topic Re: Copy/paste features in ArcGIS Pro - how? in ArcGIS Pro Questions

Copy/paste features in ArcGIS Pro - how?

SaraJK — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 15:48:46 GMT

Trying to copy/paste selected features from one layer to another layer in ArcGIS Pro (file geodatabase). I have used Select by Attribute to grab the features of interest, click on Copy, then click Paste. It seems to be just making a copy of the whole layer. It did not copy the selected features and did not paste them into another layer. It seems there is supposed to be a "Paste special" option but that is not activated - only the regular paste. What am I missing? Thanks.

Re: Copy/paste features in ArcGIS Pro - how?

SepheFox — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 18:28:40 GMT

Have you configured the application for editing: Introduction to desktop editing—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS for Professionals

Re: Copy/paste features in ArcGIS Pro - how?

SaraJK — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 12:59:47 GMT

Sephe Fox, I did look around in the editing properties but didn't see anything that needs to be changed in order to be able to copy/paste individual features between layers. My layers are editable. Is there something specific I need to do? Thanks.

Re: Copy/paste features in ArcGIS Pro - how?

JakeSkinner — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 15:10:38 GMT

Hi Sara,

Try the following:

1. Select your features > Edit tab > Copy

2. Paste should become active. Click the dropdown and you will see Paste Special:

3. Click 'Paste Special' and another dialog will appear that will allow you to choose which feature class to paste the copied features to:

Re: Copy/paste features in ArcGIS Pro - how?

SaraJK — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 16:34:39 GMT

There seems to be an issue here depending on how you select the features.

The procedure you outlined above only works if I use the Select tool and manually select the features.

When I use the Select Layer by Attribute, all the cut/copy/paste icons are grayed out.

If I select features in the attribute table just by clicking on them, sometimes I get the cut/copy/paste icons to turn on and sometimes none of them do. But the "paste special" arrow is never active in this scenario.

Let me know if you need more info.

Re: Copy/paste features in ArcGIS Pro - how?

SamuelTompsett — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 17:00:15 GMT

Hi Sara,

After selecting the features in the attribute table, have you tried right clicking on the feature class, data, export features.

The Copy Features tool should maintain your attribute selection.

I tested this with Pro 1.0 and everything worked.

Hopefully that helps!

-Sam

Re: Copy/paste features in ArcGIS Pro - how?

SaraJK — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 18:52:20 GMT

Thanks Sam. I'm actually trying to copy/paste the features from one feature class into an existing feature class, not create a new one. This was straight forward in ArcMap: start editing, select, ctrl+C, ctrl+V and done.

This is what happens when I click on a feature to select it in the attribute table. The drop down arrow for paste special is grayed out. When I click Paste, it copies the whole layer, not the selected features.

It works fine selecting them with the Selection tool so I'm not sure why selecting features another way is not working.

Re: Copy/paste features in ArcGIS Pro - how?

JakeSkinner — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 21:01:51 GMT

You may have discovered a bug. I would recommend logging a tech support incident so that ESRI can confirm whether or not this is a bug, and to bring this to development's attention.

In the meantime, I would recommend using the Append tool as a workaround.

Re: Copy/paste features in ArcGIS Pro - how?

JohnSobetzer — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 14:28:54 GMT

ArcGIS Pro currently lacks quite a bit of functionality that is in ArcMap. I'll hazard a guess that the inability to copy and paste as you would like is what ESRI would call "functionality to be added in later versions" or some language like that. During the beta testing that was the answer given from ESRI when it was discovered that features could not be copied and pasted using the keyboard commands (ctrl+c and ctrl+v). Nevertheless I suggest you contact tech support so that they can pass the information on to those working on later Pro versions since I don't believe this difference in selection methods for copying and pasting came up in the beta testing.

Re: Copy/paste features in ArcGIS Pro - how?

JenniferCadkin — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 16:28:47 GMT

After making the selection, please ensure the map with the selected features has focus, e.g. by clicking on the map view's tab. The Edit tab will not enable copy/paste if the GP pane has focus.

Re: Copy/paste features in ArcGIS Pro - how?

BrianFausel — Thu, 02 Mar 2017 23:26:02 GMT

Jennifer's response (click Map View tab to make it have focus) was the answer in my case.

Re: Copy/paste features in ArcGIS Pro - how?

NickHarvey — Tue, 07 Mar 2017 19:27:30 GMT

Re: Copy/paste features in ArcGIS Pro - how?

ZachAnderson2 — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 21:14:59 GMT

I just updated to 2.1.3 and this is still an issues/buggy. You still need to make sure that the Map tab is the "focus" before paste special will become available.

Re: Copy/paste features in ArcGIS Pro - how?

deleted-user-Kq6tBi-9bAzM — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 01:36:40 GMT

Unfortunately, I still get the error "Paste Features failed" (Pro 2.2.3). Perhaps this is better than yesterday (2.2.1) when it created a new feature but without any geometry.

Re: Copy/paste features in ArcGIS Pro - how?

MichaelVolz — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 18:00:17 GMT

Have you gotten this functionality to work in 2.2.3?

Re: Copy/paste features in ArcGIS Pro - how?

deleted-user-Kq6tBi-9bAzM — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 23:20:02 GMT

I did. Tried again just now and it was as simple as you would expect it to be. Worked with right-click Copy. Also worked with ribbon bar Copy and Paste Special buttons. It even brought across attributes in a predictable manner.

Edit: this afternoon I am using cadastral polygons from a different state and it is pasting property parcels with empty geometry... so I'm going to say this is a problem with my data from one state rather than an ArcPro issue. Strange because both datasets appear the same to me. Will update if I can find the source of my issues.

Re: Copy/paste features in ArcGIS Pro - how?

deleted-user-K9U1SzFzl3f7 — Thu, 24 Jan 2019 17:31:10 GMT

Yes, I also believe this is a bug. Currently using Pro 2.2.0 and I need to close arcpro and re-open the software to allow the paste button to actually appear solid and not greyed-out. It appears the copy paste function is only working between two tables - open any more than that, and a restart of pro is necessary.

Re: Copy/paste features in ArcGIS Pro - how?

MahindaAbeykoon — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 17:28:48 GMT

I had the same issue when I wanted to copy/paste point features from two different feature classes (parcPoint_5 and parcPoint_6) to one feature class (parcPoint5_6). I added all three to a Pro project map through Add Data tool.

First, I left click one feature class and selected all features and in Edit menu copied to clipboard. Then I found ‘Past’ dropdown arrow is grayed out, no ‘Paste Special’ tool. When I pasted it simply add a same layer again to the map. (I think Pro is designed this way to protect data.)

Second, I selected all features with the Select arrow of the edit Manu, and copied to clipboard. I found dropdown arrow activated. However when I try to past it to the new layer, with Past Special tool, error window popped up ‘This data is currently locked by another user, cannot be saved.

Then through Pro database connection I add the database to the catalog and moved the data set with three feature classes to the ArcPro project’s default database. Removed the three feature classes from the map and drag and dropped three feature classes from the project’s default database connection. Since then copy paste all worked fine in the Edit menu tools.

Hope this helps!

Re: Copy/paste features in ArcGIS Pro - how?

AlderMaps — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 04:11:46 GMT

Still an issue in 2.3.1 but focusing the current map pane works--thanks!

Re: Copy/paste features in ArcGIS Pro - how?

JonDouglas — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 12:05:47 GMT

thanks Jennifer