{"id":998492,"date":"2023-05-24T15:00:54","date_gmt":"2023-05-24T22:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=998492"},"modified":"2026-03-03T13:51:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T21:51:29","slug":"enhance-your-collections","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/story-maps\/constituent-engagement\/enhance-your-collections","title":{"rendered":"Enhance your collections with design options and more"},"author":32401,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[37131],"tags":[398132,756602,706371],"industry":[],"product":[36611,380802],"class_list":["post-998492","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-constituent-engagement","tag-arcgis-storymaps","tag-collections","tag-storymaps","product-story-maps","product-arcgis-storymaps"],"acf":{"short_description":"Catch up on all the latest updates and upgrades to the collections experience in ArcGIS StoryMaps.","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

This post was originally published in June, 2021, and was further updated in May, 2023 and August, 2024.<\/em><\/p>\n

_______________________________<\/p>\n

When ArcGIS StoryMaps was originally rolled out in 2019<\/a>, collections were amongst the first features<\/a> to be implemented. Ever since, the ability to gather stories together and present them as a set has been one of ArcGIS StoryMaps\u2019 most popular and most asked-about features.<\/p>\n

In the months and years since, the StoryMaps team has worked tirelessly to continuously improve the collections experience, for both storytellers and readers. This effort has manifested in a number of updates to collections that this article will walk you through below.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re unfamiliar with collections, please check out this blog post<\/a> that goes in depth on their purpose and functionality, as well as this step-by-step tutorial<\/a> that covers how to actually put a collection together in ArcGIS StoryMaps.<\/em><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

 <\/p>\n

Expanding your collection<\/h2>\n

A couple of upgrades have made collections bigger than ever\u2014literally. For starters, the types of items you can add to your collection has grown steadily over the past year. In addition to stories, you can also add ArcGIS apps like Insights pages, Survey123 forms, Living Atlas<\/a> content, and other ArcGIS Online items. But that’s not all: you can even add content from elsewhere on the web via URL, or upload image, video, and PDF files directly.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the number of items that it\u2019s possible to place in a collection doubled from its original 30 up to 60. This makes collections a great way to house and promote content on a weekly basis over the course of a year, like a newsletter or a recurring status update or data tracking. As an example, the StoryMaps team uses a collection for our Weekly Waypoint<\/a>.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":998532,"id":998532,"title":"weekly_waypoint","filename":"Screen-Shot-2020-09-02-at-4.43.36-PM.png","filesize":172177,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Screen-Shot-2020-09-02-at-4.43.36-PM.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/story-maps\/constituent-engagement\/enhance-your-collections\/screen-shot-2020-09-02-at-4-43-36-pm","alt":"Screenshot of the ArcGIS StoryMaps Weekly Waypoint collection","author":"32401","description":"","caption":"","name":"screen-shot-2020-09-02-at-4-43-36-pm","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":998492,"date":"2020-09-03 17:59:28","modified":"2020-09-03 17:59:53","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1287,"height":894,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Screen-Shot-2020-09-02-at-4.43.36-PM-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Screen-Shot-2020-09-02-at-4.43.36-PM.png","medium-width":376,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Screen-Shot-2020-09-02-at-4.43.36-PM.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":533,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Screen-Shot-2020-09-02-at-4.43.36-PM.png","large-width":1287,"large-height":894,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Screen-Shot-2020-09-02-at-4.43.36-PM.png","1536x1536-width":1287,"1536x1536-height":894,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Screen-Shot-2020-09-02-at-4.43.36-PM.png","2048x2048-width":1287,"2048x2048-height":894,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Screen-Shot-2020-09-02-at-4.43.36-PM-669x465.png","card_image-width":669,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Screen-Shot-2020-09-02-at-4.43.36-PM.png","wide_image-width":1287,"wide_image-height":894}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

 <\/p>\n

We’ve also made it easier to provide a preface for your collection by adding a description<\/em> field, which allows for much more text than the original\u00a0summary\u00a0<\/em>field (which is still around, and can be used to give your collection a de facto subtitle). The description field also supports more robust text formatting: bold, italic, strikethrough, superscript, subscript, hyperlinks, and text color can all be implemented in the collection description.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Enhancing your collection<\/h2>\n

Layout options<\/h3>\n

From their inception, collections always displayed as a grid of cards representing the items within it, with three items in each row (or two on narrower screens). In June 2021<\/a>, however, two additional layout options were added, selectable within the Design<\/strong> panel in the collection editor.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0magazine<\/strong> option magnifies the card for the first item in the collection, with the subsequent items lining up two-by-two below it. This is a useful format for collections that have new content added on a regular cadence, with the most recent items moved to the top, such as a blog or newsletter. It’s also a good choice when the first item in a collection serves as an introductory piece or index to the following content.<\/p>\n

The journal<\/strong> layout widens each individual item card so that it occupies its own line of the collection, and also displays story subtitles if applicable. Shorter collections where each item is roughly of equal importance make a sensible use case for this layout.<\/p>\n

The default grid<\/strong> layout is still available, too, of course. It remains optimal for larger collections, especially ones that contain items that might not have thumbnails suitable for the enlarged item cards of the other two layouts.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"youtube","start_time":"0","end_time":"","youtube_video_url":"