idea Option to Close Project in ArcGIS Pro Ideas

Option to Close Project

NathanHeickLACSD — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 23:29:43 GMT

I have an ArcGIS Pro project with a map that is used to publish a service. I often times may edit the map and then want to reload it back to the saved version. If there was an option like in Microsoft Office to close the project, so I could reopen it from the recent projects list, that would be great. I don't want to have to exit ArcGIS Pro and reopen it again.

Re: Option to Close Project - Status changed to: Needs Clarification

KoryKramer — Fri, 11 Feb 2022 13:35:12 GMT

Thank you for submitting this idea @NathanHeickLACSD

Can you provide more details around "I often times may edit the map and then want to reload it back to the saved version." ?

Are you editing the map in Pro? I don't understand what is meant by reload it back to the saved version, so getting some clarity around this will help us understand the idea.

Thanks!

Re: Option to Close Project

RhettZufelt — Fri, 11 Feb 2022 18:21:20 GMT

Like selecting "New", "Start without a template" (closes existing map and prompts to save), No to save, then pick existing map from the "Open" recent projects list?

Re: Option to Close Project

NathanHeickLACSD — Fri, 11 Feb 2022 23:29:07 GMT

Hi Kory,

Well, right now, I am working on a developing a complex application. There is one primary map service with a lot of layers and I often open it up, inspect some data or try out some symbology changes. Then, I want to discard all the changes and reopen the map as it was previously saved. I could just undo all changes. I could do what Rhett said. However, I feel like the way Microsoft Office does it is pretty good. They have a Close option under the File menu like this:

I am proposing the same type of Close option. They also have a Close command that you can add to your Quick Launch toolbar. So, I have the following on my toolbar:

I have New, Open, Save, Save As, and Close. If I have multiple Excel spreadsheets open, I like having the Close option next to New and Open. These are the main operations. In ArcGIS Pro, however, there is no gray screen like when you close all open spreadsheets. You can close the whole window using the X in the upper right hand corner. My brain tells me why do I want to close out completely and reload ArcGIS Pro into memory. I just want to close the project, not ArcGIS Pro.

So, if I could go to the Project tab, click on Close, and then go back to the initial launch screen for ArcGIS Pro that has all the Recent Projects listed, I could reopen the same project in three clicks. Also, if there was a Close command in the software, I could add it to my Quick Launch toolbar in ArcGIS Pro. That would mean that I could close the project from wherever I was working, see the Recent Projects list immediately, click that project again or a different one, and move along my way without unloading a lot of memory and reloading it.

This would require the concept of closing a project that doesn't completely shut down an ArcGIS Pro window. Who knows what's really going on in the background, but it appears like each window is an instance of ArcGIS Pro. So if I could reopen my project in two clicks, that would be great. I think this also applies to closing my current project without saving and opening a different project. I guess you need to add on another click to not save any changes to the project, but that is unavoidable.

I am trying to keep that project that I publish the service from very clean. I even have it in source control. I could make a copy of it, but it's in recent files often times. If I mess it up, I can discard changes in GitHub. So, I am totally happy playing around with it and discarding changes. However, I make changes for a lot of reasons related to application development.

Re: Option to Close Project - Status changed to: Open

KoryKramer — Fri, 11 Feb 2022 23:54:32 GMT

Thanks for the clarification, @NathanHeickLACSD The idea is open.

Re: Option to Close Project

EmikoCarrell — Fri, 03 Nov 2023 19:02:56 GMT

I also would love the ability to close a project without having to completely exit ArcGIS Pro. Another example of a program that allows you to do this is Adobe Acrobat. You can have the program open without having any documents open.

Re: Option to Close Project

SandiPounderHeiner — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 01:09:08 GMT

I agree that it would be helpful to have an option to Close a project.

I've recently had multiple ArcGIS Pro crashes when I tried to open a new (small) project when a larger one was still open. Many of these have been with ESRI training files, where it's common to access new projects multiple times in a session. I've also had similar scenarios to what @NathanHeickLACSD describes.

Thanks!

Re: Option to Close Project

tamnof — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 22:18:13 GMT

Hi,
In my perspective, being able to close a project without closing the whole application is an essential functionality. On;y from the reason that reopening the application takes longer than just loading another project to it.
And as mentioned by the former guys here, it exists in many other applications: Office, Acrobat Pro, Foxit PDF Editor, Visual Studio, QGIS, Photoshop, GIMP ...