idea ArcGIS Help is missing Index tab in ArcGIS Pro Ideas

ArcGIS Help is missing Index tab

JakeKrall — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 19:51:27 GMT

ArcGIS Desktop Help used to have an "Index" tab very useful for quickly finding topics and information. Can we get the Index tab added back to Help??? Search tab seems kinda weak in finding what I need!

Re: ArcGIS Help is missing Index tab

DuncanHornby — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:51:40 GMT

The lack of an index in the Help is driving me nuts, I cannot understand their reasoning behind removing it. Their logic assumes that you have exisiting knowledge of what ESRI names a topic/tool/processing step so you just type it in. It also assumes that we are all cuturally the same and use the same combinations of words to mean the same thing. I rarely use free text search I almost always do my searching throught the index as once I know a location I can drill down to that part of the Help I need.

Re: ArcGIS Help is missing Index tab

MichaelKoperniak — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 21:15:51 GMT

I concur. Index was very helpful for finding what I was looking for. It has been much more useful to me than the Contents tab.

Re: ArcGIS Help is missing Index tab - Status changed to: Closed

ValeriaChavez — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 18:46:37 GMT

Hi @JakeKrall

ArcGIS Desktop retired March 1, 2026 so we won’t be considering this idea. We recommend that you migrate to ArcGIS Pro, our fully supported desktop GIS application.

Thank you for taking the time to share your ideas. We truly appreciate your contributions to continuously improving the software to help you do your work and look forward to what ideas you have for ArcGIS Pro.