ArcGIS Pro Tips: Save Time With Bookmarks

Whether you have a web browser full of bookmarked web pages, or you’re like me and you think you can remember the random keywords you searched to find that obscure land use data from 1865 (surprise, I never can), you know how useful bookmarks can be.

Bookmarks in ArcGIS Pro are just as helpful. You can create spatial bookmarks at locations on a map and come back to them at any time. For example, if you have a large map, and several small study areas on the map, you can save time panning and zooming to those areas by creating a bookmark at each location. Or, if you are giving a presentation with ArcGIS Pro (like a demo at the Esri User Conference*), bookmarks come in very handy for saving your place and transitioning smoothly between places on the map.

The bookmark captures and saves your current view extent. When you create a bookmark, it is added to a list with a unique thumbnail and name and is saved with the 2D map or 3D scene you captured it in. A project contains a list of all of the bookmarks saved with all open maps in that project.

Bookmarks can also be temporal. If you have time-enabled data, you can create bookmarks at specific points in time. For example, if you have data that tracks the migration of monarch butterflies across North America, you can create a bookmark showing the butterflies’ location mid-migration and return to it anytime. Temporal bookmarks display with a clock icon in the thumbnail and next to the bookmark name in a list view.

Create and use bookmarks

1. Pan or zoom to the location or time that you want to bookmark.

2. On the Map tab, click the Bookmarks drop-down menu, and click New Bookmark.

3. Type a name for your bookmark and click OK.

4. Click the Bookmarks button to see your new bookmark and other bookmarks you’ve created in that map or other open maps in the project.

5. Click any of the thumbnails in the Bookmarks menu to go to that location.

Use the Bookmark Manager

If you want to modify your bookmarks, open the Bookmarks pane. On the Map tab, click the Bookmarks drop-down menu and click Manage Bookmarks.

In the Bookmarks pane, you can do any of the following:

• Reorganize your bookmark list.
• Update the location of your bookmark with the Update button.
• Create new bookmarks.
• Rename or delete bookmarks.

Create an animation with bookmarks

Animations are a great way to tell the story of your 2D and 3D maps. Check out this awesome video of animations to quickly see how powerful they can be in displaying and conveying information.

You can use your bookmarks to create an animation.

1. On the ribbon, click the View tab and click Add  to access the Animation tab.
2. In the Create group, click Import and choose Bookmarks to Fly-Through or Bookmarks to Tour.

Here’s another quick video on how to convert bookmarks to animation.

If you liked this blog, check out these other ArcGIS Pro tips:

• ArcGIS Pro Tips: 5 Tips For Fixing Broken Data Links
• ArcGIS Pro Tips: Why Undo is Underrated
• ArcGIS Pro Tips: Get Your Maps in Sync
• ArcGIS Pro Tips: Scale-Based Symbol Sizing

*If you’re attending the 2017 Esri User Conference, feel free to stop by the ArcGIS Desktop Product Area during the UC Expo and say hello. I’ll be there answering your ArcGIS Pro questions and getting ideas for more blogs!