topic Re: Differences in behavior between Geodatabases created in Catalog vs ArcGIS Pro? in ArcGIS Pro Questions

Differences in behavior between Geodatabases created in Catalog vs ArcGIS Pro?

KellyJanus1 — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 18:03:46 GMT

I have no example. When I walk my python script through multiple geodatabases, the python code will generally work on older geodatabases created using ArcCatalog and it will throw an error when it gets to geodatabases I created using ArcGIS Pro (which is what I use exclusively now).

1) Has anyone else experienced this?

2) What kinds of back-end differences are there (if any) that may be causing this?

3) Suggestions for fixes I can implement.

Thank you very much. Again, I have no example.

Re: Differences in behavior between Geodatabases created in Catalog vs ArcGIS Pro?

VenkataKondepati — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 19:06:20 GMT

Hi @KellyJanus1,

It depends on the version of ArcGIS Catalog vs Pro? How old is your ArcCatalog?

Most cases, it should work automatically but some cases, you need to upgrade.
Client and geodatabase compatibility—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation

Re: Differences in behavior between Geodatabases created in Catalog vs ArcGIS Pro?

DavidSolari — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 20:01:29 GMT

Is your script running against Pro's python environment or ArcMap's? If it's the latter then it'd explain why the Pro geodatabases are tripping it up. Easy way to find out is to throw these two lines at the top of your script, then check the output:

import sys arcpy.AddWarning(sys.path)

Re: Differences in behavior between Geodatabases created in Catalog vs ArcGIS Pro?

Robert_LeClair — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 20:43:31 GMT

I created a file geodatabase in ArcCatalog and a second file geodatabase in ArcGIS Pro. When I go to the properties for each, it states "this 10.0 geodatabase matches the release of ArcGIS release you are currently using." Further on the Esri Support site, it mentions "the schema of the file geodatabase has not changed since ArcGIS 10. This means that file geodatabases created in ArcCatalog using any version of ArcGIS since 10.0 will have the same functionality and schema."

Now this got me wondering, if you open the Create File Geodatabase GP tool, one parameter - File Geodatabase version - shows CURRENT, 10.0, 9.3, and 9.2. So is CURRENT different than 10.0? Hmmm....

Re: Differences in behavior between Geodatabases created in Catalog vs ArcGIS Pro?

RhettZufelt — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 20:48:06 GMT

Do you have attribute rules on any of the data? If so, the old ArcMap version can throw errors.

Re: Differences in behavior between Geodatabases created in Catalog vs ArcGIS Pro?

SarahBowman3 — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 21:22:45 GMT

Hi @KellyJanus1 ,

I don't know if this exactly pertains to your situation, but...

I was thrown into my position when the former GIS admin left abruptly, and I had to pick through his old computer/data/programs and licenses to try to make sense out of what he had been doing. I set up my computer with ArcPro (he had been using an old ArcMap setup) and went about trying make everything work off of it instead of juggling between computers. I ran into a similar situation to yours when I tried to run a script that he had created to quickly import survey data into a database.

The issue was that the script was written with Python 2.7 and ArcPro runs scripts in Python 3. I just had to rewrite the script in Py3 language to make it work.

That might too obvious of a fix but it doesn't hurt to start with the basics.

Re: Differences in behavior between Geodatabases created in Catalog vs ArcGIS Pro?

Robert_LeClair — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 21:25:06 GMT

To add to @RhettZufelt , I found some interesting timelines when GDB behaviors were released:
Dec 1999 / ArcGIS 8.0 - GDB hits the streets
Apr 2001 / ArcGIS 8.1 - Subtypes, domains, and relationship classes
Feb 2003 / ArcGIS 8.3 - Topology rules
May 2005 / ArcGIS 9.1 - Network dataset
Nov 2006 / ArcGIS 9.2 - File GDB, replication, archiving, terrain datasets, cart reps
June 2010 / ArcGIS 10.0 - Attachments and Mosaic datasets
June 2012 / ArcGIS 10.1 - Editor tracking
Jan 2018 / ArcGIS 10.6 - Utility Network and Branch Versioning
Jan 2019 / ArcGIS 10.7 - contingent values and attribute rules