Signing in to ArcGIS Online in ArcGIS for Desktop applications

Signing in to ArcGIS Online

Signing in to ArcGIS Online allows you to access your content, your organization's data and applications, and public content from Esri, communities, and users. You also need to sign in to publish and share on ArcGIS Online.

ArcGIS Online comes in two forms: an Internet-based website located at http://www.arcgis.com or a private version, known as a portal, that is installed on your organization's network. Through Portal for ArcGIS, organizations can use the functionality of ArcGIS Online behind their firewall or on their own network.

Signing in from an ArcGIS for Desktop application is performed similarly regardless of whether you are accessing the ArcGIS Online website or a local portal. Many users will sign in with an ArcGIS account, either an ArcGIS public account or one that is part of ArcGIS Online for organizations. Your administrator can utilize your organization's enterprise security infrastructure and set up other forms of authentication, such as allowing you to sign in to ArcGIS Online with your Windows login. In that case, you see the same ArcGIS Online sign in dialog box, but you enter the login information provided by your administrator. Your administrator could also allow you to insert a security card to sign in to ArcGIS Online. By default, ArcGIS for Desktop connects to the ArcGIS Online website. To sign in to a portal or use these security methods, your administrator needs to enter the portal URL in the Manage ArcGIS Portal Connections dialog box.

Steps:

1. In an ArcGIS for Desktop application, click File > Sign In on the main menu.
2. Type the user name and password you use to sign in to ArcGIS Online. If you don't have an account, you can create a free ArcGIS public account. Contact your administrator for login information if you subscribe to ArcGIS Online for organizations. In addition, some organizational accounts may be configured to allow signing in with more than one type of account, so you may need to choose which login method to use.
3. Check whether you want ArcGIS to remember any of your credentials or sign you in automatically in the future.
4. Click Sign In.

Specifying how often ArcGIS checks for a connection to ArcGIS Online

Some functionality of the ArcGIS for Desktop applications requires a connection to ArcGIS Online. For example, you need to connect to add data from ArcGIS Online or your portal or to publish your content. If you do not have a connection, the functionality on the user interface is unavailable.

By default, ArcGIS for Desktop checks for a connection when you start an application, such as ArcMap. If you have an intermittent connection, such as if you are in the field with periodic connectivity, you should change this setting to have ArcMap test for a connection at an interval. This way, you can be alerted when you lose your connection and are unable to access the functionality dependent on it. If you work completely offline, you can tell ArcGIS to never check for a connection. You can change the frequency of the check through the properties of the ArcGIS Connection Utility in the Windows system tray.

If no connection is found or you want to check again sooner than the timed frequency, right-click the ArcGIS Connection Utility icon in the system tray and test the connection. If it succeeds, the applications will refresh and you will again be able to access functionality dependent on ArcGIS Online. If you have no connection, these commands remain unavailable.

Steps:

1. Start an ArcGIS for Desktop application.
2. To change the frequency of the check, right-click the ArcGIS Connection Utility in the Windows system tray and click Properties. Specify whether to check on startup (the default), never check, or set an interval.
3. To run a connection test, which can refresh the user interface, right-click the utility and click Test Connection Now.