Pro Catalog View data management
I'm not sure I completely understand what the issue is, but it sounds like you're talking about the difference between changing field order in a LAYER vs. changing field order in the DATA SOURCE.
If you change the order in the layer, yes, that is only persisted in the layer, which is part of a map. If you want the field order to be maintained regardless of the layer, change the order of the data source itself.
Is this getting at what you're describing?
Yes, that is exactly what the issue is.
It doesn't matter if I am in the Catalog view or pane, when I select Design/Fields for any feature class and the above image is the reference, I cannot change the order of the fields. I get a slashed circle when attempting to drag field to the new position. Above the fields were added at a later date than feature class creation and it would be nice to have the PIPE_CLASS & PRESSURE_CLASS right under the PIPE_SIZE. This is really only a convenience matter most specifically so in Collector the field workers do not have to scroll to the field and I do not have to rearrange in the pop-up. I typically fix as I develop a new geodatabase (copy) from an existing blank geodatabase by just opening each copied layer and moving the fields before I populate the feature class. Would like to just fix the blank geodatabase instead of recreation or having to do what I describe above.
