{"id":177191,"date":"2011-10-12T17:14:42","date_gmt":"2011-10-13T00:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=177191"},"modified":"2018-12-18T11:45:18","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T19:45:18","slug":"how-to-extend-attribute-table-field-size-from-255-characters","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/mapping\/how-to-extend-attribute-table-field-size-from-255-characters","title":{"rendered":"How to extend attribute table field size from 255 characters"},"author":4331,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[23851,22941],"tags":[38411],"industry":[],"product":[36991],"class_list":["post-177191","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-data-management","category-mapping","tag-mapping-center","product-arcgis-desktop"],"acf":{"short_description":"How to extend attribute table field size from 255 characters","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p><strong>Question:<\/strong>\u00a0Hi!<\/p>\n<p>I have a polygon layer, and I joined an Excel spreadsheet to this. I\u2019ve checked the success of the join, and I saw that the joined field sizes are reduced to 255 characters. Excel can store 32k chars in a field, but I only have 300-400 chars. I need to query datas in ArcGIS, and the 255 character limit isn\u2019t good for me.<\/p>\n<p>I tested an another method: I created an FGDB, and made a relationship class between the imported excel spreadsheet and the polygon layer. My problem is that, the fields are reduced again, showing only 255 chars.<\/p>\n<p>Any ideas?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Answer:<\/strong>\u00a0You can create text fields greater than 255 characters using file geodatabases. First, create a new file geodatabase then create a new feature class. Add a text field as part of the creation of the new feature class and specify the length of text strings should be 400 (or whatever the maximum is that you require). Then, using your original layer, convert labels to annotation and choose to append them to an existing feature class (the one created above).\u00a0 Export the attribute table of the feature class and you can then copy the labels from your spreadsheet into the text field of your attribute table in Excel, save the resulting table and then Join back to the feature class.<\/p>\n<p><em>Formerly a Mapping Center Ask a Cartographer \u00a0Q &amp; A.<\/em><\/p>\n"}],"authors":[{"ID":4331,"user_firstname":"Aileen","user_lastname":"Buckley","nickname":"Aileen Buckley","user_nicename":"abuckley","display_name":"Aileen Buckley","user_email":"abuckley@esri.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2018-03-02 00:15:57","user_description":"Dr. Aileen Buckley is a cartographer researcher and Senior Principal GIS Engineer at Esri. I'm on the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World Team, making, writing, and talking about maps. I'm also involved in a number of cartographic societies and association, and I'm the chair of the ICA Ethics in Cartography Commission.","user_avatar":"<img data-del=\"avatar\" src='https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Aileen.jpg' class='avatar pp-user-avatar avatar-96 photo ' height='96' width='96'\/>"}],"related_articles":"","card_image":false,"wide_image":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to extend attribute table field size from 255 characters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/mapping\/how-to-extend-attribute-table-field-size-from-255-characters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to extend attribute table field size from 255 characters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/mapping\/how-to-extend-attribute-table-field-size-from-255-characters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ArcGIS Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-12-18T19:45:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ESRI\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":[\"Article\",\"BlogPosting\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/mapping\/how-to-extend-attribute-table-field-size-from-255-characters#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/mapping\/how-to-extend-attribute-table-field-size-from-255-characters\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Aileen Buckley\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/874953792dea98fe178fbb6a5e8255b0\"},\"headline\":\"How to extend attribute table field size from 255 characters\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-13T00:14:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-12-18T19:45:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/mapping\/how-to-extend-attribute-table-field-size-from-255-characters\"},\"wordCount\":9,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Mapping Center\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Data Management\",\"Mapping\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/mapping\/how-to-extend-attribute-table-field-size-from-255-characters\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/mapping\/how-to-extend-attribute-table-field-size-from-255-characters\",\"name\":\"How to extend attribute table field size from 255 characters\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-13T00:14:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-12-18T19:45:18+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/mapping\/how-to-extend-attribute-table-field-size-from-255-characters#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/mapping\/how-to-extend-attribute-table-field-size-from-255-characters\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/mapping\/how-to-extend-attribute-table-field-size-from-255-characters#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How to extend attribute table field size from 255 characters\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/\",\"name\":\"ArcGIS Blog\",\"description\":\"Get insider info from Esri product teams\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Esri\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Esri.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Esri.png\",\"width\":400,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"Esri\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/ESRI\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/5311\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/874953792dea98fe178fbb6a5e8255b0\",\"name\":\"Aileen Buckley\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Aileen.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Aileen.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Aileen Buckley\"},\"description\":\"Dr. Aileen Buckley is a cartographer researcher and Senior Principal GIS Engineer at Esri. I'm on the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World Team, making, writing, and talking about maps. I'm also involved in a number of cartographic societies and association, and I'm the chair of the ICA Ethics in Cartography Commission.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/buckley.aileen\/\",\"linkedin.com\/in\/aileenbuckley\"],\"honorificPrefix\":\"Dr.\",\"honorificSuffix\":\"PhD\",\"gender\":\"female\",\"award\":[\"Chair of the ICA Commission on Ethics in Cartography\"],\"knowsAbout\":[\"Cartography\",\"GIS\"],\"knowsLanguage\":[\"English\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Research Cartographer\",\"worksFor\":\"Esri\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/author\/abuckley\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to extend attribute table field size from 255 characters","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/mapping\/how-to-extend-attribute-table-field-size-from-255-characters","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to extend attribute table field size from 255 characters","og_url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/mapping\/how-to-extend-attribute-table-field-size-from-255-characters","og_site_name":"ArcGIS Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/","article_modified_time":"2018-12-18T19:45:18+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@ESRI","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/mapping\/how-to-extend-attribute-table-field-size-from-255-characters#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/mapping\/how-to-extend-attribute-table-field-size-from-255-characters"},"author":{"name":"Aileen Buckley","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/874953792dea98fe178fbb6a5e8255b0"},"headline":"How to extend attribute table field size from 255 characters","datePublished":"2011-10-13T00:14:42+00:00","dateModified":"2018-12-18T19:45:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/mapping\/how-to-extend-attribute-table-field-size-from-255-characters"},"wordCount":9,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["Mapping Center"],"articleSection":["Data Management","Mapping"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/mapping\/how-to-extend-attribute-table-field-size-from-255-characters","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/mapping\/how-to-extend-attribute-table-field-size-from-255-characters","name":"How to extend attribute table field size from 255 characters","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-10-13T00:14:42+00:00","dateModified":"2018-12-18T19:45:18+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/mapping\/how-to-extend-attribute-table-field-size-from-255-characters#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/mapping\/how-to-extend-attribute-table-field-size-from-255-characters"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/mapping\/how-to-extend-attribute-table-field-size-from-255-characters#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to extend attribute table field size from 255 characters"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/","name":"ArcGIS Blog","description":"Get insider info from Esri product teams","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#organization","name":"Esri","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Esri.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Esri.png","width":400,"height":400,"caption":"Esri"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/","https:\/\/x.com\/ESRI","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/5311\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/874953792dea98fe178fbb6a5e8255b0","name":"Aileen Buckley","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Aileen.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Aileen.jpg","caption":"Aileen Buckley"},"description":"Dr. Aileen Buckley is a cartographer researcher and Senior Principal GIS Engineer at Esri. I'm on the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World Team, making, writing, and talking about maps. I'm also involved in a number of cartographic societies and association, and I'm the chair of the ICA Ethics in Cartography Commission.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/buckley.aileen\/","linkedin.com\/in\/aileenbuckley"],"honorificPrefix":"Dr.","honorificSuffix":"PhD","gender":"female","award":["Chair of the ICA Commission on Ethics in Cartography"],"knowsAbout":["Cartography","GIS"],"knowsLanguage":["English"],"jobTitle":"Research Cartographer","worksFor":"Esri","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/author\/abuckley"}]}},"text_date":"October 12, 2011","author_name":"Aileen Buckley","author_page":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/author\/abuckley","custom_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Newsroom-Keyart-Wide-1920-x-1080.jpg","primary_product":"ArcMap","tag_data":[{"term_id":38411,"name":"Mapping Center","slug":"mapping-center","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":38411,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":35,"filter":"raw"}],"category_data":[{"term_id":23851,"name":"Data Management","slug":"data-management","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":23851,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":921,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":22941,"name":"Mapping","slug":"mapping","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":22941,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":2692,"filter":"raw"}],"product_data":[{"term_id":36991,"name":"ArcMap","slug":"arcgis-desktop","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":36991,"taxonomy":"product","description":"","parent":36981,"count":325,"filter":"raw"}],"primary_product_link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?s=#&products=arcgis-desktop","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/177191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/177191\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177191"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=177191"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=177191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}