Manage hosted feature layer editing

Who can edit the contents of a hosted feature layer, hosted feature layer view, or hosted table depends on multiple factors.

• Settings on the hosted layer
• The user's role in the organization
• Group settings and membership

Some of these factors work in combination to produce the desired editing access.

The layer owner, organization administrators, and members of shared update groups with which the layer is shared can edit a hosted feature layer or table layer's contents even when editing is not enabled on the layer. The only exception to this is if editing is disabled for specific fields in the layer; no one can edit those.

Settings that control editing access

You can change the settings on the hosted feature layer or view to control whether editing is allowed and what types of edits can be made.

The settings described in this section implement functionality for users who are not the layer owner or an organization administrator. To perform the editing operations enabled on the layer, these users must be members of a default or custom role that has the privilege to edit features.

If you enable editing on the layer, you can further control editing through the following configurations:

• Keep track when and by whom edits are made on each feature in the layer, and use that information to restrict feature access based on the editor's login credentials.
• Disable editing for individual fields in layers in the feature layer.
• Allow or prevent editing of true curve features.
• Allow or prevent editable layers to be shared with the public.

In addition to these editing settings, you can configure the feature layer to allow people to take the feature layer offline or share it in a collaboration. Feature layers are usually taken offline or shared in a collaboration for editing purposes, but editing is not required.

Enable editing and configure the types of edits that are allowed

On the Settings tab of the hosted feature layer's item page, layer owners or organization administrators can enable editing and choose the type of editing that is allowed.

1. Sign in to your organization.

   You must be the layer owner or a member of the default administrator role or a custom role assigned the set of privileges to manage all content owned by organization members.

2. Open the item page for the hosted feature layer or hosted table.
3. Click the Settings tab.
4. Scroll to the Feature layer (hosted) or Feature layer (hosted, view) section and enable the Enable editing toggle button.

   Note:

   You cannot enable editing or synchronization on joined hosted feature layer views.

5. Enable the Keep track of changes to the data (add, update, delete features) toggle button to track changes made to the hosted feature layer's spatial and nonspatial attributes.

   The Keep track of changes to the data (add, update, delete features) option allows custom applications to identify which features have been added, updated, or deleted. This setting is enabled automatically when you publish a tile layer from the hosted feature layer, because it is necessary to keep the two layers in sync.

   When this setting is enabled, changes to the feature layer are recorded in a system change log. As the size of the log increases over time, it takes up more space and uses more credits. You can periodically trim this change log to reduce its size.

   If you publish a hosted tile layer from the hosted feature layer, and the hosted tile layer is configured to build tiles automatically, you cannot disable the Keep track of changes to the data (add, update, delete features) option on the hosted feature layer.

6. Under Editing capabilities, choose one of the following editing options:
   • Add—Allow editors to add feature geometry. Editors can also provide attribute values when they create the feature. Once it's created, editors must have the Update privilege to change the feature or its attributes.
   • Delete—Allow editors to delete features.
   • Update—Allow editors to update feature geometry and attributes. To allow editors to update attributes only and not update feature geometry—in other words, you don't want them to move features—choose Attributes only.

     If the hosted feature layer contains multiple layers, follow these steps to allow editors to update feature geometry and attributes on some layers and update attributes only on others:

   1. Choose Attributes and geometry under the Update option.
   2. Click Manage geometry updates.
   3. Disable the toggle button for each layer for which you want editors to only update attributes.

      Editors can edit geometry and attributes for any layers that have the toggle button enabled.

   4. Click OK when you finish.
7. Click Save at the top of the Settings tab.

Control edit access based on an editor's username

As the item owner or an organization administrator, you can configure the hosted feature layer or hosted table to record the username of the user who creates or updates data in the layer. This is useful if you need to contact editors when you have questions.

Keeping track of the username of a feature or row creator or an editor also allows you to restrict which data users can see or update.

1. Sign in to your organization.

   You must be the layer owner or a member of the default administrator role or a custom role assigned the set of privileges to manage all content owned by organization members.

2. Open the item page for the hosted feature layer or hosted table.
3. Click the Settings tab.
4. Scroll to the Feature layer (hosted) or Table layer (hosted) section and enable the Keep track of who edited the data (editor name, date and time) toggle button to track editors' usernames and further control what editors can see and do with the layer.

   Hosted feature layer views inherit this setting from the hosted feature layer from which they are created and the setting cannot be configured independently. To enable or disable editor tracking for a hosted feature layer view, change the editor tracking setting on the hosted feature layer from which the view was created.

   By default, the Editors can see all features setting is enabled. Now you can apply the following additional restrictions to the hosted table, hosted feature layer, or the feature layer's dependent views. These are useful if the hosted feature layer or feature layer view is going to be used in crowdsourcing apps in which you want to limit what contributors see or what control each contributor has over the data.

5. If you want editors to only see the features or rows that they create, select Editors can only see their own features (requires editor tracking) under the What features can editors see setting.

   Enable this option if the layer contains sensitive or proprietary information, such as medical records or research data for which editors may only have clearance to work with the data they collect.

6. If you don't want users other than the item owner or organization administrator to see any features or rows, including those they add, choose Editors can't see any features, even those they add under the What features can editors see setting.

   Enable this option when the editor doesn't need to or shouldn't see newly added features. For example, if you have people collecting survey information from the public using apps such as ArcGIS Survey123, you may not want anyone using the app, even those providing survey input, to see the information the survey respondents provide, as it could be private or sensitive information such as the respondent's home address.

   Note:

   When Editors can't see any features, even those they add is enabled, data is not visible to anyone in any ArcGIS apps.

   When the owner of the item or a member of the default administrator role adds the layer to Map Viewer, that user sees all features in the layer even if the Editors can't see any features, even those they add option is enabled. Similarly, if you share the item with a group configured to allow editing of all contents (a shared update group), members of this group also see all features or rows.

7. To restrict edits based on the creator of the feature or row, select Editors can only edit their own features (requires editor tracking) under the What features can editors edit setting.

   This allows editors to delete or modify the features or rows they create but not delete or modify features or rows created by other users.

8. If you want anonymous users (those who access the hosted feature layer or table without signing in to your organization) to only be allowed to add features or rows, select Only add new features, if allowed above (requires editor tracking) under the What access do anonymous editors (not signed in) have setting.

   This prevents anonymous users from editing existing features or rows while still allowing these edits to be made by editors who are members of your organization.

   Note:

   This setting is only applicable if the item is shared with everyone (public). If the item is not public, anonymous users cannot access it.

9. Click Save at the top of the Settings tab.

Control edits on a per-field basis

If you enable attribute updates on a hosted feature layer or hosted feature layer view, you can further control which fields others can edit.

This field setting is configured separately for a hosted feature layer and its related hosted feature layer views.

Note:

When you configure a field so that it cannot be edited, no one can edit its contents, including you (the owner) and the organization administrator, until you enable editing again. This means that you also cannot calculate values for that field.

Because no one can edit the field, it is recommended that you create a hosted feature layer view, enable editing on it, disable field edits on specific fields for layers in the view (explained below), and share the view with groups who should edit it.

You cannot disable edits for system fields such as the object ID or shape field.

Follow these steps to disable editing for a field in a layer in a hosted feature layer or hosted feature layer view:

1. Sign in to your organization.

   You must be the layer owner or a member of the default administrator role or a custom role assigned the set of privileges to manage all content owned by organization members.

2. Open the item page of the editable layer that contains fields that you don't want anyone to edit.
3. Click the Data tab and click the Fields button .
4. From the Layer drop-down menu, choose the layer you want to configure and click the name of the field for which you want to alter edit settings.

   Information for the field appears.

5. Click the Edit button next to Editing.
6. Choose one of the following options to control editing for the field:
   • Choose Enable editing to allow qualifying users to edit the values in this field.
   • Choose Disable editing to prevent all users from editing the values in this field.
7. Click Save.

If you disabled editing, no one can edit the values in the specified field using this item.

Note:

When you change the editing setting on a field in a hosted feature layer view, the field property in the view shows that it overrides the setting from the source hosted feature layer. You can revert this and other settings to those inherited from the hosted feature layer by clicking Reset to source.

Allow or prevent editing of true curve features

When you publish features that are defined as circular arcs, they are stored in the ArcGIS Online feature database as true curves. True curves are defined mathematically rather than as a series of short, straight line segments held together with vertices to approximate an arc. Because they do not require multiple parts to compose them, true curves take up less storage space and appear smoother.

By default, true curves can be edited, but only from clients that can support editing true curves without overwriting them with the line and vertex approximations (also referred to as densified lines). At this time, the following ArcGIS clients or apps can edit true curves:

• ArcGIS Pro
• ArcGIS Web Editor
• Apps created using ArcGIS Maps SDKs

Follow these steps to disable or enable editing of true curves in an editable hosted feature layer or to allow or disallow editing true curves in clients that cannot support it:

1. Sign in to your organization.

   You must be the layer owner or a member of the default administrator role or a custom role assigned the set of privileges to manage all content owned by organization members.

2. Open the item page of the editable hosted feature layer that contains true curve features.

   These settings cannot be altered on hosted feature layer views.

3. Click the Settings tab.
4. Scroll to the Feature layer (hosted) section.
5. Under True curves, enable or disable the appropriate toggle button to specify the settings that you require.
   • To prevent all users and clients from editing the geometry of true curve features in the hosted feature layer, disable the toggle button next to Allow update of true curves.
   • To allow updates to the geometry of true curve features, enable the toggle button next to Allow update of true curves.
   • If editing of true curves is allowed, enable the toggle button next to Only allow true curve updates by true curve clients to ensure the circular arc features in the hosted feature layer are not overwritten by polygons.
   • If editing of true curves is allowed and you do not need to preserve the features as curves, disable the toggle button next to Only allow true curve updates by true curve clients.
6. Click Save at the top of the Settings tab.

Allow or prevent editing on public layers

When you enable editing on a layer or table that is shared with everyone (public), anyone with access to the item can edit it. This includes people not signed in to the organization and all organization members, even those without privileges to edit. You must decide whether to allow editing on these layers to ensure data isn't lost or corrupted. For example, you may share with the public a map that contains a feature layer showing evacuation areas, because this is important information for the public to see. But you don't want a member of the public to alter the extent of an evacuation area or delete it.

If you try to enable editing on a layer or table that is shared with the public or if you try to share an editable layer or table with the public, you will be prevented from doing so unless you enable public data collection. This helps avoid accidentally sharing an editable item with everyone. Similarly, if you attempt to share a web map with the public that contains an editable feature layer or table that does not have public data collection enabled, the feature layer or table will not be available in the map until you either disable editing on the layer or enable public data collection on the layer or table.

When you enable the Public data collection setting on a hosted feature layer or table, you essentially approve that item to be used for public editing.

When you publish a hosted feature layer, hosted feature layer view, or hosted table with the express purpose of using it to collect data in a public map or app, enable Public data collection from the item's Settings tab.

1. Sign in to your organization.

   You must be the layer owner or a member of the default administrator role or a custom role assigned the set of privileges to manage all content owned by organization members.

2. Open the item page for the hosted feature layer or hosted table.
3. Click the Settings tab.
4. Turn on the Approve this layer to be shared with the public when editing is enabled toggle button and click Save.

To disable public data collection, you must either stop sharing the item with the public or disable editing, and then you can disable Approve this layer to be shared with the public when editing is enabled on the item's Settings tab.

Allow offline editing or collaboration

To allow others to take the hosted feature layer or hosted table offline and work with it while disconnected from the network, or to share hosted feature layer or table data as a copy in a distributed collaboration, you must enable synchronization on the item.

When you enable synchronization, it allows offline editors to get the latest updates to data at the time they connect. Any edits they made to the data while disconnected are also applied at the time they connect. It also allows changes made to the item in the sending organization of a collaboration to be synchronized to the feature layer or table in the participating organizations.

To allow others to take the item offline or use it in a collaboration, complete the following steps:

1. Sign in to your organization.

   You must be the layer owner or a member of the default administrator role or a custom role assigned the set of privileges to manage all content owned by organization members.

2. Open the item page for the hosted feature layer or hosted table.
3. Click the Settings tab.
4. Scroll to the Feature layer (hosted), Feature layer (hosted, view), or Table (hosted) section and turn on the Enable sync (required for offline use and collaboration) toggle button.
5. Click Save at the top of the Settings tab.

Consider the following when you enable synchronization:

• Enabling synchronization may increase the feature storage size for the layer.
• Synchronization relies on unchanging unique IDs to identify matching rows in the source and the offline version of a layer. For that reason, a global ID field will be added to all layers in the hosted feature layer or table when you enable synchronization.
• When you enable synchronization, anyone who can access the hosted feature layer, hosted feature layer view, or hosted table can use it offline or in a collaboration. Take this into consideration when you share the item.
• If synchronization is enabled, you can append new features or rows to the hosted feature layer or table but not update existing features or rows using the Update data option on the item page.
• To enable synchronization on a hosted feature layer view, the hosted feature layer it was created from must have synchronization enabled.
• If you have multiple areas of interest defined on any layer in a hosted feature layer view, you cannot enable synchronization.
• To disable synchronization on a hosted feature layer that has dependent views, you must first disable synchronization on all the views.
• Synchronization is not supported if the hosted feature layer contains an oriented imagery layer.
• Synchronization cannot be enabled for hosted feature layers created by ArcGIS Workflow Manager.

Caution:

Do not disable synchronization until all offline users and collaborations synchronize their edits. If the layer is used in an offline map in ArcGIS Field Maps, offline users must also remove the offline web maps containing the layer from their devices before you disable synchronization.

If you disable synchronization, but the hosted feature layer or view participates in an offline web map or collaboration, any edits made by offline users while disconnected from the network cannot be synchronized and collaborations cannot be synchronized. These edits cannot be synchronized even if you enable sync again.

Map areas stop functioning when you disable synchronization and you must delete them. If you enable sync again and require map areas, re-create them.

If you disable synchronization on a hosted feature layer or hosted feature layer view, open and save each map that contained the layer or view to ensure that the maps reflect the state of the hosted feature layers they contain.

Manage the size of the change log

When you enable the options Enable sync (required for offline use and collaboration) or Keep track of changes to the data (add, update, delete features) on your hosted feature layer or hosted table, ArcGIS Online stores information about data changes and offline versions in a change log. This change log grows as changes continue to accumulate. To avoid credit charges associated with a large change log, you can trim it.

For each feature layer that has either of these options enabled, you can specify a number of days' worth of changes to retain. Any changes made or versions taken offline or shared in a collaboration that are older than the number of days you specify will be removed.

Caution:

Do not trim the change log if you have unsynchronized collaborations or offline edits that were shared in a collaboration or taken offline during the time period that will be trimmed from the table. For example, if you shared an editable feature layer in a collaboration 100 days ago, and edits from that collaboration have not been synchronized, you can trim records older than 180 days, but do not trim records older than 30 or 90 days. Similarly, if the feature layer was taken offline for editing 40 days ago and not synchronized, you can trim records older than 90 or 180 days, but do not trim records older than 30 days.

In addition, if the layer participates in an offline map area or areas, consider when the layer's associated download package was last updated. To avoid re-creating map areas, choose a retention period that includes the date that the download package was last updated. For example, if the download package was updated 38 days ago, do not trim records older than 30 days, because that will prevent the map area from updating and synchronizing when you download it.

If all options that use the log file are disabled—for example, both Enable sync (required for offline use and collaboration) and Keep track of changes to the data (add, update, delete features) are enabled and you disable both, or you have only Enable Sync (required for offline use and collaboration) and you disable it—all records are removed from the log file.

Complete the following steps to trim the change log:

1. Sign in to your organization.

   You must be the layer owner or a member of the default administrator role or a custom role assigned the set of privileges to manage all content owned by organization members.

2. Open the item page for the hosted feature layer or hosted table.
3. Click the Settings tab.
4. Scroll to Feature layer (hosted) or Table (hosted) and click Manage change log.

   The Manage change log window appears.

5. Use the drop-down list to specify the number of days' worth of logs to retain.

   Log entries that are older than the number of days you specify will be removed from the log.

6. Click Trim the change log.

Access editing capabilities depending on role

The owner of the hosted feature layer, members of the default administrator role, and members of custom roles with the administrative privilege to update content can edit hosted feature layers even if editing is not enabled on the hosted feature layer. If only the owner or administrator needs to perform edits, you can use a single feature layer for both public display and internal edits without enabling editing on the feature layer.

If you belong to a custom role that has the privilege to edit with full control, you're considered a data curator. A data curator can perform all editing functions (add, update, and delete features and attributes) on editable hosted feature layers, hosted feature layer views, and hosted tables no matter what level of editing is allowed on the item. For example, if the hosted feature layer is configured to allow updates to attributes only, a data curator is not limited to performing only attribute updates but can also add, delete, and update features and attributes.

Layer owners, organization administrators, and data curators can edit the feature layer in Map Viewer or the Data tab of the layer's item page.

To open the feature layer, view, or table in a map to edit it, complete the following steps:

1. Sign in to your organization.

   You must be the item owner or a member of the default administrator role or a custom role with the privilege to edit with full control.

2. Open the item page for the hosted feature layer or hosted table.
3. Click Open in Map Viewer.

A map opens with the layer present.

You can edit the feature layer.

Group settings that affect editing access

Sometimes you need to make a hosted feature layer available to the public or a group with many members for viewing, but you only want a few members of your organization to edit it. If you enable editing on a public hosted feature layer, anyone can edit it. Similarly, if you enable editing on a hosted feature layer shared to a group, all members of the group can edit the hosted feature layer. In most of these cases, it is recommended that you create a hosted feature layer view on which you do not enable editing. You can share the read-only hosted feature layer view with the public or the group with a large number of members. Share the editable source hosted feature layer with a group that contains the few members who should edit the data.

Another alternative is for an organization administrator to create a group that is configured to allow editing of all content (a shared update group). Add or invite organization members to this group who you want to edit items. All items shared to this group can be updated by group members, including hosted feature layers that do not have editing enabled.

Caution:

Shared update groups allow members to do more than edit features. Be sure you understand the extent of the functionality that members of these types of groups can access before you implement them.

When members of the group need to edit the hosted feature layer, they can add the layer to Map Viewer.