Deleting feature classes from GDB is incredibly slow

[Scoth]

I'm using ArcPro 3.1.0 and it is ridiculously slow to delete feature classes from a GDB. This line FC only has 973 features, and they aren't that complex or large, and it takes a few minutes to delete it. That may not sound like a lot, but it adds up when I have to do it many times. It makes my daily work very frustrating and time consuming.

Has anyone had similar experiences? Any solutions?

[DanPatterson]

To close the circle from previous threads

Arc Pro Slow to delete feature class - Esri Community

[BranislavBlagojevic]

Old problem of ArcGIS Pro/Catalog. It was present in all versions 1x and 2x. Typically, as a non-user, ESRI never addressed it!

[Scoth · Accepted solution]

I actually had good results deleting unnecessary Maps, and removing unnecessary GDBs from the project. Not sure which one helped, but my guess is the project (aprx) just became too bloated. I had like 10 maps, and 20 GDBs. I didn't delete the GDBs, just removed the ones I wasn't using from my project. It's a bit weird that the number/size of other GDBs would affect deletion speed of feature classes in one GDB, but I've seen weirder things.

[ScottFedak2085]

I was back on this issue today, and just wanted to add to this Solved Topic for anyone who falls upon it. I tend to maintain pretty bloated projects and run into Catalog running slow on simple tasks like Delete or Rename quite often, and I found something that seems to be working for now.

What seems to be working for me when a project gets slow is checking for any broken links in the maps. I do this by quickly trying to export the project file to disk (see screenshot below). When you analyze using this GP tool, it will identify any Data Sources that are broken in the entire project as you can't export without doing so. Using the 3-bubble icon with any error that pops up, you can get directed right to the culprit and repair the link or remove the layer. Every time I've been doing this, I notice significant improvement in Catalog operations after.

[BranislavBlagojevic]

@ScottFedak2085, to test ‘Rename’ or ‘Delete’ FC, table, raster dataset or mosaic in Catalog View or Pane; open NEW - empty project and in default gdB create eg. FC (or any other) then test ‘Rename’ or ‘Delete’ function. After tell us results! Thanks!