Copy features between layers

In this tutorial, you have a layer of building footprints for a neighborhood in Boulder, Colorado. The layer is missing some buildings, so you'll copy and paste features from another layer. You'll learn how to use some of the ArcGIS Pro editing tools, including Paste Special and the Attributes pane.

This tutorial was last tested on December 5, 2024, using ArcGIS Pro 3.4. If you're using a different version of ArcGIS Pro, you may encounter different functionality and results.

Requirements

• ArcGIS Pro (see options for software access)

Copy features between layers

Video

This tutorial is also available as a video.

Copy features between layers video

Review the data

You'll start by reviewing your data to determine which, if any, attributes you'll transfer when you copy features.

1. Download the Boulder project package.

   A file named Boulder.ppkx is downloaded to your computer. A .ppkx file is an ArcGIS Pro project package and may contain maps, data, and other files that you can open in ArcGIS Pro.

2. Locate the downloaded file on your computer. Double-click Boulder.ppkx to open it in ArcGIS Pro. If prompted, sign in with your ArcGIS account.

   Note:

   If you don't have access to ArcGIS Pro or an ArcGIS organizational account, see options for software access.

   A map appears, showing buildings in the neighborhood of the Boulder Country Club. On the imagery basemap, you can see that a section of buildings in the northeast corner is missing.

   

   You could draw the missing features using the Create Features pane, but in this case, a faster option is available: you have another layer with building footprints that you can borrow from.

3. In the Contents pane, check the box next to Microsoft Buildings to turn the layer on.

   

   More building footprints appear on the map in yellow.

   

   Note:

   The Boulder County Buildings layer is a subset of the Building Footprints layer from Boulder County's Geospatial Open Data hub. The Microsoft Buildings layer was created by the Microsoft Corporation and is held by the University of Colorado Boulder's GeoLibrary site.

4. In the Contents pane, right-click Boulder County Buildings and choose Attribute Table.

   This layer has many attributes, including information about its source and status.

   

5. Open the attribute table for the Microsoft Buildings layer.

   This layer is more complete in terms of number of buildings, but it does not contain any attributes that are useful to your project. You'll continue to use the Boulder County Buildings layer, but you'll fill in its gaps with data from the Microsoft Buildings layer.

6. Close both attribute tables.

Copy and paste features

In ArcGIS Pro, there are several ways to combine layers, including the Merge and Append tools, but sometimes you only need to transfer a few features, rather than an entire dataset. In these instances, the editing tools are more appropriate. You'll use the editing tools to copy and paste buildings from one layer to the other.

Note:

To learn how to combine entire datasets, try the tutorial Merge multiple layers into one.

1. On the ribbon, click the Edit tab.

   To copy and paste features, you first need to select them.

2. In the Selection group, click the lower half of the Select button. In the menu that appears, choose Polygon.

   

3. On the map, click to draw a polygon shape that encloses all of the yellow buildings in the northeast corner of the study area.

   

4. Double-click to finish drawing the selection shape.

   

   It's okay if you also select the blue Study Area line; the paste operation will allow you to paste only polygons and not lines. However, if you've accidentally selected any pink buildings, you'll have to remove them from the selection set.

5. On the ribbon, click the lower half of the Select button and choose Rectangle.
6. On the keyboard, hold the Ctrl key and click any unintentionally selected buildings.

   Note:

   You may need to click the buildings twice because two features were unintentionally selected: one from each layer.

   

   Tip:

   The Ctrl key allows you to manually remove features from a selection set. The Shift key allows you to add features.

   The selection set now only includes buildings from the Microsoft Buildings layer that are missing from the Boulder County Buildings layer.

   Next, you'll copy the selected features and paste them into the Boulder County Buildings layer.

7. On the ribbon, in the Clipboard group, click Copy.

   

   The Paste button activates.

8. Click the lower half of the Paste button and choose Paste Special.

   

   Tip:

   You can also press Ctrl+C to copy features and Ctrl+Alt+V to open the Paste Special window.

   The Paste Special window appears. At the top of the window, the Paste option may be visible. It is only visible if features with different geometry types are selected.

9. If the Paste option is visible, choose Polygon.

   

   Only the selected polygons (from the Microsoft Buildings layer) will be pasted, not the selected lines (from the Study Area layer).

   Next, you'll choose where to paste the selected polygons.

10. For Template, choose Constructed.

    

    The Template menu allows you to paste features into any symbology class present in the map. The selected buildings are visible on the Imagery basemap, so you know that they have already been constructed and you'll assume that they have not yet been demolished.

    Note:

    The Layer menu allows you to paste features without categorizing them.

    The Keep source attribute values option will copy attributes from matching fields only. You saw earlier that the two layers have no common fields, so there are no attributes that can be kept. In this instance, it does not matter whether you check or uncheck Keep source attribute values. The Paste Special tool will transfer the features' shapes only, and leave behind their attributes.

    Note:

    If you have non-matching attributes that you want to transfer, you can paste attributes using field mapping.

11. Click OK.

    Copies of the selected polygons are added to the Boulder County Buildings layer and appear pink.

    

    The editing toolbar appears on the map with the Move tool active. You don't want to edit the location of the new features.

12. Close the Modify Features pane.

    The editing toolbar disappears from the map.

Update attributes

Before you deselect the copied features, you'll update their attributes to indicate where they were copied from.

1. With the copied buildings still selected, on the ribbon, in the Selection group, click Attributes.

   

   The Attributes pane appears. The upper half of the pane lists all of the selected features. The lower half lists the attributes of one of the selected features.

   

   Because the selected features are new, most of their attributes are <Null>. The Status field is set to Constructed. This attribute was applied by the template you chose in the Paste Special window.

   You'll update attributes for all of the new features at once.

2. In the upper half of the Attributes pane, click Boulder County Buildings (192).

   Note:

   192 is the number of selected features. It's okay if your number is different.

   The lower half of the Attributes pane now shows attributes for all of the selected features.

3. For Source, type Microsoft.

   

4. Press Enter. Click Apply.
5. Open the attribute table for the Boulder County Buildings layer.
6. Below the attribute table, click the Show Selected Records button.

   

7. Confirm that the Source and Status fields have been updated for all of the selected rows.

   

8. Close the attribute table and the Attributes pane.

Save edits

Finally, you'll save the edits you made during this tutorial.

1. Right-click anywhere on the map and choose Clear.
2. On the ribbon, in the Manage Edits group, click Save.

   

3. In the Save Edits window, click Yes.

   The edits you made were applied to the data, not the map or the project. If you add the Boulder County Buildings layer to any new map, it will include the new buildings.

4. In the Contents pane, right-click Microsoft Buildings and choose Remove.
5. On the Quick Access Toolbar, click the Save Project button to save the project.

   

In this tutorial, you reviewed the attributes of your data, selected and copied a set of features, and pasted them into another layer. Then, you used the Attributes pane to update one of the fields for all of the pasted features. The Boulder County Buildings layer now contains all of the buildings in your study area.

You can find more tutorials in the tutorial gallery.

Acknowledgements

• Microsoft - Building Footprints, Boulder County, CO: University of Colorado Boulder GeoLibrary
• Building Footprints: Boulder County Geospatial Open Data
• World Imagery layer sources: Esri, Maxar, Earthstar Geographics, and the GIS User Community