Start your work

When you start ArcGIS Pro, the start page appears by default. From the start page, you can create a project or open an existing project. ArcGIS Pro also allows you to customize the starting state of the application.

You can create a project in several ways:

• Under New Project, click a default project template. Default templates start a project with a map view, a catalog view, a global scene view, or a local scene view.
• To start work without creating a project, click Start without a template . You can save your work as a new project at any time during your ArcGIS Pro session.
• Under Recent Templates, click a custom project template. Custom templates start a project with prepared maps, layouts, and resource connections. (If you haven't created and used a custom template before, you won't have any recent templates.)
• Next to Recent Templates, click Start with another template. You can browse to a location on a local or network disk, or an ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise portal, and click an available project template.

You can open an existing project in several ways:

• Under Recent Projects, click a project to open it. You can search and sort the list of recent projects. You can also display recent projects in a list or as tiles.
• Next to Recent Projects, click Open another project. You can browse to a location on a local or network disk. You can also browse to an ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise portal, and open a project package.
• If you receive a project package by email and save it to your local computer, you can double-click the package in Microsoft File Explorer.

Tip:

You can also create projects or open existing projects on the settings page.

Always open the same project

If you regularly work with the same project, you can set ArcGIS Pro to open this project automatically on startup.

1. Open the ArcGIS Pro settings page in either of the following ways:
   • On the ArcGIS Pro start page, click the Settings tab .
   • In an open project, click the Project tab on the ribbon.
2. In the list of side tabs, click Options.

   The Options dialog box appears.

3. On the Options dialog box, under the Application heading, click the General tab.
4. Click the Start ArcGIS Pro heading.
5. Click the With a default project option.
6. Type or paste the path to the project that you want to open. Alternatively, click Browse and browse to the project.
7. Click OK.

   The next time you start ArcGIS Pro, the specified project opens immediately. The start page does not appear.

Always start without a project template

If you often create projects that you seldom or never reuse, the nature of your work may not require a project structure. You can set ArcGIS Pro to start without a project template automatically.

1. Open the ArcGIS Pro settings page in either of the following ways:
   • On the ArcGIS Pro start page, click the Settings tab .
   • In an open project, click the Project tab on the ribbon.
2. In the list of side tabs, click Options.

   The Options dialog box appears.

3. On the Options dialog box, under the Application heading, click the General tab.
4. Click the Start ArcGIS Pro heading.
5. Click the Without a project template option.
6. Click OK.

   The next time you start ArcGIS Pro, the application opens without prompting you to create a project. The start page does not appear.