Deprecated tools

A deprecated geoprocessing tool is a tool that has been replaced by other tools. The tool remains in ArcGIS AllSource, but no further development is performed on it.

Deprecation process

Tools are deprecated when Esri develops a new tool or tools that provide the functionality in a better way. User feedback is instrumental in the development of new tools. Esri does not take the decision to deprecate a tool lightly; the replacement tool or tools must be superior to the deprecated tool. The documentation for the deprecated tool also contains information about the replacement tool.

In the initial release that a tool is deprecated, a banner is affixed to the top of the tool when opened from the Geoprocessing pane. This banner will indicate that the tool is deprecated and will encourage you to migrate to alternative methods. The documentation for the tool will provide similar information.

One to three releases after the initial deprecation stage, a deprecated tool will become fully deprecated. Existing models and scripts that use a deprecated tool can still be run, but the tool is no longer accessible in the Geoprocessing pane. You are encouraged to migrate to alternative methods that are noted in a banner on the Geoprocesssing pane, and in the documentation for the deprecated tool. The documentation for the tool is no longer visible in the table of contents in the help and can only be accessed through the topic URL.

In addition, deprecation of a tool occurs when a tool is moved to another toolbox to better organize related tools. The tool remains in the original location but is deprecated to avoid duplication. The tool in the original toolbox is hidden, and the tool in the other toolbox becomes the location from which you will interact with the tool.

Use of deprecated tools

A deprecated tool is still installed with ArcGIS AllSource so that your existing models and scripts continue to work.

You can add a deprecated tool in ModelBuilder by copying the tool from an existing model. The existing model must be a model you created in a previous version of ArcGIS—a version in which the tool was not deprecated.

You can add a deprecated tool to a script if you know the alias of the toolbox that contains the deprecated tool. It is added in the same way as a tool that is not deprecated.

Long-term support for deprecated tools

Deprecated tools are typically included with every version of ArcGIS, so your existing models or scripts will continue to work. However, if technical circumstances occur that make it impossible to include a deprecated tool, the tool will be removed from the installation.