The spatial data and other resources that you work with in ArcGIS Pro may be located in various places: on your computer, on network computers, in remote databases, in cloud stores, or in web portals. To use these resources in an ArcGIS Pro project, you can browse to their locations on disk, or add them as project connections for direct access. In the case of remotely located resources, you create connection files, which store the information needed to access the resource and are saved on your computer.
You can make project connections to items such as the following:
- Databases
- GIS servers
- Folders
- Toolboxes
- Cloud stores
- BIM Cloud repositories
- Styles
- Locators
- Big data connections
- Notebooks
- Statistical Data Collections
- Workflow Manager (Classic) repositories
Connections appear in the Catalog pane, in the Contents pane of a catalog view, and in browse dialog boxes.
Item connections have several benefits:
- You can quickly browse to items you need to use in your project.
- The contents of folder, toolbox, and database connections are indexed and can be found by searching your project.
- Project packages and project templates include these connections. People with whom you share a package or template can use the connections without knowing in advance where the data is stored.
- Projects can be archived effectively.
If you plan to use an item, such as your C:\MyData folder, in many projects, you can make it a project favorite. A favorite can be added quickly to any project from the Catalog pane or a catalog view. You can also designate a favorite to be added automatically to all new projects.