topic Re: Can you make GDBs or feature classes "read only" access with no "editing/write" access? in Geodatabase Questions

Can you make GDBs or feature classes "read only" access with no "editing/write" access?

deleted-user-FmkhXNDiaqAF — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 21:36:31 GMT

I know you can license a GDB which requires the end user to need license key, but is there a way to make GDBs or feature classes or shapefiles "read only" so the end user cannot edit the data? I saw somewhere that the only way to do this is to set the permissions in the Windows folder on Explorer to "Read only". Is that correct?

Re: Can you make GDBs or feature classes "read only" access with no "editing/write" access?

JoshuaBixby — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 14:43:53 GMT

If managing permissions/access to data is important, the best option is to work with enterprise geodatabases. You can compress a file geodatabase, which makes it read-only, but someone could uncompress it if they want. Also, there can be issues with certain workflows/tool and compressed data. Since file geodatabases are file-system based, you can also make the folder read-only as you have already read about.

There is no security model built into file geodatabases (licensing isn't really a security model) so there is no proper way to secure them. If you shared why you want to make the file geodatabase read-only, people might be able to provide additional ideas.

Re: Can you make GDBs or feature classes "read only" access with no "editing/write" access?

EdJuarbe — Thu, 21 Dec 2023 20:30:15 GMT

Although not directly from a GDB, if you have access to ArcGIS Online (I assume so if you have ArcGIS Enterprise database), or ArcGIS Portal (Server), you can publish a map service. This will render those layers to be uneditable. From there, you can create a web map and/or web app to view the data. If using ESRI desktop apps, you can also pull the published service layers into your GIS mapping application.