The spatial data and other resources that you work with in ArcGIS AllSource may be located in various places: on your computer, on network computers, in remote databases, in cloud stores, or in web portals. To use these resources in an ArcGIS AllSource project, you can browse to their locations on disk, or add them as project connections for direct access. In the case of remotely located resources, you create connection files on your computer that store the information needed to access the resource.
You can make project connections to items such as the following:
Connections appear in the Catalog pane and on browse dialog boxes.
Item connections have the following benefits:
- You can quickly browse to items for use in a project.
- The contents of folder, toolbox, and database connections are indexed and can be found by searching a project.
- Project packages and project templates include these connections. People with whom you share a package or template can use the connections without knowing in advance where the data is stored.
- Projects can be archived effectively.
If you plan to use an item, such as your C:\MyData folder, in many projects, you can make it a project favorite. A favorite can be added quickly to any project from the Catalog pane. You can also designate a favorite to be added automatically to all new projects.