topic Re: Buffer tool creates miltipart features as default in ArcGIS Pro Questions

Buffer tool creates miltipart features as default

JamesCarroll7 — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 15:13:09 GMT

Hi all,

I updated ArcGIS Pro this morning to version 3.6.0, and now all of the features that get created when I use the Buffer tool are multipart features.

I have a feature class which has 4 land parcel areas in it and I used the Buffer tool to put a 40m buffer around these land areas. The Buffer tool created the 4 buffers as normal, but when I tried to select one of the buffer areas it instead selected all 4 areas instead of just the one area. After looking on Google, I used the Multipart to Singlepart tool to solve the problem and make each of the buffer areas individually selectable.

I don't see why this is happening. Is it a bug or is it a feature of the new ArcGIS update? It seems like a real step backwards. Is there a way to turn this off? I don't know if this is happening with any other tools as I have only used the Buffer tool so far. Any help is appreciated as always.

Re: Buffer tool creates miltipart features as default

CodyPatterson — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 15:20:38 GMT

Hey @JamesCarroll7

Would you be able to send a screenshot of what you see in terms of the options and different check boxes you used? In 3.5, this could be different, but there is a setting for "No Dissolve" which should prevent it from being multipart:

Cody

Re: Buffer tool creates miltipart features as default

JamesCarroll7 — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 08:54:28 GMT

Hi Cody,

Thanks for your response. The options and descriptions I see are the same as those in your screenshot.

I used one of the "Dissolve" options rather than "No Dissolve" as two of my land parcels are close together and I wanted a single buffer around them (i.e. no overlap). I've created buffers this way for years without problem, yesterday was the first time this happened after updating to version 3.6.0.

This morning I tried creating buffers around my land parcels using the three dissolve type options. Using "No Dissolve" created singlepart features but there was overlap between buffers, while both of the "Dissolve" options created the unwanted multipart buffer features.

Perhaps the Multipart to Singlepart tool will just need to be an additional step going forward.

Re: Buffer tool creates miltipart features as default

CodyPatterson — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 13:05:05 GMT

Hey @JamesCarroll7

So I see what you're wanting here, but in this I think you'd need to run two of the tools, the Buffer to create the buffer, but also the Dissolve tool to create the similar polygons, here's my workflow here:

First, create the buffer, as you can see there's intersecting polygons on these addresses:

Next, Use the dissolve tool to bring these all together, these are my settings:

Ensure you have the "Create multipart features" unchecked, your result should look something like this here:

So in this workflow here, you'd be able to create your buffer, along with dissolving the features in a way they're not multipart, these are all independent polygons except the ones that overlap here!

Is that what you're wanting the end-result to look like?

Cody

Re: Buffer tool creates miltipart features as default

JamesCarroll7 — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 14:10:15 GMT

Thanks Cody, that's exactly what I want the end result to look like, and those look like the steps I'll have to follow going forward. It's just a bit annoying for me as using the Buffer tool with the "Dissolve" feature in previous versions of ArcGIS Pro used always create singlepart buffers without overlap in one go, but now it looks to be a two-step process.

I appreciate you taking your time to look into this!