Adding serial number text to Layout view using ArcPy?

Question

I have 250 maps (in separate MXD's). In each map, in the Layout view there is "aaa" text. the element name value is aaa.

enter image description here

enter image description here

I try to find a way to add serial numbers to each map, so each "aaa" text will converted to serial number. The result should be like that:

enter image description here

enter image description here

The serial number will start from 1 till 250.

I wonder if it possible to do it automatically, and not doing it manually?

I work on ArcGIS 10.3.1 with python 2.7.8 versions.

Answer 1

this code works perfect for me:

import arcpy
from arcpy import env
env.workspace = r"G:\desktop\Project"
counter = 0
for mxdname in arcpy.ListFiles("*.mxd"):
 print mxdname
 mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(r"G:\desktop\Project\\" + mxdname)
 for elm in arcpy.mapping.ListLayoutElements(mxd, "TEXT_ELEMENT"):
 if elm.text == 'aaa':
 counter = counter + 1 
 elm.text = 'serial num'+str(counter)
 mxd.save() 
del mxd