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Copy Features Function Missing from Experience Builder Edit Widget

I have been searching the community site for a while looking for an answer to this question, but every time I see it asked there is no response from ESRI. I will go ahead and @AlixVezina , since she wrote the last article I read on the new Edit widget in ExB.

My question is, are there any plans to updated the new Edit widget in ExB to include the Copy Features functionality that the WAB version currently has? If not, will there be some combination of features or Arcade functionality to accomplish this task, or will it simply be unavailable in ExB?

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Accepted answers

@SDIGITAFB Copying features from non-editable reference layers in the map is supported.

Here's a sample you can try out: Create Evacuation Zones

The web map contains the USA ZIP Code Boundaries (a non-editable reference feature layer), along with the Evacuations editable hosted feature layer that you can paste into.

Since the reference layer is not editable, you'll need to use other selection tools than the one included with the Edit widget to select the features to copy. For example, you can use the Select tool in the Map widget.

You can also use the Add Data widget to add layers to the map use copy features from those layers to paste into your editable layers.

Copy and Paste in now available in Experience Builder in ArcGIS Online. You can find it in the Edit widget, when using "Interact with a Map widget" Mode. The option is at the bottom of the Content panel, as part of the Advanced editing tools.

Screenshot 2026-03-03 105931.png

Hi all - quick update on this. Work is in progress and the target for copy and paste in Experience Builder is the next release (February/March timeframe). The functionality should be the same / very similar to what you'll find in the Web Editor right now.

All comments

It seems difficult to make this work because there needs to be only one layer underneath the selection (unless I’m mistaken, but that’s the conclusion I’ve reached after testing).
A useful improvement could be to replicate the Web AppBuilder behavior: when copy is enabled, display the list of features grouped by layer and let the user choose which ones to copy.

When you say “non-editable”, are you still referring to a feature layer? Or does this also include map layers?

@SDIGITAFB Copying features from non-editable reference layers in the map is supported.

Here's a sample you can try out: Create Evacuation Zones

The web map contains the USA ZIP Code Boundaries (a non-editable reference feature layer), along with the Evacuations editable hosted feature layer that you can paste into.

Since the reference layer is not editable, you'll need to use other selection tools than the one included with the Edit widget to select the features to copy. For example, you can use the Select tool in the Map widget.

You can also use the Add Data widget to add layers to the map use copy features from those layers to paste into your editable layers.

There are limitations with copying/pasting attachments, too.

If the source feature has an attachment, it doesn't get pasted into the destination feature. And we can't manually add attachments to the destination feature until we save the new destination feature, and then update it afterwards.

Hi, I’d like to share some feedback regarding the new copy/paste functionality. While it’s a step forward, it seems there is still a significant gap compared to what we had in Web AppBuilder.

Currently, it appears we can only copy features from layers already configured in the Edit widget. For our workflow, we need the ability to copy features from external sources (like Living Atlas or other public layers) into our editable layers. The current implementation feels more like a 'duplicate' tool rather than a true cross-source copy tool. Is this a known limitation, or are there plans to expand this to all data sources in the app?

Given these missing core capabilities, I personally don't believe this topic should be marked as "Solved" yet, as the current solution doesn't reach functional parity with the previous tools.

What are the rules when copying/pasting a feature into a different feature layer?

We have been looking forward to this update to help improve our workflows pre-incident planning. Thank you!

It will be available in Enterprise 12.1 which is targeted for May 2026.

This has been one of the more important updates to experience builder, thank you! This is an essential task when getting preplans into a deployment scenario and was not a fan of using multiple apps to use the copy/paste feature. Now we can stay in ExB!

JasonFitzsimmons

great, thanks for the update! When do you think this will be available for ArcGIS Enterprise?

Copy and Paste in now available in Experience Builder in ArcGIS Online. You can find it in the Edit widget, when using "Interact with a Map widget" Mode. The option is at the bottom of the Content panel, as part of the Advanced editing tools.

Screenshot 2026-03-03 105931.png

As it makes it into Experience Builder for the February 2026 update of ArcGIS Online, it will then be available in Enterprise 12.1 which is targeted for May 2026.

JasonFitzsimmons

HI @AlixVezina , one other Q I forgot before _ I assume this update will first be in ArcGIs online only? DO you have an idea when it will be available in Enterprise, and what version?

Take a look at what's currently available in ArcGIS Online, in the Web Editor app > Copy and paste features—ArcGIS Web Editor | Documentation This should give you a good idea of what is coming to Experience Builder.

The main differences are:

You can only copy features from a single layer to a single layer. Smart Editor supported copying from multiple layers into a single layer.
There isn't a field matching option exposed at this time, it all happens behind the scenes based if on your field type and field names match.
There are no geometry transformation options.
For smart attributes (to calculate field values automatically), you can now configure calculated expressions in Forms instead.

@AlixVezina how will the functionality compare to the Smart Editor widget in WAB? We are stuck on WAB until ExB is at parity for editing workflows.

+1 this is essential functionality for ExB. Use Case: Within Experience map select feature(s) in one layer and paste (Edit - Append) into same or another layer with full control over target attributes (field map & assign default values).

JasonFitzsimmons

thanks for the update!

Yay!! Thank you!!!

Hi all - quick update on this. Work is in progress and the target for copy and paste in Experience Builder is the next release (February/March timeframe). The functionality should be the same / very similar to what you'll find in the Web Editor right now.

JasonFitzsimmons

hi, Web Editor just doesn't provide the functionality we need for an app to give to non-GIS clients. Is there any update on adding copy/paste functionality to Experience Builder?

The workflow we are working on would be better suited to Enterprise as well, which doe not provide Web Editor as far as I can tell?

Hello @AlixVezina thank you for this update! Does the copy/paste functionality in Web Editor retain photo attachments and/or will it in a future update?

Hi @AllisonMuise2 , support for copy/pasting multiple features between layers is planned for the October update of the Web Editor app in ArcGIS Online. For now, Web Editor is where you'll be able to achieve this workflow. Copy-paste for Experience Builder is still in progress, and we do not have a set timeline yet.

Andrus_Nicholas

Attempting to build workflows that empower my users to own their own data and not rely on power users for editing. Need this functionality!

Hi Alix - Do you have an ETA for this enhancement? Despite being 6 months (or less) from WAB retirement, I'm finding myself building a WAB app just to get this functionality.

My use case is similar to many of the others mentioned in this thread. We need it to manage incident-specific road closures for the San Bernardino County Office of Emergency Services.

Many of the mountain roads cannot be easily traced into the Road Closures layer (per the Road Closures solution instructions) and we need a way for non-technical EOC staff to copy large numbers of complex road segments into the closures layer. The one-at-a-time Survey123 workflow does not come close to the ease of use and functionality of Copy Features in the Smart Editor.

That's great to hear Alix! Thanks for the update!

Will this be available as a patch in 11.5 before Enterprise 12 comes out? It's pretty important functionality that is keeping us on WebApp Builder as there are no viable alternatives.

Thanks!

The copy paste functionality is planned for Experience Builder and is currently a work in progress.

flemingtaltonenviva

Is there still no functionality for Append / Copy / Paste features in ExB?

Is this because Esri wants to reserve this functionality for users at Creator level (ie building it exclusively into Web Editor?)

Hi @Tiff , There are no plans to support attachments in copy-paste in the Web Editor at this time. For any further requests around this, please post in the Web Editor community.
Also, unless I'm mistaken, attachments were not copied over when using the Smart Editor widget in Web AppBuilder. This was also a limitation, unfortunately.

Thanks @AlixVezina, we are aware of the web editor option and we're thinking of how we can utilize it. However we know that photos are not carried over with the copy/paste here, which makes it so that web app builder copy/paste is still advantageous over web editor. Can Web Editor also include attachments and photos please?

Hi all,

Just a quick update on this topic. While copy-paste (copy features) is not yet available in Experience Builder, you can find the functionality in the Web Editor for now: Copy and paste features—ArcGIS Web Editor | Documentation.

At this time, there are still some limitations compared to what you could do in the Smart Editor (which supported field matching and copying features from multiple different layers), but Web Editor allows you to duplicate multiple features within the same layer with their attributes and also copy and paste single features between layers.

Copy-paste will make it into ExB eventually, but we don’t have a timeline yet.

Add data (file) and copy feature (smart editor) is one of our most used workflows and a showstopper for experience builder. The comparison functional matrix below

is misleading in suggesting that smart editor is in any way equivalent to EB 'edit' widget. There is no comparison. Web AppBuilder and Experience Builder functionality matrix—ArcGIS Web AppBuilder | Documentation

katiehansen_nifc

All, please "Kudo" this idea here for more visibility into this critical functionality: https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-experience-builder-ideas/copy-features-for-experience-builder/idc-p/1525289

Agree strongly with @JessicaGough and @ChrisH2. This needs to be a functionality available within Experience Builder sooner than later. I saw this forum post late last year but now revisiting because the Survey123 workaround does not fit our needs, specifically because:

1) Survey123 does not work with traditional versioned feature classes in enterprise geodatabases, which is a limitation for us and possibly many others.
2) Survey123 works with one target layer where features are copied to. This does not suffice for workflows where you want to copy features from one layer to potentially multiple layers.

You can't select multiple features to copy with this option like you can in SmartEditor but this is probably the ExperienceBuilder/Survey123 option ChrisH mentions:

https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/experience-builder/real-time/using-experience-builder-and-survey123-to-pass-attributes-and-geometry-from-one-layer-to-another/

This functionality is also critical for an application that we've started building in WAB with the Smart Editor, but arde considering switching over to ExB due to it's support of snapping and the use of smart forms and contingent values (both equally as important to us)

I note the workaround with Survey 123 but is this the suggested method (or are there others?) for duplicating records within the same hosted layer?

Our use case is for a user to select a polygon and be able to duplicate the geometry, and then re-edit the attributes in the edit widget

Hello @AlixVezina thank you for this temporary solution. Can you provide more detail on guidance and best practices to set this embedded survey up? In order to copy a feature from one layer to an existing layer, does it require Survey123 Connect with the same calculations/configuration as you would in a typical survey? It would be helpful to have steps that one would take to ensure that this works properly as part of the ExB widget.

Our organisation also uses the copy-paste function in the Smart Editor in WAB as a core workflow step for our users to create new data with high integrity. It is an absolutely essential functionality for our organisation and we cannot move to EB until this is addressed.

katiehansen_nifc

Thanks very much, @AlixVezina , for the reply.
Can you speak to whether this functionality is on the EB roadmap or, if it specifically is not, then will there be thoughts to a work around like the one mentioned above with the use of S123 to add features?

We would really like to have our users add new and edit existing features via an app into our authoritative, national datasets no matter how the features were initially collected but seems that we are firmly planted in WAB still.
Thanks!

EmmaMontague_IAFC

Hi @AlixVezina ,

The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) has an application for creating and preplanning evacuation zones for wildfires. We have a workflow that is very similar to what @KatieHansen_NIFCAdmin shared where in Web AppBuilder, we use the Add Data Widget to add a layer from AGOL and then copy the geometry of those existing features into our evacuation zone layer using the Smart Editor.

(See our workflow here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMIj5uHYk2g). This is a critical workflow and we can't move over to ExB for this application until this functionality is available.

PaulDohertyFEMA

Agreed. This is a core functionality we need at FEMA to support Urban Search & Rescue.

We use the Smart Editor Widget copy features functionality in a few of our core workflows for Urban Search & Rescue. See this video here https://screenpal.com/watch/c0iYh1Vkezl. We had planned to move over to Experience Builder for our 'Intel Manager', but are stuck on Web AppBuilder until Copy Features is a capability in ExB.

@KatieHansen_NIFCAdmin

The Survey workflow described in this blog will not work with temporary data added to the map using the Add Data widget since the connection between the source and target layers needs to be set from within the Survey widget configuration.

This is definitely a valid request and in line with what we had in the Web AppBuilder Smart Editor, so thank you for bringing it up!

katiehansen_nifc

Hi @AlixVezina ,

I'd like to tag onto this question with something more specific. I have users that would like to add a polygon from a shapefile to an existing hosted feature service. Our workflow now it to use the Add Data widget in WAB to add a shapefile and then Smart Editor copy feature into our HFS. Is this possible in EB yet? Is there another creative way to use S123 in EB to copy this shapefile?
Thanks!
Katie

That's great news! Thank you for the quick response! I totally forgot about that new feature of the Survey widget in ExB. I am going to see if I can make that fit my workflow. Thanks again!

Hi @JeremyBrown4 , Thanks for posting your question.

We have plans to provide this functionality in the future, but the delivery timeline has not yet been determined. We're hoping to get this into our products in time before the ArcGIS Online retirement of Web AppBuilder at the end of 2025.

Right now, if you're looking to copy one feature at a time, there is an available workaround using the Survey widget in Experience Builder:

Using Experience Builder and Survey123 to pass attributes and geometry from one layer to another (esri.com)

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