Save a web map

With ArcGIS Pro, you can save updates to web maps in an ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise portal. ArcGIS Pro provides advanced authoring capabilities for symbolizing and visualizing geospatial data that you can use to modify existing web maps. Saving a web map preserves the web map item ID.

The following conditions must be met when saving a web map:

• The active map must be linked to a web map. When you add a web map to a project, it is converted to an ArcGIS Pro map and linked to the web map. For more information, see Add a web map or web scene.
• The active portal must be the portal where the web map resides.
• You must be signed in as the owner of the web map item, an administrator, or a member of the shared update group to which the web map is shared.
• Your account must have privileges to create content. Additional privileges are required if data layers are to be published as web layers.

Saving a web map in ArcGIS Pro updates the linked web map but does not update existing web layers, table items, or feature collections in the portal. For example, saving a map containing changes to a layer's symbology stores those changes in the web map only. The appearance or properties of the web layer in other web maps are not affected because the changes are only applied to the updated web map. Web layer items in the portal remain unchanged even if they are removed from the map in ArcGIS Pro. If you add data layers to the map, saving the map publishes the new layers to the portal and adds them to the web map.

Save a web map in a portal

Before saving a web map, there are considerations to be aware of. The following workflow saves updates to a web map in a portal:

1. Add a web map to a project.
2. Add data layers or make changes to the symbology, pop-ups, or labels of existing web layers in the map.
3. On the ribbon, on the Share tab, in the Manage group, click Save Web Map .

   Note:

   The Save Web Map button is unavailable if the active map is not linked to a web map.

   If ArcGIS Pro was not the application used to last modify the web map, the Save web map dialog box appears. Do one of the following:
   • Click Save web map to update the existing web map.
   • Click Share as new web map to open the Share As Web Map pane. You can share a new web map to examine the features that may be altered or lost before committing the save to the original web map. See Share a web map for more information.

   The Save Web Map pane appears.

The Archive the last updated web map option creates a copy of the previous version of the web map. The copied web map is created as an item with its own ID in the portal. This setting is enabled by default.

The default archive web map name is <web map>_<timestamp>. If you are the owner of the original web map, the archived item is stored in the same folder as the web map. Otherwise, it is stored in the root folder.

Note:

The Archive the last updated web map option is not available for ArcGIS Enterprise 10.8 and earlier.

4. Optionally, edit the Summary and Tags fields.

   A summary and tags are required when sharing to an ArcGIS Enterprise 10.9 or earlier portal.

   You can enter a maximum of 128 tags.

5. If your map contains data layers that will be published, optionally choose their configuration for your web map.

   See Share a web map using a selected configuration for a list of available configurations.

6. Optionally, check the Use symbol types compatible with all clients check box to convert ArcGIS Pro symbols to web symbols that can be rendered by all applications, including most older clients.

   When the box is unchecked, 2D point, line, and polygon symbols are preserved as ArcGIS Pro symbols, also known as Esri Cartographic Information Model (CIM) symbols. Alternate symbols used in the map are also preserved. Uncheck the check box if your web map will be used in newer client applications that support rendering CIM symbols, such as ArcGIS API for JavaScript 4.x. CIM symbols appear downgraded in older clients, such as Map Viewer Classic.

   If your map contains data layers that will be shared as a web feature layer, this setting is directly applied to the web feature layer. For example, checking the check box automatically enables the Use symbol types compatible with all clients option for the web feature layer. The symbols of data layers are stored with the web layers that are published when the web map is shared. If you change the symbols of existing web layers, these changes are stored with the web map.

   This option is checked by default when sharing to ArcGIS Enterprise 11.0 or earlier.

   This option does not appear when sharing to ArcGIS Enterprise 10.8 or earlier. For these portal versions, ArcGIS Pro symbols are automatically converted to web symbols.

7. Optionally, check the Keep existing forms check box to preserve forms configured in other applications, such as Map Viewer or Field Maps Designer.

   The Keep existing forms option only preserves forms stored in the web map. Forms stored in web layers are not affected when the web map is saved. Additionally, only forms configured for web layers present in the web map are preserved.

   Caution:

   A form in the web map may become invalid if the schema of the web layer changes. You may need to reconfigure forms after saving the web map to ensure they are valid.

8. Optionally, under Sharing Level, change the settings:
   • Owner—Only the owner (and organization members with privileges to view content owned by other members) can access the item. This is the default option.
   • Organization—Share your content with all authenticated users in your organization. This option is available when you are signed in with an organizational account.
   • Everyone (public)—Share your content with the public. Anyone can access and see it.
   1. Optionally, under Groups, select groups to which you belong to share your content with their members.

   Note:

   You must be an administrator or the owner of the web map to change the sharing settings.

9. Optionally, click the Configuration tab at the top of the pane to see the web layers that will be created when you save the map or to change the web layers' properties.

   See Configure a web map for more information.

   If you enabled the Allow assignment of unique numeric IDs for sharing web layers option on the Map Properties dialog box, assigned IDs appear for each sublayer. To change an ID, click the number next to the layer or table. On the Layer Properties or Standalone Table Properties dialog box, on the General tab, provide a custom integer ID in the Layer ID or Table ID text box. For more information, see Assign layer IDs.

10. Under Finish Saving, click Analyze to review for potential problems.

    Errors and warnings are listed on the Messages tab. Right-click a message to open its help topic or take corrective action in the software. You must resolve errors before you can save the web map. Resolving warnings is recommended but not required.

    Learn more about analyzing GIS resources

11. After you have resolved errors, and optionally resolved warnings, click Save to update the web map in the portal.

    If the sharing settings have changed, the Update Sharing dialog box may appear, where you can confirm that the layers are visible to your intended viewers.

    1. On the Update Sharing dialog box, click Update to adjust the layer sharing settings to make the layers visible in the web map.

       A message appears if one or more editable web feature layers cannot be shared with everyone. You must approve public data collection from the layer's item page on the portal. For more information, see Allow or prevent editing on public layers.

    The updates are saved to the existing web map.

12. Click the Manage web map link at the bottom of the pane to manage the web map in the portal.

    If the web map is composed of new web layers cached automatically on the server, the layers may not be viewable while cache generation is in progress. Click Jobs to view the cache status in the Job Status pane.

Considerations when saving web maps

Saving web maps in ArcGIS Pro can improve your map management workflows. However, limitations exist due to differences in support for some web map properties across applications. If you make changes to the web map using another application and open it in ArcGIS Pro, some properties may appear altered, while others may be removed. Any properties that were removed when the web map was converted to an ArcGIS Pro map will be lost if the web map is saved.

Limitations

The following are some known limitations to consider before saving a web map with ArcGIS Pro:

• Presentations are not supported in ArcGIS Pro maps. Slides in a web map are removed when the web map is opened in ArcGIS Pro.
• Even if the Keep existing forms option is enabled, forms configured in other applications, such as Map Viewer or Field Maps Designer, may become invalid if the schema of the web layer with the form changes. After saving the web map, review and reconfigure the forms if necessary to ensure they are operational.
• Some display properties are not preserved after saving a web map. For example, feature blending and layer masking will be lost. In the case of layer blending, some blend modes configured in Map Viewer may be lost if no equivalent mode exists in ArcGIS Pro.
• Pop-ups on web tile layers or cached map image layers that are configured to use attribute data from a feature layer will be lost when the web map is opened in ArcGIS Pro. See Configure pop-ups for more information.
• Some settings such as Find Locations and other application settings on the item page of your web map are not preserved after saving a web map. See Set map options for apps for more information.
• WMS service layers that support multiple styles do not preserve nondefault styles applied in ArcGIS Pro. The web map will only render the default style of the WMS service layer. See Change the style of a WMS service sublayer for more information.
• You may notice that layers with styles authored in other applications such as Map Viewer appear differently when the web map is opened in ArcGIS Pro. These differences are present if identical symbology properties in ArcGIS Pro do not exist for styles authored in other applications. Examples of this include heat map symbology, dictionary symbology, predominant category, age (color), and age (size). These properties will be altered when the web map is saved. In cases in which there is no equivalent renderer in ArcGIS Pro, the style or property will be lost.

Best practices

The following are best practices to consider before saving a web map in ArcGIS Pro:

• When you open a web map in ArcGIS Pro, review it for discrepancies, especially pop-ups, labels, and other properties that were authored in another application.
• If there are multiple users in your ArcGIS organization who can update the web map, determine whether the web map was modified since you opened it in ArcGIS Pro to avoid overwriting changes other users may have made. To work with the latest version of a web map, refresh the map in your project. See Update a web map or web scene for more information.
• Share the updated map as a new web map first and review it for discrepancies. Save it when you are confident in your decision to update the original web map.