idea Attachment list in ArcGIS Pro Ideas

Attachment list

LaurenSturm — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 20:52:53 GMT

When attaching documents to features, there is no way (that I know of) to see a list of the files you have attached. This would be very helpful when attaching several hundred files.

Re: Attachment list

ChrisFox — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:55:34 GMT

Attachments are managed using a composite relationship class to a table in the Geodatabase. To get a list you can open the related table and it will show you all the attachments for that feature class and contain the related feature's Object ID. You can use this to list the attachements for specific features.

Re: Attachment list

LaurenSturm — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:09:01 GMT

Chris,
Thank you for your help. How would I go about creating that attachment table? I have the attribute table of the shapefile open and I do not see where to go to view the table of the attached hyperlinks. Let me know what you think! Thanks!

Re: Attachment list

ChrisFox — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:45:08 GMT

Lauren,

I was under the impression you were working with attachments available only in the Geodatabase. This functionality is not available to shapefiles. When you say attachments what exactly do you mean? Are you talking about setting a field to contain url or paths to documents as a hyperlink?

Re: Attachment list

LaurenSturm — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:48:18 GMT

I am referring to paths to documents as a hyperlink attached to features. For instance, I have a map of a sewer system and each manhole has PDF attached to it. I would like to see a list of all the attached documents on the manholes.

Re: Attachment list

ChrisFox — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:18:09 GMT

In ArcMap, right-click the field that contains the hyperlink paths to the PDFs and select summarize, specify the output location of the table and click ok. This will produce a table with all the unique hyperlinks used for the shapefile.

Re: Attachment list

LaurenSturm — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:31:54 GMT

I just attempted the process you suggested and I do not have "summarize" as an option when I right click on the field. I know what you are talking about. I have seen that before but I do not have it on this one.

Re: Attachment list

ChrisFox — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:37:14 GMT

Are you maintaining the hyperlinks using the Support Hyperlinks using field option in the layer properties, or by going through the identify window and adding hyperlinks? If you are using the field option, what data type is the field?

Re: Attachment list

LaurenSturm — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:41:12 GMT

I am identifying each structure and attaching the appropriate documents.

Re: Attachment list

LaurenSturm — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:52:07 GMT

I use the following process:
- Identify
- right click in the Identify dialog box
- Attach Hyperlink
- Navigate to the document
- Open
- okay

Re: Attachment list

ChrisFox — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:54:04 GMT

Unfortunately when your hyperlinks are maintained this way there is no out of the box solution to get a list of the hyperlinked documents for the layer. I would also caution you if you are you are maintaining hyperlinks in this way when the underlying data is a Shapefile. In the help it says the following:

http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//00s500000004000000.htm

After deleting features from a shapefile, you may find that dynamic hyperlinks are attached to different features. This occurs because ArcMap uses the feature ID (FID) field to associate dynamic hyperlinks with features, but the FIDs of shapefiles must be recalculated when features are deleted. To ensure hyperlinks are always associated with the proper features, only use dynamic hyperlinks with geodatabase features classes (geodatabase features always have unique ID values). Field-based hyperlinks can be used with shapefiles without this limitation.

Re: Attachment list

LaurenSturm — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:55:19 GMT

I have experienced this actually. I have also found that if I attach a PDF it does not change features. JPEGs and Word documents have moved around on me but PDFs do not.

Re: Attachment list

LaurenSturm — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:11:24 GMT

I opened a test copy to experiment with your suggestion and I realized that I do not know how to attach any hyperlinks other than by using the Identify tool.

I went into the properties of the layer to check the box saying Support Hyperlinks using field: and selected Name. Then on the map when I hit the lightning bolt to show which features have a hyperlink, all features with a name were highlighted even though I have not attached anything to them yet.

How do I go about attaching hyperlinks the proper way?

P.S.- I apologize for asking so many questions and taking up so much of your time. I know thats not what the Ideas page is for. I am just trying to figure this out. My apologies.

Re: Attachment list

ChrisFox — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:06:14 GMT

I don't know if there is a proper way, but if you are using shapefiles it would be advisable you use hyperlinks that are defined by values in a field. The workflow would be to in the case of a PDF, add a new string or text field and for each feature add the appropriate path to the pdf to that field. Then you can set Field property for Hyperlinks for the layer to this new field. This unfortunately will only support one hyperlink per feature, but it is much safer for shapefiles.

Re: Attachment list

LaurenSturm — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:53:34 GMT

The only problem I can see with your suggestion is that my job requires one or multiple hyperlinks per structure. For the sewerlines, I have videos for each plus a segment report and for the manholes I have pictures and manhole reports. That is why I attached the hyperlinks in the manner that I did. I have them all attached already and my project is wrapping up but I was just wanting a visual of all the hyperlinks I have attached and as well for future reference in other projects.

Re: Attachment list

LaurenSturm — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:02:37 GMT

For another project I have going, I do not have anythng attached yet but videos are being made as we speak. How can I attach all those videos in a way that they will be able to be viewed by my client when I save the map and give it to her? The address will be different so I'm not sure if she will be able to view the videos.

Re: Attachment list

ChrisFox — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:08:36 GMT

If you are at ArcGIS 10 and have at least an arceditor license level I would recommend you use Geodatabase attachments:

http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#/Enabling_attachments/001t000003vt000000/

Re: Attachment list

LaurenSturm — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:04:05 GMT

I just looked into that process and it will not allow me to create attachments in that way. I only have the ArcView License.