Help within the application

Help within the application includes information such as pop-up windows, ScreenTips, and messages that appear on the ArcGIS Pro user interface.

Note:

ArcGIS Pro also has a Command Search capability that helps you find tools and relevant help topics.

Context-sensitive help for the application

Hover over a button or tool on a ribbon tab to display a ScreenTip with information about the command.

ScreenTip for the Convert To Annotation command

ScreenTips may be associated with a keyboard shortcut that opens a help topic. For example, pressing the F1 key while a ScreenTip for the Go To XY button Go To XY is displayed opens the Go To XY tool help topic.

ScreenTip for the Go To XY tool on the ribbon

The Information icon Information appears next to some elements of the user interface. When you hover over the icon, a ScreenTip appears.

ScreenTip describing symbol layer drawing

Some panes and windows have a question mark button Question mark at the top. When these panes or windows are active, you can press the F1 key to open a topic specific to that user interface element. For example, using this shortcut key when the Modify Features pane is active opens the Modify features topic.

Question mark button in the Modify Features pane

When you analyze your GIS resource, a Messages tab appears showing potential errors Error and warnings Warning that could be preventing your data from being shared in ArcGIS Pro.

Analyzer error message

In addition, links to help system topics may also appear in panes or on dialog boxes.

Label Class pane with a link to a help topic on label expressions

Context-sensitive help for geoprocessing tools

To open the help system tool reference page for a geoprocessing tool, click the tool's Help button Help when the tool is open in the Geoprocessing pane. Hover over the same Help button to display a pop-up description of the tool.

Help pop-up for the Intersect geoprocessing tool
The pop-up description of the Intersect geoprocessing tool is displayed when you hover over the tool's Help button.

All the parameters and environment settings on an open geoprocessing tool have help information. You can access it by hovering over the Information icon Information next to each setting's label to display a ScreenTip. This icon displays a ScreenTip when you hover over a tool parameter or environment setting. Additional banners at the top of the tool and tips inline with the tool parameters may also appear with no action on your part.

Project geoprocessing tool showing a parameter tip and a ScreenTip
On the Project geoprocessing tool, a parameter tip automatically identifies the coordinate system of the input dataset. Hovering over the Geographic Transformation parameter displays a ScreenTip.

When you run a geoprocessing tool, a progress bar appears at the bottom of the Geoprocessing pane while the tool is still running, and is replaced by a banner when the tool completes. This banner confirms that the tool either succeeded or failed. You can click the View Details link on the banner to open a window that shows the tool parameters and additional messages in the Parameters, Environments, and Messages tabs. Any errors or warnings raised by the tool include a link to a help topic that describes the error and offers possible solutions to address the problem.

Pop-up details for a geoprocessing tool failure
The error message links to a help topic that may explain why the output was not created.

Related topics