topic Re: ArcGIS Online: Reordering Fields in Hosted Feature Layer from Data Page in ArcGIS Online Questions

ArcGIS Online: Reordering Fields in Hosted Feature Layer from Data Page

HenryHaro — Sun, 23 Apr 2017 22:13:42 GMT

Hi all, I'm using ArcGIS Online and I'm wondering if there is a way to rearrange the fields of a hosted layer file. I know you can change their order and if they're displayed or not when configuring layer attributes in a Web Map, but I'm curious if there is a way to change them in the Hosted layer file itself so that the order is reflected when the layer is imported into another map. So far I've had to reorder the fields every time I start a new map and it's become really time consuming. Any hints would be appreciated. Thanks!

Re: ArcGIS Online: Reordering Fields in Hosted Feature Layer from Data Page

JamesWright1 — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 02:43:59 GMT

I know this post was along time ago but I have a solution.

- Open the visualization tab of your hosted feature layer.

- Configure the pop up of the layer.

- Click configure attributes

- Click on the field you wish to move and use the arrows on the right to move it up or down the order.

- Once you are finished moving, hit ok 2x then save the layer.

Your reordering of fields has now been made to the hosted feature layer itself and will be maintained in any map you now add it to!

Re: ArcGIS Online: Reordering Fields in Hosted Feature Layer from Data Page

LeifJohnson3 — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 16:17:37 GMT

This is a lifesaver James. Thank you! James Wright

Re: ArcGIS Online: Reordering Fields in Hosted Feature Layer from Data Page

JimmyKnowles — Tue, 28 Apr 2020 18:58:51 GMT

I'll just add one caveat to this. This only affects the pop-up configuration. If you were to download this feature service as fgdb, it is likely that the newly added field would be at the end of your list. This will not affect the definition of the feature service itself.

From what I can tell, it is not possible to change the order of fields in the service definition itself. Even though configuring the pop-up will generate the desired results in most cases, it won't in all. Even when using the REST admin interface, you can't use 'Update Definition' to reorder fields. You can only use 'Add To Definition' to add fields or 'Delete From Definition' to delete fields.

Re: ArcGIS Online: Reordering Fields in Hosted Feature Layer from Data Page

Paul_Christensen — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 18:27:58 GMT

While I am able to get this method to work for attribute tables in WebMaps, these settings do not carry over into a WebApp attribute table that is created from the map.

Re: ArcGIS Online: Reordering Fields in Hosted Feature Layer from Data Page

RobertThomas3 — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 20:03:49 GMT

Unfortunately this doesn't actually reorder the fields in the layer's attribute table, only the popup. So when you export the data (like to a csv where you need to paste it into another document with a different order) it's still the same. Really frustrating that such a basic function seems to be absent.

Re: ArcGIS Online: Reordering Fields in Hosted Feature Layer from Data Page

arthurV — Mon, 14 Nov 2022 14:41:34 GMT

This is really a missing function. Is there at least a workaround using the desktop app then reuploading the layer to ArcGIS Online?

Re: ArcGIS Online: Reordering Fields in Hosted Feature Layer from Data Page

arthurV — Thu, 09 Mar 2023 16:22:21 GMT

It is really fascinating that some very simple function are just completely ignored by ArcGIS. It's like "pay but do not hope for answer".

Re: ArcGIS Online: Reordering Fields in Hosted Feature Layer from Data Page

Paco — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 18:18:30 GMT

Hi @arthurV . the only way I know of re-ordering Fields permanently(from a Feature Class/Feature Service) is to Export(right-click Data-Export Features) to a new Feature Class. in the Export Features dialog box you can rearrange and drag the 'Fields'. the Exported Feature Class will have the permanent change.

obviously you would have to re-create the Feature Service from there.

good luck!

Re: ArcGIS Online: Reordering Fields in Hosted Feature Layer from Data Page

BigLouC — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 16:00:08 GMT

Not sure if this helps anyone, but using ago assistant, you can edit the JSON to rearrange the fields then save your change. I have done it with views, because you cant rearrange fields even there. So editing the JSON helped out. Just make sure you are careful when editing with the brackets and commas.

Re: ArcGIS Online: Reordering Fields in Hosted Feature Layer from Data Page

AndreaGalligari — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 10:14:00 GMT

If we have to start listing all the very basic features that ESRI ignored we would end next year. This is just because there is no real competitor in the GIS market so ESRI is just ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Re: ArcGIS Online: Reordering Fields in Hosted Feature Layer from Data Page

AYamaguchi_UGRWCD — Tue, 07 May 2024 21:12:47 GMT

Can you please post instructions for your method (in simple enough terms for someone who doesn't know what JSON stands for)? Thank you!

Re: ArcGIS Online: Reordering Fields in Hosted Feature Layer from Data Page

AYamaguchi_UGRWCD — Tue, 07 May 2024 21:13:20 GMT

Can you please post instructions for your method (in simple enough terms for someone who doesn't know what JSON stands for)? Thank you!

Re: ArcGIS Online: Reordering Fields in Hosted Feature Layer from Data Page

GAVINMAURER — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 16:23:27 GMT

I just tried this, rearranged the order of the fields within the JSON but it didn't change the order of anything within feature editing fields in my AGOL map. You are saying that it worked for you?

Re: ArcGIS Online: Reordering Fields in Hosted Feature Layer from Data Page

GAVINMAURER — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 16:42:41 GMT

Not sure if this will work for everyone but for my application I was able to solve this problem by exporting my data layer as a FGDB from AGOL, import it into Arc Pro, edit the attribute table within ArcPro and then export it back out as a new web layer and reupload it to my AGOL map. I had to redo all of my symbology and what not but I was at least able to reorder my features and now I know not to screw it up again!

Re: ArcGIS Online: Reordering Fields in Hosted Feature Layer from Data Page

fklotz — Wed, 28 May 2025 04:19:42 GMT

Re-order your fields in ArcGIS Online by configuring visualization of the layer

Note: while this does not change the actual field order in the data store that ArcGIS Online loads the data from, it does change the order of the fields for the table and popup for the layer.

Method using the ArcGIS Online interface

Go to your item in ArcGIS online.
Select "Data" in the Item navigation bar
Select the "Fields" button
For each field, ensure the field is configured: set up the Alias name and for key fields, set the Field Value Type. Feel free to add a description to properly document that field. Create a domain if needed.
Click the "Visualization" item in the Item nav bar
In the map table of contents, select your layer, then click the "Fields" button on the far right (assuming you are using the newer map viewer).
click on each field and check the "Display Name" (it will be the Alias name for the field) and set up the display format: e.g., for decimal fields, set the number of decimals and if you want the thousands separator. Setting this on the visualization settings means you configure it once and it will show everywhere you add the layer in the future, so do it now. If you published the layer from ArcGIS Pro, many of these settings may already be set if you had set them in Pro first.
Click on the popup.
Due to someone's grand idea that fields should be listed alphabetically in ArcGIS Online, your fields may not be listed in your dataset order in the "Fields List". If they are not, hit the "Select fields", then "Select all", then "Deselect all", then "Select all" and they will now show in your database order. Remove any fields you don't want to see then click Done. Now you can drag any fields to their correct locations in the "Fields list" and save your popup. Click Save to save the configuration so far.
over on the left-hand side, click the ... to the right of your layer name and choose "Show table"
click the Settings (gear) button to open the "Field Visibility" popup.
configure the field visibility the same way as you did the pop up to get the right fields visible and to get them into the database order. Close the "Field Visibility" dialog.
Now the painful part. For any field that is out of order, click the field header and drag it into the correct location. Save the visualization configuration.
load your layer into a new map to view your handywork.

Note that we did not have to create, calculate, and delete any fields and we did not have to download and re-publish the data. We did not need to know python, JSON, or REST end points.

You can do this stuff via the ArcGIS Assistant and/or the ArcGIS API for Python and/or REST endpoints, and if you have that skillset, excellent! Sometimes I do field re-ordering as listed above, sometimes with the ArcGIS API for Python, and sometimes with the AGO Assistant - depending on how much there is to do.

The ArcGIS Assistant is a fantastic tool, but you do need to be careful. I recommend copying the existing data configuration ( @AYamaguchi_UGRWCD: this format is the JSON you were asking about) and saving it as a text file somewhere so that you can re-apply it if you make a mistake. Be careful, you can mess up your dataset with the programmatic methods, but not with the steps I outlined above. If you do mess up, you can re-apply the last working copy if you saved the JSON to a text file.