Troubleshooting

Listed below are issues you may encounter when working with ArcGIS Online and some recommended solutions. If you don't find the problem you are looking for, and you are a member of an organization, send your issue to your administrator and request that she or he contact Esri Support. If you have a public account, you can access these resources: ArcGIS Resources, ArcGIS Online forum, and ArcGIS Online blog.

NoteNote:

For solutions related to creating an account, signing in, or updating your account, see Account troubleshooting.

Website

Activating a subscription

Adding members to an organization

Joining an organization

Map

Publishing hosted services

Sharing

Content

Groups

ArcGIS for Desktop and ArcGIS Explorer Desktop

The website isn't working.

You can check the status of ArcGIS Online such as the ArcGIS.com website, Esri basemaps, REST API, feature publishing, and so on. You can subscribe to RSS feeds to be notified about any interruptions in specific services. You can also visit the dashboard at status.arcgis.com.

If part of a page is missing, try clearing your browser cache and cookies. This operation can be different in all browsers. In Chrome make sure to clear "since the beginning of time" and in Firefox, clear "everything". Internet Explorer and Safari will clear all the cookies and content selected.

A page in the website provides an error and does not fully load in Internet Explorer as expected.

As recommended by Microsoft, you may need to add the following domains to your trusted sites: http://*.arcgis.com, https://*.arcgis.com, http://*.arcgisonline.com, https://*.arcgisonline.com, http://*.cloudfront.net, and https://*.cloudfront.net.

I can't activate my subscription for ArcGIS Online.

If you have difficulty activating your subscription, contact Esri Support.

I requested a subscription for ArcGIS Online, but I am not the person who will administer the subscription for my organization.

The subscription must be activated by the person who will administer it. If that's not you, please forward the activation email you received to the appropriate person.

I uploaded a file of accounts that included user names. The user names are different than what I had in the file.

Username field is ignored. A unique user name is created for each account. If you want, you can edit the user name during the review process.

When I invite users, I can't set their role to administrator.

Role can equal user or publisher only. You can change the role to administrator after the user has joined the organization.

I uploaded a file of accounts and set several of the role values to Publisher. All the roles show user.

The Role values must be lowercase. If you use uppercase (for example, Publisher), the value is set to the default value, which is user. You can edit the role after the user has joined the organization.

I received an invitation to join an organization, but I get an error when I try to join.

Invitations are valid for two weeks. Ask the administrator of your organization to send you a new invitation if you haven't joined within that two-week period.

You account email must match the address where the invitation was sent. If you create a new organizational account when you join the organization, enter the same email address where your invitation was sent.

If you are joining a trial subscription, you cannot register an existing Esri Global Account. You need to create a new account.

I know I was invited to join an organization but I didn't receive an invitation in my email inbox folder.

Your invitation may have been moved or blocked by your email account. Check your spam and junk email folders. If you don't see the email there, add notifcations@arcgis.com to your safe senders list and ask your ArcGIS Online organizational administrator to resend the invitation. If you continue to have problems, have your administrator contact Esri Support.

When searching for layers to add to a map, only services are listed.

You can search for and add map, image, and feature services, OGC WMS, and KML. Other layer types, such as layer packages, are not supported. For more information, see Searching for layers.

When searching for layers to add to a map, not all of my organization's services are listed in the search results.

If you have already added a service layer to your map, only services that intersect the extent of the service are listed in the search results.

The date and time in a pop-up window do not match the date and time in the underlying data.

Servers store dates in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Web browsers convert the date to local time. For example, if you look at a time field in a pop-up window and you are located in California during standard daylight time, what you see is 8 hours earlier (UTC-8) than the time in the data. This offset might affect the date as well. If you look at a pop-up window with data from 7/7/2011 12:00 a.m., you see 7/6/2011 5:00 p.m.

When printing a map, some layers are missing.

If your organization uses the default print service, layers that are not accessible externally, time-aware layers, and KML ground overlays and network links without refresh properties do not appear on a printed map. If your organization uses a custom print service, certain types of layers may not appear on a printed map. Additionally, if you print a map using your browser print button, many other layers and logos may be missing as well. Use the Print button on the map viewer for the most complete and well-formatted maps.

The map is missing a legend.

You will not see a legend for basemaps, image layers, and OGC WMTS layers. You will also not see a legend for layers that are not accessible externally.

The map legend is different from the legend I created in my map service layer.

Legends for map service layers may not match the legend in the ArcGIS.com map viewer. This typically happens when the legend in the ArcGIS.com map viewer becomes out of sync with the symbology in the layer. For example, the layer author has changed the symbology in the service but the map viewer still displays the older symbology. Often the map viewer displays the latest legend after 30 minutes. Layer authors may need to clear the REST cache of the map service to see the legend updates in the map viewer. Internet Explorer 7 may store legend information infinitely. The layer author can trigger an update to the legend by changing to the layers in the map service, for example, by renaming a layer or reordering the layers.

I cannot reorder a layer in the map's contents.

Layers are always displayed on top of a basemap, and feature layers are always displayed on top of tileset layers (map, image, and tiled map services). Depending on the type of layers you have in your map, you may not be able to move them all up or down. For example, if you have one map service layer and three feature layers, you can reorder the feature layers, but you cannot move the map service layer on top of them. You cannot reorder a KML layer or a basemap.

I lost the web map I was working on.

You may lose your web map in the following scenarios: adding a secure service, signing in with an organizational account, or navigating away from the map viewer when the web map is too large for your browser to cache (generally, larger than 2.5 MB, except with IE7 [64 KB] and IE8 [530 KB]). To help prevent this, sign in before you start working, periodically save your map, especially if you add a large amount of data, and if you plan to add secure services, change the map viewer URL to HTTPS and add the secure services first.

The time slider does not appear in a map with a time-aware layer.

Time-aware layers are not supported in KML documents, embedded maps, and layers from a file. The time slider does not appear in these cases.

There is no option to use my layer as a basemap.

ArcGIS Server services, OGC WMS, OGC WMTS, and tile layers can be used as your basemap. Layers from a file, KML services, and map notes layers you create in the ArcGIS.com map viewer cannot be used as basemaps.

When I use my own basemap, some of the zoom levels in my basemap are missing on the map.

This happens because the map displays the zoom levels of the current basemap, for example, the World Topographic basemap. To see the additional zoom levels in the basemap you've added, save your map, close the ArcGIS.com map viewer page (for example, go to the Gallery), then reopen the map. The additional zoom levels appear.

My basemap is unavailable so none of my web map content appears.

The ArcGIS.com map viewer can't display layers in a map without a working basemap because the basemap establishes the coordinate system of the map. Once you save a web map with a basemap, the map viewer only uses that basemap; it doesn't revert to a default basemap if yours is unavailable. You can repair your web map by using a different basemap as long as the spatial reference of the bad and new basemap are the same. Repair your map by choosing a different basemap from the gallery or using the URL parameter basemapURL. For more information about using the basemapURL, see Using URL parameters.

When I add an OGC WMS or OGC WMTS layer to my map, I get an error that the layer's coordinate system doesn't align with that of the basemap.

This error message usually appears if you have added layers to your map, then add an OGC WMS or OGC WMTS layer that isn't in Web Mercator, the projection of the basemaps in the ArcGIS.com map viewer gallery. Create a new map and add your OGC layer first. If your layer is in GCS WGS84, the ArcGIS.com map viewer uses the GCS WGS84 World Imagery basemap. If your OGC layer is in a coordinate system other than Web Mercator or GCS WGS84, your layer is used as the basemap. Now you can add additional layers.

The layer I added from the web doesn't display on the map.

Tiled map services that use aerial imagery may not display on the map if you are using a Web Mercator basemap (which is the projection of the basemaps in the Gallery) and the service is not in Web Mercator. To display the layer, use it as the basemap or display it on top of a basemap that is in the same projection as the tiled map service.

My map service layer does not appear in the ArcGIS.com map viewer at the same scales for which I’ve cached tiles.

The ArcGIS.com map viewer honors the minimum and maximum scale set in services created with ArcGIS 10.1 or later releases. You can adjust these scales in ArcGIS for Desktop.

Some features are missing from my map.

If you imported data from a file, there are limitations on how many features the ArcGIS.com map viewer displays. For text files (.txt or .csv), the first 1,000 rows of features are displayed. If you use Internet Explorer 7 or 8, the first 750 rows of features are displayed. For a GPS Exchange Format (.gpx) file, the first 1,000 layers of features are displayed. If you added a KML document, features from placemarks, network links, ground overlays without refresh properties, folders, and extended data are displayed. Other features are not supported at this time.

I am having issues working with web maps in Internet Explorer 7 and 8.

For the best performance viewing and creating web maps, it is recommended that you use the latest version of Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, or Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer 7 and 8 are supported but have performance limitations when working with web maps. For example, you cannot drag and drop files onto the map, fewer features can be displayed, and you may lose your work if you leave the map viewer window without saving. If you need to use IE 7 or 8, installing Google Chrome Frame may improve your experience. The free Chrome plug-in allows your older browser to take advantage of newer web technologies in applications such as the map viewer.

When I view a web map, I see a message that I need to enable web storage.

The ArcGIS.com website leverages the web storage capabilities (similar to cookies) of the browser to temporarily store changes made to the map until you save the map. If web storage is disabled, the map will not function properly. See the steps below to enable web storage in your browser.

Internet Explorer 7

  1. Open the Tools menu, click Internet Options, then click the Security tab.
  2. Under Select a zone to view or change security settings, click Internet and click Custom Level.
  3. In Settings under the Miscellaneous section, click Enable under Userdata persistence and click OK.
  4. Click Yes when you are prompted to confirm that you want to change the security settings for this zone.
  5. Click OK to close the Internet Options dialog box and close all Internet Explorer windows.

Internet Explorer 8 and 9

  1. Open the Tools menu, click Internet Options, then click the Advanced tab.
  2. Under the Security section, check Enable DOM Storage and click OK.

Mozilla Firefox

  1. In the address bar, type about:config to view the browser settings.
  2. Scroll to dom.storage.enabled.
  3. Right-click the setting and click Toggle to set dom.storage.enabled to true.

Google Chrome

  1. Click the wrench icon and click Options.
  2. On a Windows machine, select Options. Select Preferences on a Mac or Linux machine; select Settings on a Chromebook.
  3. Click the Under the Hood tab.
  4. Click Content settings and under Cookies select Allow local data to be set.

Safari

  1. Click the wheel icon and click Private Browsing to turn off private browsing. You see a check mark next to Private Browsing if it is on.

I cannot edit features I've added to my map.

Feature services that are not accessible externally and features from time-aware layers and OGC WMS layers cannot be edited in the ArcGIS.com map viewer.

I don't always see the presentation option in the Open choices for a map I know contains a presentation.

In ArcGIS Explorer Online, the Share window has a check box for Start in presentation mode when opened by others. If the author selects this option, the map automatically opens to the presentation and you see Open Presentation as one of the choices for opening the map.

I do not see an option to configure pop-up windows even though I know my service has feature data in it.

The ArcGIS.com map viewer does not support editing or displaying pop-up windows on OGC WMS or OGC WMTS services. Configuring pop-up windows on KML layers is not supported; any feature data in the KML layer is automatically displayed (you cannot disable or configure them).

Pop-up windows don't appear in maps I've created.

The ArcGIS.com map viewer does not support displaying pop-up windows on OGC WMS or OGC WMTS layers. For ArcGIS Server service layers, you need to share your service in ArcGIS.com for the pop-up windows to appear in your maps. If you share your map service with groups you belong to, and not everybody (public), only group members will see your pop-up windows.

I cannot remove pop-up windows on a layer in the map.

You can remove pop-up windows on a map service layer you have previously enabled and on features from a delimited text file, shapefile, or GPX file. You cannot remove pop-up windows for ArcGIS Server feature service layers, map notes layers created in the ArcGIS.com map viewer, or KML layers.

Some images are missing in pop-up windows.

GIF images and images hosted behind HTTPS are not supported in ArcGIS Explorer Online due to restrictions in Microsoft Silverlight. Map authors should consider using PNG or JPEG images and images on HTTP in their pop-up windows.

I do not see an option to save item properties on a layer I've updated in the ArcGIS.com map viewer.

You can only save item properties on service layers you have added.

Number fields from a CSV on the web do not import correctly into the web map.

If you are adding a CSV from the web that uses periods as decimals but your language is set to a system that expects commas for decimals, your number fields may not display correctly. The decimal characters in your file should match the format that your system language expects. For example, if your system is set to English, your file should use periods as decimals. If your system is set to French, your file should use commas as decimals.

I cannot publish a hosted tiled map service from a hosted feature service.

You cannot generate map tiles for a hosted tiled map service that is published from a hosted feature service that is itself the result of an analysis operation.

I cannot publish my .txt file as a hosted feature service.

CSV files must be formatted and saved as .csv. Other text files are not supported.

I cannot publish my tile package on ArcGIS Online.

There is a 1 GB file limit when adding files to ArcGIS Online through arcgis.com. If your tile package file is larger than 1 GB, you cannot add it to ArcGIS Online through the website. Instead, you can use ArcGIS for Desktop to share your map document as a tile package and upload the tile package to your ArcGIS Online account. For more information, see Publishing a hosted tiled map service using a tile package.

When I open a web map in ArcGIS 10 for Desktop, some of the layers are missing.

Beginning with ArcGIS 10.0 for Desktop, web maps can be opened, but some layer types do not appear in the resulting map document, including hosted map services published using ArcGIS Online, feature services, map notes created with editable layers, features imported from files, and KML. Support for all these layer types is available beginning with ArcGIS 10.1 for Desktop, so it is recommended that you upgrade to at least 10.1 if you will be opening web maps in Desktop as part of your workflow.

I made my published hosted service public, but others still can't access it.

Any sharing changes made to a published service may take up to 10 minutes before the new sharing state is reflected in the system. For example, if you make a private service available to everybody (public), others may not find the service in a search on the ArcGIS.com website for 10 minutes.

I want to update my hosted service.

If you enabled editing on a hosted feature service, you can edit the features and their display in the ArcGIS.com map viewer. For more information, see About editing features.

If you published a hosted feature service from the ArcGIS.com website, you should delete the feature service and related file from My Content, then add the updated feature file to My Content. This will create a new hosted feature service. If you use the Update option in the feature file item details page, only the file will be updated; the hosted feature service will not be updated.

If you published a hosted service from ArcGIS for Desktop, you can use ArcGIS for Desktop to overwrite the existing service.

Publishing hosted map services takes a long time.

In general, the time it takes to render the tiles for a particular map is based on the spatial extent of the map to be cached and the number of layers in the map, as well as the load on the system at the time that the map is being processed. The system is designed to scale automatically (by adding machines) as load increases. However, lags are possible in cases where the system experiences drastic load.

The map caching system running in the cloud partitions a map into spatial extents that are rendered in parallel. If your data contains many extents, the entire process may take minutes or hours to complete. The process is asynchronous, which means the caching process continues if you close the ArcMap session from where the initial publication was performed. You can use the resulting cached map service from the web or from another ArcMap session that you start at a later time.

I can't share a public item outside my organization.

Your organization may not allow sharing outside the organization. Check with your administrator.

If the organization prevents anonymous access to its URL, public web maps, item details, and groups can still be shared. To share public web maps, use the short URL in the ArcGIS.com map viewer Share window; to share item details and groups, use the Facebook or Twitter buttons. These options create a link that uses the arcgis.com URL instead of the organization's URL.

I cannot see layer packages or other files used in ArcGIS for Desktop and ArcGIS Explorer Desktop.

By default, the website only shows you content that can be opened in a web browser. To see layer packages and other desktop content in search results, groups, and the Gallery, set the website to show all content. Click the arrow to the right of Show: Web Content Only at the top of the website, then click All Content from the drop-down list. For more information, see Finding content for ArcGIS desktop products.

A person's name is missing from the Invite User list.

Users need to have registered their Esri Global Account for ArcGIS Online before you can invite them to your group. If users set their profiles to private, you cannot invite them to your group. You also cannot invite members who have a different type of account than you have. For example, if you have an organizational account, you cannot invite public accounts to join your group. For more information, see What should you share?

I have ArcGIS Desktop 9.3.1 and cannot open layer packages created in ArcGIS Desktop 10.

If you use ArcGIS Desktop 9.3.1 and want to open layer packages created in ArcGIS 10 SP1, you need to install the ArcGIS 9.3.1 Service Pack 2 Desktop Layer Packaging patch. Without this patch, if you try to open layer packages created with ArcGIS 10 SP1, the following message is returned:

The version of this package is not supported. You must install a newer ArcGIS Filehandler to read this package.

Learn more about issues resolved in the patch

I have ArcGIS Desktop 10 and cannot open some layer or map packages.

Layer and map packages created in ArcGIS 10 SP1 cannot be opened in earlier versions of ArcGIS, including ArcGIS 10. The compression technology used by ArcGIS layer packages was upgraded in ArcGIS 10 SP1 to remove certain internationalization and size limitations, but as a result, backward compatibility was affected. If you try to open layer and map packages created with ArcGIS 10 SP1, the following message is returned:

Error reading package contents.

To open packages created in ArcGIS 10 SP1 in ArcGIS 10, upgrade ArcGIS 10 to service pack 1.

To open packages created in ArcGIS 10 SP1 in ArcGIS 9.3.1, install the ArcGIS 9.3.1 Service Pack 2 Desktop Layer Packaging patch.

When updating a layer package or map package in My Content, the image is updated even when I select keep item properties.

When you update a layer package or map package, the item properties thumbnail is reset to the thumbnail in the package. This happens even if you choose to preserve the item properties on the server. After you update the item, you need to reupload the image you want to appear on the item details page.

I was prompted for a login when opening a layer package.

When opening a package that has been shared with a group but not made public, you are prompted (through a pop-up dialog box) to enter your ArcGIS Online user name and password. The dialog box includes an option to save your login information, which allows you to open shared packages without reentering your user name and password.

I cannot open map packages or ArcGIS for Desktop add-in files.

You must have ArcGIS 10 for Desktop installed on your computer to open map packages or ArcGIS for Desktop add-in files. Earlier versions of ArcGIS Desktop do not support these types of items.

Opening a globe layer or service referencing a globe service returns an error message in ArcMap.

By default, the ArcGIS.com website opens globe layers and services in ArcMap and you receive an error message. To successfully open these items, you must have ArcGlobe open and ArcMap closed on your machine.

I cannot add an ArcGIS Server image service that I found in the ArcGIS.com website into ArcGIS for Desktop.

Image services created with ArcGIS Desktop 9.3.1 do not open correctly from the ArcGIS.com website. To open a 9.3.1 image service in ArcGIS for Desktop, it is best to make a connection in the Catalog window directly to the server on which the service resides.

  1. Open the Details page for the image service you want to work with and click the Map Contents link.
  2. Copy the first part of the URL of the Map Contents page, up to and including the word services.
  3. Open the Add ArcGIS Server dialog box inside the Catalog window and paste that string into the Server URL field.
  4. Delete the /rest part of the string so that it has this format: http://www.example.com/arcgis/services. Click OK. You can now browse to any of the services on that server and add them into your maps.

When I click Open and the Open in ArcGIS for Desktop option to add a map service I find in ArcGIS.com into ArcGIS for Desktop or ArcGIS Explorer, the service doesn't work. For example, in ArcMap, I see a new layer is added, but it is broken and doesn't draw. The service draws okay if I click Open in ArcGIS.com map viewer, so I know the server hosting the map service is up and running.

This is a REST configuration issue on the ArcGIS Server hosting the map service. It is causing the LYR files that are automatically generated when you click Open in ArcGIS Desktop to use the internal URL to the server rather than the external URL. This same issue also causes the View in ArcMap and View in ArcGIS Explorer links to fail on the REST Services Directory page for the map service. This can only be fixed by the administrator of the ArcGIS for Server hosting the map service. If you are the administrator, see ArcGIS Server Help to learn how to fix the issue.

If you want to use services from a server that has this issue, you can still add the map service into your map or globe in ArcGIS for Desktop or ArcGIS Explorer Desktop by making a connection directly to the server by following the steps below:

  1. Open the Details page for the map service you want to work with and click the Map Contents link.
  2. Copy the first part of the URL of the Map Contents page, up to and including the word services, and delete the /rest part of the string so that it has this format: http://www.example.com/arcgis/services.
  3. Open the Add ArcGIS Server dialog box inside the Catalog window and paste the string into the Server URL field. Within ArcGIS Explorer Desktop, open the Add Content dialog box and paste the string into the GIS Services field. You are now connected to the server.
  4. Browse to the map service you want to work with.
  5. You could also contact the owner of the server and let him or her know that this configuration issue needs to be fixed.
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5/16/2013