topic Map Viewer - Layer "Save As" Behaviour in ArcGIS Online Questions

Map Viewer - Layer "Save As" Behaviour

AnthonyJonesRSK — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 13:58:53 GMT

Hi,

We recently spotted that when selecting a layer in map viewer and using the "Save As" option the new layer that is created exhibits odd behaviour. Despite creating a new layer with a new ID this layer still seems to reference the layer it was saved from. As you can see from the test I did below we have a new item ID in the URL but the service itemid is the same as the old layer. This means that if you add data to the new layer it appears in the old layer. Is this the expected behaviour? It's not mentioned in the help page here. The wording suggests a new layer is created but it behaves more like a feature layer view or a layer file in Pro.

Thanks

Anthony

Re: Map Viewer - Layer "Save As" Behaviour

NicoleJohnson — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:39:02 GMT

From that page:

If you duplicate an editable feature layer, the duplicate is also editable. Edits made to duplicates change the source data.

Re: Map Viewer - Layer "Save As" Behaviour

AnthonyJonesRSK — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 15:18:20 GMT

Thanks for the response @NicoleJohnson but that appears to be in reference to the duplicate option where you duplicate the same layer in the map.

Re: Map Viewer - Layer "Save As" Behaviour

NicoleJohnson — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 15:46:47 GMT

Oh jeez, sorry about that! In any case, it's definitely the same behavior I've encountered before and would expect (where there's a new item without new data). It's the equivalent of going to the layer's item page visualization tab and clicking "save as."

For example, here's a layer that I filtered and symbolized differently from its source layer. I needed to use this layer in a bunch of maps, so I created a new item for it (rather than set those configurations in each map):

Re: Map Viewer - Layer "Save As" Behaviour

AnthonyJonesRSK — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:58:34 GMT

No need to apologise, I appreciate your inputs. Thanks for that article link, that and this blog post my colleague found, which has the key text below do appear to confirm that this is expected behaviour. I just don't think it's very well documented in the help as this acts somewhere between a feature layer and a view and may catch some people out (it did for one of my colleagues) if they delete data from the "save as" layer not realising it is then removed from the original layer too. I'm actually intrigued to see if there are any other practical applications for this too instead of using a view. Cheers