Syncing Metadata from AGOL to Pro

tfeldscher

I have a feature layer that was published to AGOL without any metadata (from Pro). Once it was in AGOL, I used the Item Details Assistant to generate metadata for the layer. However, when I add that feature layer back to ArcGIS Pro and I go to view metadata, there is nothing there. Any ideas what is going on?

The full information seems to flash for a second as it is loading and then it returns to the empty template. I can see the full info in the catalog view when directly accessing the Portal item, but as soon as I bring it into the local environment it's gone. I have tried refreshing/syncing/etc. and no luck. TIA!

Robert_LeClair

What you’re seeing is usually because ArcGIS Pro is showing metadata for the layer object in your project (the “local layer”), not the portal item’s metadata that you edited in ArcGIS Online.

So:

• In Catalog > Portal (the item) you can see the portal item metadata (good!).
• When you add the layer to a map, Pro often shows an empty template because that map layer doesn’t have layer metadata stored with it, and Pro doesn’t always pull/display the portal item’s full metadata in that context.

Here are some steps you can try:

1. View the metadata from the portal item in Pro (not the map layer)
   1. In Pro, open a Catalog View > Portal > find the hosted feature layer item > select it and open the Metadata tab (this is the view you said works).
2. Make sure Pro is set to a metadata style that can display what you created
   1. Pro can only view/edit metadata in the ArcGIS metadata format; if the content you generated is effectively FGDC/ISO (or not in ArcGIS format), Pro may show a blank template. View metadata—ArcGIS Pro
3. Synchronize/refresh metadata in Pro
   1. Pro does not automatically update displayed metadata for performance reasons; you often must synchronize to refresh what’s shown. View metadata—ArcGIS Pro