In ArcGIS Web Editor, data editing is performed in a web map. You can open a web map in Web Editor to create and modify features in layers on the map.
Note:
You cannot create a web map or add layers to a web map in Web Editor. Use Map Viewer to add layers to a web map, and open the web map in Web Editor.
For best results, layers for editing should not be styled using aggregated symbols such as heat map, bins, or clusters.
Find and open a map
You must open a web map before you can start editing layers in Web Editor. You can open a web map by clicking Open in Web Editor on the item page for the web map, or find and open the web map in Web Editor.
To find and open a web map in Web Editor, complete the following steps:
- Open Web Editor and sign in to your ArcGIS organizational account.
- Do one of the following:
- On the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Open map
. - Use the Alt+O keyboard shortcut for Windows or Option+O shortcut for Mac.
The Open map pane appears showing maps in My content.
- On the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Open map
- Click My content and choose a different location to search from the menu (for example, My organization) if necessary.
- Find a map by doing any of the following:
- Type search terms in the search box. You can also use advanced search to narrow the search results.
- Click the filter button
to narrow the search results. - Click the title of an item to see its details. In the item pane, expand Overview, Description, and Details to see more information about the item.
- Click Open map on the search result.
The map opens in Web Editor.
Change the layer visibility
Not all layers on a map are necessary for editors to see. If a map has more than one layer, the additional layers may make it more difficult for the editor to create or modify features from the layer they're editing. You can turn layer visibility on or off so the map is only showing layers necessary for editing.
To turn the visibility of a layer on or off, complete the following steps:
- Open a map in Web Editor.
- Do one of the following:
- On the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Layers
. - Use the Alt+Shift+L shortcut for Windows or Option+Shift+L shortcut for Mac.
The Layers pane appears.
- On the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Layers
- Hover over a layer and click Visibility
to turn the layer on or off.
Reorder layers
The order the layers are drawn can also impact which layers can be accessed when editing. You can reorder layers so the layers you're editing are drawn on top of other layers.
Note:
Web maps cannot be saved in Web Editor. The layers will be reverted to the original order if the web map is closed and reopened.
To reorder layers, complete the following steps:
- Open a map in Web Editor.
- Do one of the following:
- On the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Layers .
- Use the Alt+Shift+L shortcut for Windows or Option+Shift+L shortcut for Mac.
The Layers pane appears.
- On the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Layers
- Click Reposition
and drag a layer to a new location in the layers list.
The order of the layers changes.
Change a basemap
Basemaps provide geographic context to your features, such as topography, streets, and building locations.
To change the basemap for a web map, do the following:
- Open a map in Web Editor.
- Do one of the following:
- On the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Basemap
. - Use the Alt+Shift+B keyboard shortcut for Windows or Option+Shift+B shortcut for Mac.
The Basemap pane appears.
All basemaps in your organization are listed in the Basemaps pane. Basemaps with an incompatible spatial reference are listed but are unavailable to select.
- On the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Basemap
- Click the thumbnail of the basemap you want to use in the map.
The basemap updates.
Some basemaps include separate base and reference layers. To turn off layers from a basemap, click Current basemap at the top of the Basemap pane, expand the Reference or Base group if necessary, and click Visibility to turn the layer on or off.
View the map legend
A legend shows the meaning of the symbols, colors, and styles used to represent geographic data on the map. Legends consist of examples of the symbols on the map with labels containing explanatory text. Legends have patches that match the map symbols, which are often points, straight lines, rectangles, or color ramps.
To view the map legend, complete the following steps:
- Open a map in Web Editor.
- Do one of the following:
- On the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Legend
. - Use the Alt+G keyboard shortcut for Windows or Option+G shortcut for Mac.
The Legend pane appears and displays information about each layer that is visible at the current map scale. Not all layers contain legend information.
- On the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Legend
Search a map
Search is used to find a location or features on a map.
To access the search bar, click Search 
on the general toolbar.
Note:
Feature search must be configured for a web map to allow searching features within a dataset in Web Editor. For more information, see Configure feature and table search for maps in the ArcGIS Online help documentation.
Use bookmarks
Bookmarks provide shortcuts to places on a map. As a map author, you create bookmarks in Map Viewer based on the current location, scale, and rotation of the map. When an editor clicks a bookmark in Web Editor, the map zooms to that location.
Learn more about creating bookmarks in Map Viewer
To zoom the map to an existing bookmark, complete the following steps:
- Open a map in Web Editor.
- Do one of the following:
- On the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Bookmarks
. - Use the Alt+K keyboard shortcut for Windows or Option+K shortcut for Mac.
The Bookmarks pane appears.
- On the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Bookmarks
- Click the name of the bookmark you want to zoom to.
The map zooms to the bookmark extent.
Use URL parameters
URL parameters can be used to modify a web map and share the modified web map. In Web Editor, you can use URL parameters to open a web map, define the extent, and find a location or feature.
The URL always begins with https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webeditor/index.html? and includes one or more of the query parameters listed below. Use an equal sign (=) to specify the value (for example, an ID or name) for each parameter. To include more than one parameter, use an ampersand (&) to separate the parameters.
Note:
If any of the resources in the URL parameter are provided as HTTP, you must replace HTTP with HTTPS in the URL and make all resources accessible using HTTPS only.
All query parameters must be encoded. URL encoding ensures that valid characters are sent to ArcGIS Online. Encoding replaces invalid characters with % followed by their hex equivalent.
Note:
The internet has many free sites and tools for generating encoded URLs. For readability, the examples in this topic are not encoded.
Open a saved web map
To open a saved web map, use webmap and the unique ID of the map. A valid web map must be specified for the other parameters to apply.
The following example specifies a web map with an ID of bbdcd78953e5439985004023c8eda03d:
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webeditor/index.html?webmap=bbdcd78953e5439985004023c8eda03dDefine the extent
To define the extent of the map, use extent. The extent parameter accepts geographic coordinates (GCS) as MinX,MinY,MaxX,MaxY or projected coordinates (PCS) as MinX,MinY,MaxX,MaxY,WKID. You can use commas or semicolons as separators. Use semicolons if your numbers use commas as their decimals.
Note:
If both find and extent are specified, the find parameter is prioritized.
The following example specifies a web map with an extent defined by a geographic coordinate system:
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webeditor/index.html?webmap=bbdcd78953e5439985004023c8eda03d&extent=-117.20,34.055,-117.19,34.06The following example specifies a web map with an extent defined by a projected coordinate system:
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webeditor/index.html?webmap=bbdcd78953e5439985004023c8eda03d&extent=-13079253.954115,3959110.38566837,-12918205.318785,4086639.70193162,102113Find a location or feature
To find a location or feature immediately upon opening the map, use find. The map is automatically zoomed to the closest match and a callout marker is added to the map. The find parameter accepts single-line addresses, partial addresses (such as city only or country only), place-names, longitude-latitude coordinates, and features in searchable layers (such as 1916352001 for a Parcel Identification Number (PIN)).
Note:
If both find and extent are specified, the find parameter is prioritized.
The following example specifies a web map and finds a single-line address:
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webeditor/index.html?webmap=bbdcd78953e5439985004023c8eda03d&find=380 new york st,redlands,ca