ArcGIS Pro Project performance degradation over time

[NickN]

For example, I have a Pro Project that I use for editing a parcel fabric in an enterprise setting. In this project: a single map with the fabric layers and a point feature class we're using to verify control.

As I edit the fabric, over time, maybe a week or two, various tasks start slowing down. Tool panes take a few seconds to load, sometimes the entire UI greys out for a few seconds. For example, when this project was brand new, I could select a few fabric points, click the Merge Points tool, select the point, see the preview, hit Merge and it was done...all in a couple seconds.

Fast forward after a couple of weeks of editing, I highlight some points, click Merge Points....wait a few seconds for the panel to open...blank for a second then it loads the points to select from. Takes another second or two for the Merge button to light up...wait for the preview to draw...then click Merge and wait another couple seconds for the operation to complete.

Workaround? Something in projects is degrading performance over time. What I've been doing to work around this is I select all the layers I am working with in the Contents Pane and save that out as a layer file. I then create a new project, bring in that layer file, then everything is snappy again...for a week or two. At which point I repeat the process.

I'm just curious if others are dealing with the same thing, and what you all are doing to deal with this. It's not just my Parcel Fabric editor project, either...this happens with most (all?) projects that are used frequently over time, and seems to be worse if you're adding/removing layers a lot. But it still does it in my Fabric project which I never add any layers to except the initial fabric and control layers.

[DanPatterson]

Have you ruled out the usual culprits? There are a number

Troubleshooting Performance Issues in ArcGIS Pro

If you are having specific problems with Fabric projects, Tech Support could put you in contact with the appropriate team to examine your case.

[NickN]

yeah, I've been through that and other lists before. My question is from a different angle that things get worse over time. The first day or two I'm in there editing everything is fine. It just slows down as I use it, day by day. This is without adding any new data layers.

That document even suggests: "Add the same data to a new or untitled project. Does the performance problem persist? Slower performance might be related to a large or bloated project."

In my case, yes, it does solve the performance issue, for a few days. Large or bloated is subjective...is a map with only the fabric layers for editing bloated?

[DanPatterson]

As I suggested, This would be of interest to those responsible for fabric data and they may have insights that aren't available in the public Support issues list.

[NickN]

well, the fabric project is just my current situation, it's not limited to fabric data. I have other users editing regular feature classes using traditional versioning, or even local file gdbs. For people who aren't in them and editing everyday I usually don't hear of issues from them. For others, their path to a slow project might take longer but it gets there eventually and the "fix" is always to start a new project.

[Eugene_Adkins]

As Dan suggested, there are "usual" issues along with the "unusual" ones that can be difficult to identify.

One "usual" suggestion that you will find (and you may already have this option enabled) is to clear your cache when you close your aprx. This setting is found in the Options pane/Display settings of the aprx itself, and to enable it, provide the checkmark in the "Clear Cache" line:

[NickN]

yep, I already had that turned on.

[Eugene_Adkins]

Figured you did. There have been identified bugs with the parcel fabric network in the past (which it sounds like you'd already be aware of), and no doubt there are new ones out there to still identify. I once worked with tech-support for approximately 3 months before we identified a bug that was previously thought to only apply to the parcel fabric setup ... obviously it was not, and it was similarly affecting my daily workflow in a newer version of Pro that would bog down the software to a snail's pace after about 15 minutes of edits. Sometimes workflows can be very unique, and not all users have readily available access to tech-support, so your best chance may be to slowly nail down a workflow that "proves you aren't doing anything wrong" and then hopefully the tech-support/development team can identify the culprit.  Good luck!

[Eugene_Adkins]

Not sure what version of Pro you're using but I thought I'd pass this along this post by chance it's 3.3 just so you know you're not the only one feeling the pain. I "fear" updates and have seen several negative reactions to 3.3.x and this is why I've decided to stay at 3.1.X for a while. The version takes care of all the functionality I need without any major bugs that get in the way.

[Debert]

Not fabric related, but I have/am/do experience regular glitches in Pro. It seems the more I process, edit, and add to a project; the higher chance of errors occurring. The fix Support usually offers is start a new project, extract as a new feature class, go back and grab an earlier subsequent dataset, re-process the data, etc.

I am dealing with a large map, containing ~240 feature class, covering 18 counties, all denoted by unique symbology. I've had issues with data disappearing while importing/processing data, merging feature datasets, publishing web maps/mmpks, etc.
For instance, I'll publish multiple web maps and then all of the sudden (process hasn't changed) one of the feature datasets disappears. Or I'll publish multiple mmpks and then all of the sudden the default basemap is missing. It seems like it's always something... At this point, its common practice to double check everything and repeatedly continue checking.

In the last year, I've logged 70 cases, 9 bugs, and 6 enhancements. It's wild out here.