idea Let us create an alias for connected folders in ArcGIS Pro in ArcGIS Pro Ideas

Let us create an alias for connected folders in ArcGIS Pro

deleted-user-sYHsW3p_gN5o — Mon, 08 Oct 2018 16:05:34 GMT

Often I have two or more folders with the same name, in different places on my organization's network. The name "GIS" can be very common for folders. So when I connected to multiple of these folders in the same Project, I get this:

And, as far as I can tell, if I try to "rename" these folders in Pro, it's actually renaming my folders. If we could create an "alias" for the folders, I could call these "I:/GIS" and "S:/GIS" and I wouldn't be confused.

Re: Let us create an alias for connected folders in ArcGIS Pro

ThomasColson — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 18:29:38 GMT

Further context: Why is ArcGIS Pro not allowing me to rename favorites? I'm using a template created with Pro 2.1.x, and my folder alias's stick. But if I have to make new templates in 2.2.x.....

Re: Let us create an alias for connected folders in ArcGIS Pro

RichardHowe — Fri, 12 Oct 2018 10:10:05 GMT

Yes yes yes! Please add this in.

When dealing with folders and server locations within an organisation that are already ordered by project, many follow identical templates and so have identically named subfolders. I know I can see the path by hovering over it, but this isn't very efficient. An alias system (or the option to "display the full path" in the folder name) would be great

Re: Let us create an alias for connected folders in ArcGIS Pro

deleted-user-sYHsW3p_gN5o — Fri, 12 Oct 2018 15:07:57 GMT

Yeah, being able to display the full path could be helpful too.

And I didn't realize you could hover over to see the path, thank you for pointing that out!

Re: Let us create an alias for connected folders in ArcGIS Pro

JillHalchin — Thu, 18 Apr 2019 14:33:28 GMT

Yes, please. We have many subfolders with the same names. I recently assumed that you can use aliases, like in ArcCatalog, but instead discovered that I had actually renamed the folder, so my maps all had broken links.

Re: Let us create an alias for connected folders in ArcGIS Pro

Waan — Mon, 03 Jun 2019 21:26:13 GMT

Yup, this is the first thing I'm noticing as I just started using Pro today: I've got loads of folders with the same name(s). Clicking on the "More Detail" option allows me to hover over the folder and see the full UNC path, but that's more of a workaround than it is a solution.

And since it's not a good use of my time to add aliases to each folder, can we modify this request a bit? Just have the folder name explicitly show the UNC path. I realize this is replicating ArcCatalog behavior, but that works really well when navigating various directories/folders.

Re: Let us create an alias for connected folders in ArcGIS Pro

EliasJörholt — Mon, 11 May 2020 12:23:23 GMT

Just curious, what does In Production plan mean? What year are we talking about?

This shoud be quite easy to implement...

Re: Let us create an alias for connected folders in ArcGIS Pro

Brooks_Wilson — Thu, 23 Jul 2020 22:59:59 GMT

Still waiting.....

Re: Let us create an alias for connected folders in ArcGIS Pro

DavidCarpenter — Fri, 24 Jul 2020 15:43:00 GMT

Can't wait to see this implemented, we are still adopting Pro but little things like this just get frustrating. We have a number of ArcGIS Servers and many other network folders across the enterprise; without being able to add a more descriptive alias to the folder name makes setting up your favorites, and then using / managing them very difficult.

Re: Let us create an alias for connected folders in ArcGIS Pro

JoeBorgione — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 21:21:21 GMT

Kory Kramer‌ This is 'In Product Plan': any idea when it'll be implemented?

Re: Let us create an alias for connected folders in ArcGIS Pro

KoryKramer — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 21:43:13 GMT

Unfortunately I don't think that it will be in the next release. I don't have any information beyond that.

Re: Let us create an alias for connected folders in ArcGIS Pro

TamiOnstad — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 15:46:53 GMT

In my mind this is something of a bug, people switching from ArcCatalog are probably not going to realize that the functionality is completely different and that they could be renaming folders on the network without even realizing it. At very LEAST, stick a message in there to tell people, hey, you are actually renaming a folder on disk, are you sure you want to do this? Our pathing on the network can be very long, so even if we could see the entire path, it would still be difficult to read. Aliases are a very important piece of keeping my Catalog & folder connections cleaned up so that I can easily see what I am connected to.

Re: Let us create an alias for connected folders in ArcGIS Pro

MichaelTomiak1 — Wed, 28 Oct 2020 23:37:04 GMT

Please make this change soon? In addition to colleagues renaming actual folders as mentioned above (not just the Pro catalog alias), it makes working so unnecessarily difficult...
Folder paths are one option but yes could be long. Alias is really the best answer.

This seems to be a devolution from ArcMap.

Re: Let us create an alias for connected folders in ArcGIS Pro

LindseyStone — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 22:35:49 GMT

Please allow this alias name. I have 3 GIS folders on 3 different servers that I access for data. I don't have the ability to rename those GIS folders because that is managed file infrastructure by the IT department. Showing the file path would be an ideal option so I can tell which folder on which server I'm accessing.

Add Folder Connection Alias

SteveLowman — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 17:51:37 GMT

Once you "Add Folder Connection" to folders allow the use of an alias name (or shortcut name). For example our company uses similar pathing for projects \ProjectXY\gis\data\GDB and \ProjectXY\gis\data\Shapefile. If I want to path data from a similar project and path to DATA but want to know which project it is from I would like to alias the name to ProjectXY_Data without changing the name of the Data folder in the source project. In some cases I might have data from several "Data" folders referenced. Much like a shortcut in windows can be renamed but link to the same location without changing the source name.

So \Project1\gis\data\ & \Project2\gis\data\ folders might be connected in Project3. I would wind up with two folders named "Data" and no good way at a glance to know where they came from. Yes hovering over them displays the source but it would be nice to use an Alias or Shortcut name for them.

Re: Let us create an alias for connected folders in ArcGIS Pro

KoryKramer — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 18:15:21 GMT

Hi @SteveLowman I merged your new idea with this existing idea. Note that it is In Product Plan - but it would still be good for you to add your vote to this one by giving it a kudo.

Thanks!

Re: Let us create an alias for connected folders in ArcGIS Pro

GavinMcGhie — Thu, 13 May 2021 21:52:16 GMT

I finally decided to start trying to manage our enterprise data with Pro. Not an hour in, I run into this pretty basic concept that is a turnoff. Worse is it looks like it has been reported for well over a year. I'm already sick of seeing 5 folders called "GIS" and having no clue which is which without having to click each. Even hovering doesn't seem to work. So, yes please prioritize this for those of us that spend much of our days managing data. I just updated so hopefully it's already fixed and I just haven't found it yet. ha

Re: Let us create an alias for connected folders in ArcGIS Pro

HeatherScroggins — Mon, 17 May 2021 14:10:13 GMT

I was hoping that this would be resolved with the new release of Pro 2.8 that just came out. But unfortunately it doesn't seem to be. Which is a shame.

Re: Let us create an alias for connected folders in ArcGIS Pro

JakeKrall — Thu, 08 Jul 2021 12:23:07 GMT

@KoryKramer Any word on this getting implemented anytime soon???

Re: Let us create an alias for connected folders in ArcGIS Pro

KoryKramer — Thu, 08 Jul 2021 12:28:27 GMT

It looks like development work has begun for 2.9.