topic Change the data source to a layer in Portal in ArcGIS Pro Questions

Change the data source to a layer in Portal

KevinReeves11674 — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 16:33:41 GMT

I have some older ArcGIS Pro projects that have layers in them from an old Enterprise GDB. That gdb is no longer available, and all the layers have been moved into the Portal. Whenever I try to set the data source for the layers in these older projects, it will not let me update them with the data in the portal. When I highlight the feature layer in portal, the OK button turns to OPEN. If I open the feature layer or double click on it, it says this container is empty. I have verified that the feature layer is in fact there and there is data in it. Any suggestions to why this would be happening?

Thanks,

Kevin

Re: Change the data source to a layer in Portal

MichaelVolz — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 19:18:59 GMT

Can you provide the steps you are performing now with some screenshots? I have never tried to resource a gdb based layer to a Portal feature layer so I am also interested in knowing the correct workflow for this process.

Re: Change the data source to a layer in Portal

Robert_LeClair — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 15:17:41 GMT

In ArcGIS Pro, Set Data Source is intended to repoint layers to a workspace-based datasource (file GDB, enterprise GDB/SDE, folder, etc.). A Portal hosted feature layer is a web layer item, so it often won’t behave like a selectable “datasource” in that dialog—leading to what you’re seeing (OK becomes Open, and opening the item shows “this container is empty”).

One workflow to consider is in the Catalog Pane, browse to the hosted feature layer and add it to the current map. Then reapply the symbology from the "old layer" to the "new layer" using the Apply Symbology from Layer command. Finally, remove the "old layer" and save your project.

Re: Change the data source to a layer in Portal

MichaelVolz — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 15:37:49 GMT

Robert:

That is not ideal in a scenario where you might have an aprx with dozens of hosted feature layers (HFLs) and you want to just change the datasource once like you can do with updating a workspace, instead of doing it HFL by HFL.

Re: Change the data source to a layer in Portal

Robert_LeClair — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 16:42:35 GMT

Agree @MichaelVolz - I'll keep digging around.