topic Field name gets truncated for shape file in ArcGIS Explorer Desktop Questions

Field name gets truncated for shape file

GraceGrace — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 03:33:42 GMT

Hi,

When I export my data into shape file, I noticed that most of my fields are truncated to just length 10.
I tried to create a new alias, but it doesn't seem to save the changes.

Is there a way for my field names to retain while exporting the data into shape files?

Thanks
Grace

Re: Field name gets truncated for shape file

TimWitt — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 11:11:03 GMT

Yes 10 characters are the most you can have in a shapefile. Your only option is to export it into a geodatabase, is that an option for you? It also depends on what you want to use this data for, this might help find alternatives.

Re: Field name gets truncated for shape file

AdamGuo — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 15:25:27 GMT

Add the shapefile in ArcMap, create your field alias names and then save the layer file. The layer file will retain the alias names when you add it back to AGX.

Re: Field name gets truncated for shape file

ANANDC — Wed, 11 Oct 2017 05:31:32 GMT

Problem: Exported shapefiles have truncated character strings in ArcGIS 10.2.x