Share a layer to ArcGIS

Sharing a layer created in ArcGIS for Excel is a quick way to share information with your organization or the ArcGIS community.

Share a layer

When you share a layer to ArcGIS, the layer is converted to an ArcGIS hosted feature layer, and its attribute data is automatically added to your Excel worksheet.

Note:

• You can only share a map or a layer to ArcGIS if you are signed in to an ArcGIS account with a user type and role that includes privileges to create, analyze, and share content. Sharing must have been enabled by your organization's administrator. If you are unsure of your account permissions, contact your ArcGIS account administrator.
• Ensure that the map layer names do not contain unsupported characters.
• If the map includes a layer with complex geometries, such as county boundaries, ArcGIS for Excel renders the layer in Excel, but sharing the layer to ArcGIS may cause the process to time out and fail.

To share a layer to ArcGIS, complete the following steps:

1. Sign in to your ArcGIS account if you are not already signed in.
2. From the map tools, click Layers .

   The Layers pane appears with the Layers tab active. You can add data from Microsoft Excel if you are adding a layer to be shared in ArcGIS for the first time.

3. Click the Share layer button to open the Share layer tab.

   Note:

   The Share layer option is active only if you select a layer that can be shared to ArcGIS. You can share data layers created with your data. You cannot share reference layers added from ArcGIS.

4. In the Share layer pane, specify a title while saving the active layer in a folder, and choose a sharing level—whether to share it with your content (private), everyone (public), your organization, or with groups to which you belong.

   These values are used to display information about the layer in ArcGIS and are also used for searching.

5. Click Share to share the layer to ArcGIS.

   A progress window indicates the publishing process. Publishing may take several minutes depending on the amount of data in the layer. To cancel sharing, click the Cancel button to return to the Share layer pane.

   Once the layer is shared, the shared layer is converted to an ArcGIS hosted feature layer. The ArcGIS layer is automatically added back to your Excel worksheet with its attribute data populated in the worksheet. This includes the ObjectIDs of the hosted feature service attributes.

   When the layer has been shared successfully, a confirmation message appears, along with a link to view the shared layer in ArcGIS. Click Open to view the item details page in ArcGIS or click Copy link to copy the link. The Layers pane also shows that the layer saved is now saved as a feature layer if you have specified the location type.

6. Click the Close button to close the pane.

Update a shared layer

If you make changes to the data used to create a layer that you've shared, you can apply automatic updates to the shared layer from Excel to ArcGIS Online, or by syncing with ArcGIS.

To update a shared layer from Excel to ArcGIS Online, complete the following steps:

1. In the Excel worksheet, navigate to the ArcGIS layer attribute table that is added to a new worksheet.
2. Add new records or modify existing data in the attribute table.

   The updates are automatically synced back to the ArcGIS hosted feature layer in ArcGIS Online.

   Caution:

   If you add new records with a different location type than what was earlier saved, no features appear on the map.

Note:

This workflow does not apply to adding, updating, and sharing a layer created from a PivotTable. You need to update a layer created from a PivotTable from the Share layer pane, and click Update.