Copying new style Story Map from AGOL to ArcGIS Portal

[VickyGoosen]

Hi.

I am trying to copy over a new style ArcGIS Story Map from AGOL to our ArcGIS Portal (v10.8.1) using the AGO-Assistant, however it doesn't seem to allow me to do so . The item does show up but  appears greyed out and therefore I am unable to copy it across (circled in attached image). Is this not available as yet and perhaps is something for future development? or is there another way of doing this?

One of our users originally created the new style Story Map via the Story Map app in AGOL, and made it  viewable to a specific group only, as the new Story Map app wasn't in our version of Portal at the time. Now that we have upgraded to Portal 10.8.1, we assumed that the transition of the new style Story Map from AGOL would be possible. Any insight or information about this would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

[OwenGeo · Accepted solution]

StoryMaps have many components including the text, uploaded media files (images, videos, audio), express maps, web maps/scenes, and layers. To successfully move a story, all of these pieces must be copied, reconnected, and work the same way.

While this can be done in some situations, moving a story from ArcGIS Online to an ArcGIS Enterprise portal is not supported.

The main reason for this is because the version of ArcGIS StoryMaps, even on the most recent version of ArcGIS Enterprise, is always several months behind the ArcGIS Online version. Enterprise does not support many of the new block types and features that may appear in a story that was created using the (more-recent) Online version of ArcGIS StoryMaps. While Enterprise of course gets lots of new capability in each release, it never "catches up" to Online at any specific point in time due to the different release cycles for installed software vs. cloud software.

I think your options in this situation are to leave the story where it is (Online) or rebuild the story on the Enterprise portal. Note that some features that you've used in the story may not be available in Enterprise.

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Since it was mentioned above, I wanted to note that while the classic AGO-Assistant has lots of useful capabilities, it's a community-driven project (not an Esri-supported product) and has not had any active development for several years.

It has also never been a reliable tool for copying stories (either new or classic) because it does not support copying files (image, video, audio, express maps) that are stored with a story. It may work to copy a very simple story in which everything is referenced from the web, like on Flickr or YouTube, but it cannot create a complete copy of most stories.

These newer tools may be useful in other situations where there's a need to copy/move a story (besides from Online to Enterprise).

• ArcGIS StoryMaps has a duplicate feature in the story builder. This is useful if you need to make a copy of a story for your own use or for someone else in your organization (an administrator can transfer the copy to another member's account, if needed).
• You can use the duplicate feature in conjunction with the new partnered collaboration capability of ArcGIS Online to copy a story between organizations. Here's an article describing how to do that.
• There's a new, community-driven ArcGIS Assistant project underway. It's a complete rewrite of the classic tool that's built with modern tech and design patterns. It's currently in beta, but it can copy an entire story (new or classic), including its media resources. This is useful if you need to copy many stories at once or copy a story from one organization to another.
• This python notebook, created by a member of the community, can clone a story and its content (maps, layers, etc).

[VickyGoosen]

Thank you so much @OwenGeo for these comprehensive notes , I now have a much better understanding - much appreciated!

[MaryJaneMaher]

Hi Owen, I wanted to know if there has been any changes to this answer in 2024? (fingers crossed)