Click the Fill Color button on the Draw toolbar to open the color palette.
11. Click the recently saved transparent color in the color palette to apply it to the legend patch.

The legend is now a graphic and is no longer linked to the data frame.

When printing or exporting, ArcMap processes for a while and then displays an out of memory error, or fails to print on the printer. This can happen when ArcMap is trying to output too much data.
This can happen for several reasons, independently or combined:
- the output page size is very large
- you have large raster data sets in your map
- you are using transparent symbology*
- you are using picture fill symbology
- you are using a higher output image quality (OIQ) setting

*If you are using transparent symbology, the layer that uses transparency and all layers beneath that layer will be converted to raster on output and are effected by the OIQ setting.

• To workaround this problem reduce the total image size of the output file by slightly reducing the image size of the raster data. The easiest way to do this is to reduce the OIQ, which will resample the raster data. The Output Image Quality (OIQ) option allows you to control the amount of raster resampling that occurs when a map is printed or exported. This resampling affects any raster data, transparent map elements, and picture fill symbols.
• Turn off the transparent symbology, which will enable the map to print or export.
• Reduce the map page size, which will reduce the output image size when printed or exported.
• Increase the onboard memory of the printing device, which will enable your printer to process larger plot files.