How do I make a copy of my story map that I can save with a different title?

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08-29-2020 11:28 AM
KateGersh
New Contributor

I want to make a second copy of my story map so that I can play around with making changes, while not changing the original story map. Can you please tell me how to do this? Thank you!

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OwenGeo
Esri Notable Contributor

Hi Kate -- There's no simple way to do this if you are using one of the classic storytelling templates (Cascade, Journal, Series, etc.), but if you are using the latest ArcGIS StoryMaps builder, you can duplicate a story from the ... menu in the header.

See this blog for the announcement of this feature: What’s New in ArcGIS StoryMaps (April 2020) 

Owen Evans
Lead Product Engineer | StoryMaps

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OwenGeo
Esri Notable Contributor

Hi Kate -- There's no simple way to do this if you are using one of the classic storytelling templates (Cascade, Journal, Series, etc.), but if you are using the latest ArcGIS StoryMaps builder, you can duplicate a story from the ... menu in the header.

See this blog for the announcement of this feature: What’s New in ArcGIS StoryMaps (April 2020) 

Owen Evans
Lead Product Engineer | StoryMaps
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JTLancer
New Contributor II

@KateGersh wrote:

I want to make a second copy of my story map so that I can play around with making changes, while not changing the original story map. Can you please tell me how to do this? Thank you!


While @OwenGeo says there is no simple way, I have found that there is a non-simple way.  


I've had success using ArcGIS Online Assistant.  There is options to copy content.  Keep in mind, if you copy a story map, all the references are still pointed at the original content so if there is a requirement to test changes to the content within the story map, those items will need to be copied too.  I've used this tool to deal with the issue of having a relatively complex public facing app that needed modification.  Working on  live app is risky as there is no undo button in AGOL.  I copied the app and all of the dashboards and maps used in the app and then used the View and Item's JSON to copy out the JSON files.  If you look carefully at a the JSON, you will find the URLs that reference the content in the app.  I was then able to use a JSON editor to update the URLs to direct to my test copies of all the content.  You need to be very careful when taking this approach or you can break things.  Always copy a backup of the code before making any modifications.  

The result was a functioning copy of my story map with copies of the content within it that I could use to then make updates as I saw fit without affecting the live version. In my case, I made a bunch of changes to dashboards and was able to present those changes to our team for approval. Once they were in satisfactory shape, I went into the live app, edited the JSON file to point at my updated dashboards, and BOOM! I had my updates live.  Alternatively, I could have used the copy as the main story map.  In my case, the original URL had been widely shared and we did not want to have to deal with the backlash of everyone who may have that URL bookmarked or referenced somewhere.

Unfortunately there is not an quick and easy way that I've found to copy a story map and all related content into a test environment.  That would be extremely useful, but ESRI is not there yet.  Having versioned content would be a fantastic improvement.  This is the best way I've found so far to get around those limitations.

https://ago-assistant.esri.com/

JTLancer_1-1631887844554.png

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alee722
New Contributor

I found a method slightly simpler than @JTLancer, though it still requires navigating to https://ago-assistant.esri.com/ where you need to be very careful you don't break anything. Here's what I did

Under "I want to..." click Copy Content 

alee722_0-1648830342761.png

Then drag the item from the left pane to the right pane where it says "Drop items to copy to this folder"

alee722_1-1648830406154.png

And that should do it! At least thats what worked for me.

 

ElisseDeleissegues1
New Contributor III

I am signed into ago-assistant and Copy Content does not include StoryMap as an option. The StoryMaps I am interested in copying are all created with the newer StoryMap builder.

I don't see that Dashboards or Web Experience Apps are an option either. Is there a trick to this that I am missing?

ElisseDeleissegues1_0-1698456282620.png

 

 

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OwenGeo
Esri Notable Contributor

@ElisseDeleissegues1 From your screenshots it looks like you are using the original version of this tool (AGO Assistant). There is a shiny new version available called the ArcGIS Assistant. Check it out here: ArcGIS Assistant (esri-ps.com)

Please note ArcGIS Assistant is not an official/supported Esri product, but it can be helpful for certain workflows. Please be sure to read the user guide and warnings page for helpful information about using this tool. You can also learn more about using the new ArcGIS Assistant to copy StoryMaps here: Common Workflows | ArcGIS Assistant User Guide (esri-ps.com)

Owen Evans
Lead Product Engineer | StoryMaps