Create Project Template Packages All Data?

[TylerSchwartz2]

I am trying to Create a Project Template (Using Share=>Project Template) and it is packaging all of my Basemap layers to the Project. I want my custom basemap to be linked locally (like it is currently in the project), not packaged up.

I have a custom basemap that I created with the 2016 Business Analyst dataset.  The basemap data are stored locally on my C: drive and were added through Insert => Add Data button on the ribbon to my Basemap layer within the project. My project consists of a map (with custom basemap layer added), a custom basemap, and a layout (customized legend, map frame, etc). I am trying to create a template that incorporates these elements, so that myself and others can create consistent maps with everything already setup and ready to go. (This was very easy to do in ArcMap with a premade mxd)

According to: Project package—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS for Desktop: 

"unchecking the Share outside of organization option is a good choice. Enterprise database data, UNC path data, styles, and connections in your map will be referenced, not copied, to the project package." 

However, even unchecked, creating a project template yields a folder size of 25GB.  In fact, checking or unchecking seems to make no difference.  Either way it still re-copies over my locally stored and linked basemap data into my templates folder...Why?

So, asking the question again to ESRI staff that might be reading this. How do we create a project template that does not package the entire basemap/layers in the project, but simply links them to the local data? I would like to know exactly, in clear terms how to do this or if it not possible.

In ArcMap, all I had to do was setup an MXD (with the basemap already added and linked locally and layout-legend, data frame-already created), save it on our network for other users to pull down and use as their map template.  Is this not possible in Pro?  Is that not the purpose of a Project Template?  Why does it need to copy all of the data to a separate folder instead of linking it, and why cant we control whether a package copies these data or not?  Is this a bug?

I have attached screenshots of my settings.  Obviously, as you can see by the 4GB folder size, its still packaging my basemap... Again, my project contains a Map, a Basemap, and a Layout, with the 2016 Business Analyst Basemap data all linked from my local C: drive.

[RMaron]

Sorry for the delay, I didn't have much time for APRO experiments recently. While ESRI Germany also judges the whole thing as not expected behaviour, ESRI Headquater says the following:

This is the expected behaviour: "The procedures for sharing project templates are the same as for sharing project packages".

The documentation at https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/help/projects/create-your-own-project-template.htm refers in the paragraph "Creating a project template and share it with others" to the fact that the considerations for sharing project templates are the same as for sharing project packages.
This takes you to the documentation for sharing project packages: https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/help/sharing/overview/project-package.htm . Here, what is referenced is listed by table. According to this, only UNC paths or enterprise geodatabase data would be referenced in your process.

So for the time being, the only option is to use UNC paths (and that really works!). However, this is easier said than done, APRO doesn't make it easy. But someone has figured it out and kindly shared the procedure here: https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-pro-questions/arcgis-pro-project-does-not-save-unc-path/td-p/46...

The extremely tedious diversions via UNC paths is by no means satisfactory for me, but at least it works. However, I do not understand why data handling is not simply left to the user when creating project templates. for example, with a simple and clear listing of all sources so that I can control my desired handling for each source individually.

e.g. like this:

Whether a path is actually available on another computer on which the template may then be used should be my problem and not that of APRO.

If a path does not exist, the user/employee can fix it as usual. This is especially interesting if users have saved image data locally on their computers for performance reasons, but other project data is on network drives. In this way, I can integrate the image layer itself into the template, and each user adjusts the path individually when using it for the first time.