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Technical Article   HowTo:  Use the 'Set Data Source' tool for map documents in ArcCatalog

Article ID: 27425
Software:  ArcGIS - ArcEditor 9.0, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.3.1, 10 ArcGIS - ArcInfo 9.0, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.3.1, 10 ArcGIS - ArcView 9.0, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.3.1, 10
Platforms: N/A

Summary

Instructions provided describe how to use the Set Data Source tool for map documents in ArcCatalog. When right-clicking a map document (.mxd) file in ArcCatalog, a Set Data Source command is visible. This opens a dialog box that makes it easier to update or repair some or all of the references to file-based data sources in the map. By default, this dialog box creates a copy of the .mxd file. This option is also available by right-clicking a published map (.pmf) file, although it is disabled if the publisher of the .pmf file selected not to provide full access to its contents in ArcGIS applications when it was published.

The Set Data Source tool cannot be used to update or repair references to data in ArcSDE geodatabases.

The Set Data Source tool does not support VBA customizations. Any VBA customizations are not included in the output MXD.

The Set Data Source tool does not support personal geodatabase annotation layers at this time. This is a known limit and is scheduled to be fixed in a future release of the software.

Procedure

Follow these steps to set the data source for an MXD in ArcCatalog.

  1. Right-click an MXD in ArcCatalog and click Set Data Source(s).
  2. The default creates a copy of the MXD. It is recommended that a copy be used and the original MXD be kept as a back-up. However, the existing MXD can be overwritten by selecting it or typing its full path.
  3. Select a data frame or all data frames.
  4. Select a layer or press the Select All button.
  5. Click Replace or Replace All.
  6. The Replace dialog box does a 'find and replace' on the paths to the data. Type the 'find and replace' text to match the data. For example, if all the data was in C:\GISData but it has been moved to C:\GISData2, the Find What text box shows C:\GISData and the Replace With text box shows C:\GISData2.
  7. Click Replace.
  8. Click OK in the Set Data Sources dialog box.

Created: 8/8/2004
Last Modified: 9/19/2011

Article Rating: (10)
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Comments

By jnderose - 05/29/2012 5:47 AM

The article needs to be updated.

The article states that "The Set Data Source tool cannot be used to update or repair references to data in ArcSDE geodatabases. " This is no longer true for ArcSDE geodatabases in version 10.0. Please see: http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//006m0000006q000000.htm

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By Anonymous - 03/24/2011 8:29 AM

I have suggested related resources/links that can enhance this article. See below.

recommend to modify the procedure to include that this is also available from the Catalog window in ArcMap 10.

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By Anonymous - 01/06/2009 6:59 AM

The article needs to be updated.

I was wondering why I couldn't use the Set Data Source tool for SDE and this article indicated it wasn't supported. So the article answered my question and I was again pleased that the forum helped me solve a problem. However, now I've got a few new questions. First, why isn't there a comparable article for 9.2 and/or 9.3? Second, why doesn't this function work for SDE datasets? If the geodatabase is the 'native' format for ESRI, why is such a core function not supported? Could this be addressed in future releases? I think that you should be able to click on the Source tab in an MXD, select the source heading and repath the entire contents. This function would be very helpful to me. Thanks for your consideration.

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By Anonymous - 01/05/2006 1:10 PM

I copyied my .mxd & .mdb files as Copy of CECSYS.mxd & .mdb respectively. Then opened the Copy~.mxd and set the data source as relative path. I then copied the copies, as well as the original .mdb to a new folder and used this article to the data source from the original to the copy.mdb. When I opened the copy of the copy.mxd, I couldn't edit the text, only graphics. The text was all pointed to the original database. When I looked at the ArcCatalog Set Data Spource routine, it only listed the g

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By Anonymous - 08/12/2005 6:59 AM

The article does not mention that any vba code within the mxd file does not transfer to the new file. Thus, if you have a lot of customizations to the original mxd, you lose them when you reset the data source(s).

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By Anonymous - 07/13/2005 12:21 PM

Does not mention all the limitations of the tool. For example you can't change a coverage to a shape or a shape to a personal geodatabase feature class. It also doesn't echo to the command line window so you can batch replace all the mxd's in a directory.

By Anonymous - 06/10/2005 1:39 AM

Not sure if its been resolved in Arc9.1, but on using this tool in Arc 9.0, my layout disappeared. The work around is not to run the tool in ArcCatalog, rather, open the mxd, right-click on one of the layers and use Set data source. Interestingly, i set data source for 1 layer, but it was automatically set for rest of layers too. And i did not lose any of my layout elements :)

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By Anonymous - 05/11/2005 6:11 AM

Article says "The Set Data Source option cannot be used to update or repair references to data in ArcSDE geodatabases." would be nice if it said there is no other way to update SDE sources or point me to another article for that how to. I can tell you the work around I think is for one SDE server group all the layers into a group layer then use the setdata source for layer file sample to change it. Not sure if it works but that's what I'm going to try.

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By Anonymous - 02/04/2005 2:51 PM

The tool is a good idea, but less than satisfactory in result. The save as function uses default settings for the new file, loosing all pagfe properties settings. As well, the actual data set cannot be changed (apparently). I would like to replace a reference to the data set with a reference to a layer file, without success. A scripted global search (select a list of files) and replace for full paths (incl the referenced file) would be preferable.

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By Anonymous - 09/17/2004 10:42 AM

Is there a script for ArcGIS 8 that will do this?

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By Anonymous - 09/03/2004 12:02 PM

This does not work!!!

By Anonymous - 09/03/2004 12:02 PM

This does not work!!!

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