idea Easily identify features with attachments in ArcGIS PRO in ArcGIS Pro Ideas

Easily identify features with attachments in ArcGIS PRO

Environnement_1Lausanne — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 19:31:46 GMT

Hello,

It would be very useful to be able to very simply identify which features have attachments. It could be a column in the attribute table with a boolean TRUE / FALSE value for the ATTACHMENT field.

Even better, an additional column saying how many attachments are linked to each features.

Thanks in advance

Re: Easily identify features with attachments in ArcGIS PRO

KoryKramer — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 15:56:00 GMT

While not entirely built-in, you should be able to accomplish this using some guidance from Visualize your attachments in ArcGIS Online with Arcade

It looks like you would leverage the Attachments Arcade function Data Functions | ArcGIS for Developers

Since this was introduced in Arcade 1.6, make sure you're using ArcGIS Pro 2.4.x: Version Matrix | ArcGIS for Developers

Re: Easily identify features with attachments in ArcGIS PRO

LeviCecil — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 20:57:13 GMT

Couldn't you just write a Python function to create this field and then populate it with a true or false based on whether or not there is an attachment?

Re: Easily identify features with attachments in ArcGIS PRO

Environnement_1Lausanne — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 09:36:24 GMT

Hi Kory, thanks a lot. We'll have to upgrade our ArcGIS PRO version to use the function.

I tried on ArcGIS Online and it seems to work fine with Arcade in test mode but when I want to apply the changes, it tells me "unable to append the data". Do you have any idea why ? I can edit the feature layer.

Re: Easily identify features with attachments in ArcGIS PRO

Environnement_1Lausanne — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 09:37:53 GMT

Yes, I could indeed but I had read that ESRI had done a few devs in this direction so I wondered if a tool or function was about to be released. It is indeed the case according to Kory's message.

Enable the visualization of a Photos and Files column in ArcGIS Pro

MiguelMartinezYordan — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 15:31:15 GMT

In ArcGIS Pro, you can only find out if a record has attachments by selecting the record and opening the Attribute Pane. And you need to scroll down one by one to see any attachments. On the other hand, in AGOL, when you open an attribute table and scroll to the right, you find a Photos and Files column showing if the record has any attachments and also the number of attachments. This will be a great help in ArcGIS Pro when dealing with attachments. It will be great to also have the capability to search records by specific attachments, or simply to select all records with or without attachments.

Re: Enable the visualization of a Photos and Files column in ArcGIS Pro

KoryKramer — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 19:21:55 GMT

Something you could try in the meantime would be to add an Attachments field to your table and calculate the field using Count(Attachments($feature))

That would allow you to sort/select/filter on which features have attachments.

Re: Easily identify features with attachments in ArcGIS PRO

BryanNeely1 — Wed, 06 Jul 2022 14:21:32 GMT

Hey,

I'm trying to find/write an arcade expression that will return the filename of an attached pdf. i have a project where i have to attach a one-line electrical pdf to every point (along with jpgs. i have a field "SingleLine Attached" that i would like to populate w/ the attached pdf rather that having to check 300+/- features.

iv'e already used kory's solution to count the attachments, but can't seem to get what i'm looking for.

obviously, arcade skills are minimal...

brn

Re: Easily identify features with attachments in ArcGIS PRO

lal-sabbagh — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 16:08:03 GMT

I have tried @KoryKramer solution, and it worked perfectly. The calculated field enables you to assign unique symbology to the layer and track missing attachment items effectively. Thanks

Re: Easily identify features with attachments in ArcGIS PRO

JoeBryant1 — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 20:00:28 GMT

While creating a new field and calculating in a value is indeed a solution, it is not convenient for analysts that don't own the feature service and can't make a schema change. It also is best practice to not make schema changes to feature services that are used for active Survey123 forms. Plus, I don't want to have to re-calculate the field every time I want to execute a query, since I am using an active feature service that is continually receiving updates and new attachments from field staff.

An Arcade Expression or SQL query that doesn't need to change the database would be a preferred solution.