ArcGIS Desktop Mxd File Conversion to ArcGIS Pro

3687
7
01-06-2017 07:04 AM
MichaelVolz
Esteemed Contributor

Can ArcGIS Desktop mxds be read into ArcGIS Professional with all settings maintained and then saved in the ArcGIS Pro format?

If not, is there a conversion tool that will allow the settings of mxds to be maintained if the work in the mxd is then moved to ArcGIS Professional so all the work to create the mxd is not lost, especially if the mxd was quite complex and very time consuming to duplicate? 

Tags (1)
0 Kudos
7 Replies
DanPatterson_Retired
MVP Emeritus

I will say no... because there will be something that isn't perfect.  You can look at the help topic

For ArcMap users—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS for Desktop 

and see some the cavaets and errors/deficiencies if you search using 'import mxd' in the help

Search Result | ArcGIS Desktop 

of course there is nothing lost by trying it yourself.  Once installed, you don't have to use it again if things don't work out.

0 Kudos
MichaelVolz
Esteemed Contributor

Thanks for the reply Dan.

In your second link, the documentation says "Some of the data formats available in other ArcGIS for Desktop applications are not supported in ArcGIS Pro; layers that reference these formats in the original map may not draw successfully after being imported. Convert these datasets to a supported format using the data conversion geoprocessing tools. Afterwards, the imported map layers can be connected to the converted datasets."

Unfortunately, it does not say specifically which formats available in ArcGIS for Desktop are not supported in ArcGIS Pro. Would you or anyone else on the geonet or an employee of ESRI know which ArcGIS for Desktop data formats are not supported in ArcGIS Pro?

0 Kudos
Robert_LeClair
Esri Notable Contributor

Michael - data stored in Microsoft Access Personal Geodatabases are not supported in ArcGIS Pro and would need to be copied into a file geodatabase in order to work with the data.  The reason for this lack of support is Access is a 32-bit application while Pro is a 64-bit program.

0 Kudos
DanPatterson_Retired
MVP Emeritus

And there are lists of lists... like ... Supported data types and items—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS for Desktop 

0 Kudos
MichaelVolz
Esteemed Contributor

Robert:

Are there any other data formats that would not get imported from desktop to Pro besides personal geodatabases?

0 Kudos
MichaelVolz
Esteemed Contributor

Now if I have 32-bit Oracle Client connections to an SDEP database, they will break when I convert the mxd to ArcGIS Pro as that would require 64-bit Oracle Client connections to the SDEP database?

Has anyone encountered this issue and fixed the broken links in an automated fashion as a manual fix on thousands of mxds would take quite a long time to complete?

0 Kudos
JayJohnson2
Occasional Contributor
0 Kudos