idea Time slider play backwards in ArcGIS Pro Ideas

Time slider play backwards

BenSperry1 — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 16:51:47 GMT

It would be nice if you could play the time slider backwards (starting from the most recent to the oldest incrementally), just like it plays forward.

Re: Time slider play backwards

Anonymous User — Sat, 14 May 2011 00:51:58 GMT

Would you consider adding a use case explaining more about this idea? This sounds very interesting.

Doug C.

Re: Time slider play backwards

BenSperry1 — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 20:48:25 GMT

For example:

The usefulness of my data diminishes over time. I track treatments of mosquito breeding sties. I am most interested in the last time the area was treated and then the time before that.

If I could play time backwards I could see clearly which sites are getting old i.e how many days has it been from today that the area was treated.

Instead of tracking events over time I am measuring the distance from the present to a specific event or events.

I hope that helps

Re: Time slider play backwards

Anonymous User — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:04:45 GMT

Very cool. I am giving this idea a thumbs up myself. I will discuss this with the API Teams at our next Idea's meeting. Thanks for contributing!

Re: Time slider play backwards

MeganRudolf — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 02:10:34 GMT

Yes, I need this too.

Re: Time slider play backwards

MeganRudolf — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 02:12:48 GMT

I have data from 2007-2015, but I need the layer to open at the 2015 data not the 2007 data as the layer currently does. I add new data a few times a year and I need the newest data to be front and center. I can't use ArcGIS Pro because my map is published with ArcGIS Online.

Re: Time slider play backwards

BarbaraGates — Fri, 27 May 2016 16:43:41 GMT

We also need this. We display liquid in a network of pipes, and we want to be able to use the Time Slider to display data cumulatively while moving backward in time. This would enable us to answer the following questions:

Where is the liquid now?
Where has it been in the last hour?
Where has it been in the last two hours?

Re: Time slider play backwards

NorthSouthGIS — Thu, 09 Jul 2020 20:11:26 GMT

What ever came of this discussion?

Re: Time slider play backwards - Status changed to: Implemented

NathanShephard — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 18:47:01 GMT

Good news - playback direction is offered as an option in the UI for the Time Slider.

Location - on the Time ribbon tab, in the Playback group.

Toggle to set/change the play direction:

Thanks! -Nathan