Optimized Editing: Manage Templates in Map Viewer

We’ve added several new enhancements to web editing with the February 2025 update of ArcGIS Online. Support for managing templates in Map Viewer is at the top of our list, along with other exciting new features like editing attributes for multiple features in Web Editor, and a new suite of drawing tools in Map Viewer. If you’ve been craving the ability to create, update, or delete feature templates in Map Viewer, we’ve got you covered. Now you can duplicate, format, and remove templates without leaving the map, saving you time while helping you ensure the integrity of your data. Keep reading to discover how you can get started.

Templates

Templates are like shortcuts that make editing easier and more efficient. Imagine you have a layer for fire hydrants. Instead of typing every attribute from scratch each time you collect data, you can set up templates based on an attribute like hydrant color. These templates can automatically fill in other fields, like flow capacity, based on the hydrant color. By using templates, data collectors spend less time typing and make fewer mistakes, which speeds up the editing process while ensuring cleaner data right from the beginning.

Getting started

To manage templates in Map Viewer:

1. Select an editable layer in the Layers pane
2. Click the Configure editing button on the light toolbar
3. In the menu that appears, choose Templates

Note: You can manage templates when you’re the owner of the layer or an administrator in your organization. When neither of those apply, you can view templates for editable layers in read-only mode.  

Configure Templates

Inside the Configure templates window, you’ll see a list of types and their templates. You can customize the templates list as well as the properties for each template. Let’s explore some of the steps that you can take to make the most of your templates.

Add or Remove Templates

• Use familiar buttons to duplicate or delete items in the  list.

Format Templates

Select a template to format the following properties:

• Display name
• Description, and
• Default values

Providing default values for templates is key to leveling up your editing workflows. Essentially it fills in the blanks automatically helping you speed up data entry while maintaining accuracy. Just like with hydrants, where we set defaults for things like color and flow, you can set default values for attributes in any of your editable layers.

Reorder Templates

• Drag, drop, or select a command to change the order of the templates in the list.

Save Templates

Any changes you make are saved to the layer. That means that the templates appear in any map the layer appears in. But if you make a mistake you don’t want to save, don’t worry, we’ve added buttons that allow you to:

When you make changes, they get saved to the layer. That means that the templates appear in any map the layer appears in. But if don’t want to keep those changes, no problem. We’ve got options that allow you to:

• Undo an action
• Redo an action
• Save your changes as you work, and
• Undo or Redo a stack of actions in the History menu

Sync Templates to Styles

When you change a layer’s style from a single symbol to unique symbols based on categories, it’s handy to have templates for each of those categories. And if you introduce a new category or option, having a matching template is a good idea. With the latest update, you can easily sync the templates with the styles in your web map with the push of a button.

When you’ve finished styling the layer, open the Configure templates window. You’ll see an alert above the list of templates letting you know that the templates and styles are not aligned. Click Update to automatically match the templates with the styles.

Summary

Configuring and using templates can help make data collection smooth, efficient, and nearly error-free. This latest enhancement enables you to seamlessly manage templates within Map Viewer, helping you ensure data integrity while saving you time. We hope you’ll harness the power of templates for efficient data collection, reduced data clean up, and easier data management. There may be no such thing as a perfect dataset but, using the right tools, we can get close.