Only metadata in the ArcGIS format can be viewed, edited, published, and exported in ArcGIS Pro. When you try to view metadata that is not in the ArcGIS metadata format, the details panel in the catalog view displays a message indicating the format of the metadata content, if it is recognized, and if the content can be upgraded.
If a metadata document has content that can't be upgraded, you can view its content in a browser. If a conversion is available to transfer content from the external metadata format to the ArcGIS metadata format, the document's content can be imported to an item.
Upgrade an item's metadata
Metadata content in the Federal Geographic Data Committee's (FGDC) Content Standard for Digital Spatial Metadata (CSDGM) format and in the ESRI-ISO metadata format can be upgraded to the ArcGIS metadata format. These formats were supported by ArcGIS Desktop 9.x for storing metadata and can be upgraded so you can continue using items in your archive with ArcMap, ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, and ArcGIS Enterprise.
If an item has metadata in the FGDC CSDGM format, a message appears in the details panel in the catalog view indicating the metadata content must be upgraded to the ArcGIS metadata format. A stand-alone metadata XML file can have only FGDC CSDGM-format metadata content. Maps and data created with ArcGIS Desktop 9.x can have both FGDC CSDGM-format metadata content and ESRI-ISO-format metadata content in the same metadata document. When both are present, you must choose one set of metadata content to upgrade.
Upgrading involves matching the FGDC CSDGM metadata elements, for example, to the corresponding ArcGIS metadata elements and adding the resulting ArcGIS metadata elements to the original metadata document. That is, if the original document has only FGDC CSDGM content, after the upgrade, the document will contain both FGDC CSDGM-format metadata content and content in ArcGIS metadata format. The content in ArcGIS metadata format will be used and updated automatically in ArcGIS Pro. The original FGDC CSDGM-format metadata content will be ignored and will eventually be out of date.
Note:
ArcGIS Pro doesn't have an option to remove the original FGDC CSDGM or ESRI-ISO metadata elements from the metadata document after the upgrade.
While upgrading is desirable for data in your archive, in other cases, you wouldn't want to upgrade an FGDC CSDGM-format metadata document. For example, if you create a stand-alone metadata document in the FGDC CSDGM format for use outside the ArcGIS platform, you wouldn't want to add content in ArcGIS metadata format to the same document because upgrading the document would cause it to become invalid with respect to the FGDC CSDGM standard and defeat the purpose for which the file was created. Upgrading the document could prevent you from publishing it to an external metadata catalog.
If you are concerned about your choice, you can save a backup of the item's original metadata to a file before upgrading its content.
Upgrade an item's FGDC CSDGM-format metadata content
If the item's metadata has both FGDC CSDGM-format content and ESRI-ISO-format content and you choose to upgrade the FGDC CSDGM-format content, the resulting content in ArcGIS metadata format will overwrite the ESRI-ISO-format content in the document.
- Click the item whose metadata you want to upgrade in the catalog view.
- Optionally save a backup of the item's metadata to an XML file.
- On the Catalog tab on the ribbon, in the Metadata group, click Upgrade
. - Click FGDC CSDGM Content.
The FGDC CSDGM-format metadata content is extracted from the item's existing metadata and converted to ArcGIS metadata format. The resulting ArcGIS metadata elements are saved back to the item's metadata. If the item had metadata content in ArcGIS metadata format or ESRI-ISO metadata format, the existing content is replaced by the upgraded ArcGIS metadata content. However, the item's thumbnail, geoprocessing history, and intrinsic properties remain in place in the item's metadata.
- The upgraded metadata appears in the catalog view if the details panel is shown.
Upgrade an item's ESRI-ISO-format metadata content
Upgrading ESRI-ISO-format metadata content follows the same process as upgrading FGDC CSDGM-format metadata content. The ESRI-ISO metadata elements are matched to the corresponding ArcGIS metadata elements, and the resulting ArcGIS metadata elements are added to the original metadata document. If the original document has only ESRI-ISO metadata content, after the upgrade, the document will contain content in both ESRI-ISO metadata format and ArcGIS metadata format. The content in ArcGIS metadata format will be used and updated, and the original ESRI-ISO-format metadata content will eventually be out of date.
Upgrade items with only ESRI-ISO-format metadata content
If an item has only ESRI-ISO-format metadata content, you can view the existing metadata content in the details panel in the catalog view. The ESRI-ISO-format metadata content is implicitly upgraded to the ArcGIS metadata format when you view the item's metadata; this change is temporary. Use the following steps to determine if the item's metadata is in ESRI-ISO metadata format.
- Click the item in the catalog view.
- Show the details panel to view the item's metadata.
- Click in the metadata display.
- Press Ctrl-F to open the Find dialog box.
- Type metadata format in the Find text box.
- If the Metadata Details > ArcGIS metadata properties > Metadata format element isn't selected automatically in the metadata display, click Find until it's selected.
If the value is ESRI-ISO, the item's metadata content is stored in ESRI-ISO metadata format. If the value is ArcGIS 1.0, the item's metadata is stored in ArcGIS metadata format.
You can start editing ESRI-ISO-format metadata content without upgrading. The ESRI-ISO-format metadata content is implicitly upgraded to the ArcGIS metadata format before it's loaded into the metadata editor view. This change is also temporary unless you edit the metadata content and save your changes. Saving your changes causes the upgrade to be permanent.
You don't have to edit an item's metadata to upgrade its content. You can explicitly upgrade ESRI-ISO-format metadata content using the steps described in the following section.
Upgrade items with ESRI-ISO-format and FGDC CSDGM-format metadata content
If the item's metadata has both FGDC CSDGM-format metadata content and ESRI-ISO-format metadata content, a message appears indicating that you need to upgrade either set of metadata content before the item's metadata can be used in ArcGIS Pro. If you upgrade the ESRI-ISO-format metadata content, the FGDC CSDGM-format metadata content remains untouched in the resulting document. The document will also contain the original ESRI-ISO-format metadata content and the upgraded content in ArcGIS metadata format.
- Click the item whose metadata you want to upgrade in the catalog view.
- Optionally save a backup of the item's metadata to an XML file.
- On the Catalog tab on the ribbon, in the Metadata group, click Upgrade .
- Click ESRI-ISO Content.
- The upgraded metadata appears in the catalog view if the details panel is shown.