idea feature delete protection in ArcGIS Pro in ArcGIS Pro Ideas

feature delete protection in ArcGIS Pro

JurajMurcko1 — Tue, 20 May 2025 13:28:08 GMT

With "Delete" button being so close to "Clear" or "Copy" button in ArcGIS Pro attribute table view, it is really easy to click wrongly and accidentally delete currently selected features instead of clearing selection or copying featuers as intended. Please provide some option to enable feature deletion protection (somewhere in settings, or a checkbox directly in the attribute table view next to this button), so if enabled, the user would get warning about deleting the features that he /she would have to confirm. Or if the chechbox is unchecked, the "Delete" button would be disabled. Alternatively, provide "Undo" button in the attribute table view that can restore deleted or wrongly updated objects to previous state.

I am sure many users would appriciate it as it happens sometimes that user accidentally deletes selected records, and there is no way to retrieve them (undo doesn´t work for this case) unless using verioned geodatabase (not always an option).

Thank you

Re: feature delete protection in ArcGIS Pro

AmirBar-Maor — Tue, 20 May 2025 10:49:25 GMT

One idea that comes to mind is:

Adding a field, for example, called 'DeleteOK'
Adding an Attribute Rule constraint rule that is triggered 'on delete' operations and only allows features to be deleted if they have $feature.DeleteOK ==1

This will prevent any feature from being deleted accidentally as you have to set DeleteOK to '1' in order to be able to delete it.

Would this work?

Re: feature delete protection in ArcGIS Pro

JonM32 — Tue, 20 May 2025 11:20:09 GMT

@JurajMurcko1

Another idea if you're making edits frequently:

Make a backup of the database before you start any work. I usually just have a backup folder in my project, copy and past the gdb into it each morning. Then, if I make mistakes and can't get work back with an undo button, I can just open the original copy up, grab what I need, and paste it back into the working layer.

Jon

Re: feature delete protection in ArcGIS Pro

JenniferCadkin — Tue, 20 May 2025 16:35:56 GMT

This behavior is already offered.

1. On Delete, prompt user to confirm deleting data. This prompt can be turned off and on at the Editing tab of the Options dialog.

2. Enable and Disable editing from the Edit tab AND single workspace edit session Editor options in the Options dialog. This will provide the capability to Discard edits (not Undo though) when editing non-versioned data.

https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/help/editing/editing-options.htm

https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/help/editing/save-or-discard-edits.htm

Re: feature delete protection in ArcGIS Pro

SamsulS20 — Mon, 26 May 2025 17:16:05 GMT

@JenniferCadkin Thanks for the clarification.. I had missed that setting in the Options dialog. Just curious, for non-versioned data, has anyone found a good workaround for replicating an “Undo” experience beyond just discarding edits?

Re: feature delete protection in ArcGIS Pro

Debert — Tue, 27 May 2025 17:08:30 GMT

As @JenniferCadkin mentioned, I also use the enable and disable editing session as it gives an extra level of control over edits.

Re: feature delete protection in ArcGIS Pro - Status changed to: Already Offered

AlyciaRajendran_esri — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 16:01:09 GMT