topic Re: "Make This The Only Selectable Layer" in ArcGIS Pro Questions

"Make This The Only Selectable Layer"

TimothyMaltry — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 13:59:32 GMT

In ArcGIS PRO, is there a way to "Make This The Only Selectable Layer" ? This option was available in ArcGIS 10.

Re: "Make This The Only Selectable Layer"

JoshuaBixby — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 14:46:15 GMT

In the Contents pane, List By Selection tab, you can right-click on a layer to get a context menu showing "Make this the only selectable layer."

Re: "Make This The Only Selectable Layer"

TimothyMaltry — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 15:05:31 GMT

Thanks Joshua. That works the same as “10” just a different way of getting there.

Re: "Make This The Only Selectable Layer"

JoshuaBixby — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 15:19:52 GMT

No problem. Most of the time people have questions like this, it isn't a question of whether the functionality got ported over but where it got put.

If you are happy with the outcome, please mark the question answered to close out the thread. Thanks.

Re: "Make This The Only Selectable Layer"

JohnTownsend — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 08:39:20 GMT

While I agree that the functionality exists in ArcPro, I find it very cumbersome to have to switch to the "list by selection" tab to achieve this. I use this function regularly and when working with many layers in a map, being able to quickly right click in the TOC ("Drawing Order" of Contents Pane) to change the selectable layer is preferable rather than having to go another tab. This at least doubles the amount of time and mouse clicks it takes to perform the same function.

I think the "list by selection" pane can be useful for other tasks such as setting the final selectable layers in a map before publishing to web.

For editing data and general feature selection, I wish they add this functionality back to the TOC ("Drawing Order" of Contents Pane). I'm not sure about others but in my daily work, I rarely wish to have more than 1 or 2 layers selectable at a time and like to be able to switch between selectable layers often.

Update:

I've added this as an idea so if you feel the same way please vote this up:

https://community.esri.com/ideas/14787

Re: "Make This The Only Selectable Layer"

MichaelGrzan — Thu, 12 Jul 2018 21:30:02 GMT

My question now is, how do you turn it off? I would like to edit two layers at the same time, however, now I can't edit more than one layer at a time because I have to select "make this the only selectable layer" every time. FRUSTRATING!

Re: "Make This The Only Selectable Layer"

TimOrmsby — Thu, 12 Jul 2018 23:14:24 GMT

Michael, I don't think the command toggles off (which might be a nice enhancement). I think you have to go to the List By Selection tab on the Contents pane, mentioned by John, above, and set selectability for the layers you want.

Re: "Make This The Only Selectable Layer"

NathanSteeves1 — Wed, 27 May 2020 23:59:09 GMT

I have this question too. Would be nice to now choose to make all layers selectable again! Without having to go through and check each layer individually to make it selectable again. What a pain!

Re: "Make This The Only Selectable Layer"

Scott_Harris — Thu, 28 May 2020 04:31:13 GMT

Hi Nathan,

Ctrl + Shift + click a check box to turn on or off all layers at all hierarchical levels. Can be found here: Keyboard shortcuts in the Contents pane—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation

Also see this pdf for a big list of shortcuts like this: https://www.esri.com/content/dam/esrisites/en-us/media/pdf/g526942-arcgis-pro-kybrd-shrtct-FINAL.pdf

Does that help?

-Scott

Re: "Make This The Only Selectable Layer"

NathanSteeves1 — Thu, 28 May 2020 16:04:20 GMT

Thank you, Scott. That's exactly what I was looking for but couldn't find the answer anywhere.

Re: "Make This The Only Selectable Layer"

Elaine — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 22:34:24 GMT

Hi - I'm also having this problem but none of the things suggested in this thread have worked. I still can only select one layer and I need to be able to select and edit multiple. I had clicked "make this the only selectable layer" for one of the shapefiles (A) while I worked on it, but now I need to edit two others (B&C) at the same time and I can't get anything other than shapefile A to be selectable. Even when I remove layer A, I still can't select or edit layer B or C. I've tried restarting Arc and my computer. Has anyone else encountered this? Thanks in advance! -Elaine