Edit two layers at the same time in separate open popups or panes (Instant App - Web Editor)

[Bud]

I have a "Review Survey Submission" feature layer and an "External Map Points" feature layer.

I want to edit an existing point from "Review Survey Submission" (edit the Status field) as well as copy its values and paste them into a new "External Map Points" point feature. In other words, I want to edit both layers at the same time in separate open popups or panes.

As far as I can tell, this can't be done in the Web Editor - Instant App. Could this functionality be added? I don't want to use the attribute table by switching back and forth between layer tables to copy/paste the values.

Here's a screenshot of what it would look like in Experience Builder with two separate Edit widgets. Experience Builder might work for this - TBD. But I want to submit this idea for Web Editor as well, since it would be good to have multiple app options.

Related: Map Viewer — Edit two layers at the same time in separate open popups or panes

[EmilyGeo]

Hi @Bud, 

thanks for sharing your idea and your use case. This helps us understand what editing workflows you need to achieve. 

In the meantime, there are some options that could simplify your workflow.

1. Copy/Paste. If you are creating a new point based on an existing point, you could start by Copying the Survey point and use Paste Special to paste it into the other layer. Check the option to preserve the attributes. 

2 Arcade. Using arcade calculated expressions you can fetch data from fields in other layers and paste that into designated fiels in your form. You would set up Arcade expressions (using the Feature set function) for each field you want to populate. This article can walk you through the steps: https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-online/mapping/catch-more-waves-using-arcade-featur...

[Bud]

Thanks @EmilyGeo. I can see those techniques being helpful in many cases.

In this case, we want the workflow to be somewhat involved, on purpose. The public enters information about Indigenous artifacts into a survey. Then an internal staff member holds multiple meetings with stakeholders about each individual survey point. And then finally copies some of the info from the survey point into a new point in a different layer, and enters additional attributes, which will be displayed on a public web map. We're only talking 10-20 points in total here, so not a big number.

We've made the process manual to force the internal user to take a really close look at what they're doing to avoid issues.

[Bud]

@EmilyGeo 

Would I be right in saying #1 only applies to Web Editor, not Experience Builder (I'm using Experience Builder).

And #2 applies to any app (Web Editor and Experience Builder, etc.) since the Arcade is set up at the web map level.

[EmilyGeo]

Hi @Bud,  

Yes you can use Copy and Paste in Web Editor. Experience builder now supports copy/paste as well. You can enable copy/paste in the advanced editing tools section of the Editor.

When you set up Arcade expressions in forms, those carry through to all the downstream apps / anywhere that you use the Editor. 

[Bud]

@EmilyGeo Regarding #2 - Arcade expression in form.

How would the form for the new point in "External Map Points" know what point to grab attributes from in "Review Survey Submission"?

Thanks.

[EmilyGeo]

To pull data from another feature, you can query it with FeatureSetByName() or FeatureSetById(), or find it spatially using functions like Intersects(). The article linked above has a code sample using Intersect that you can copy and paste- but to intersect Points you'll want to use buffer() to make it run more smoothly. 

[Bud]

 @AlixVezina said this a couple of weeks ago:

Copy and Paste in now available in Experience Builder in ArcGIS Online. It will also be available in Enterprise 12.1 which is targeted for May 2026. You can find it in the Edit widget, when using "Interact with a Map widget" Mode. The option is at the bottom of the Content panel, as part of the Advanced editing tools.

Copy Features for Experience Builder