HOW TO

Copy specific line features and paste them to another layer in ArcGIS Pro

Last Published: March 4, 2022

Summary

A polyline is a shape defined by one or more paths where a path consists of a series of connected segments. Specific line features from an existing polyline feature layer can be selected, copied, and pasted to another feature layer. In ArcGIS Pro, this can be achieved by using Paste Special or the Make Layer From Selected Features option.

Note:
In ArcMap, line features can be selected and exported to a new feature class using either the Extract Data wizard or the Clip tool. Refer to ArcMap: About exporting selected features and records and ArcMap: Working with selected features for more information.

This article provides two workflows to select and copy specific line features, and paste them to another layer in ArcGIS Pro.

Procedure

Use one of the workflows below.

Use Paste Special to copy specific features and paste them to an existing feature layer

  1. Select specific features of the existing polyline feature layer.
    1. In ArcGIS Pro, navigate to the Edit tab, and click Select.
Access the Select feature by navigating to the Edit tab on the ArcGIS Pro ribbon and in the Selection group, click Select.
  1. Press and hold the Shift key on the keyboard, and click to select multiple features.
The image displays three selected line features highlighted in cyan.
  1. Copy the selected features and paste them to an existing layer using Paste Special.
    1. On the Edit tab, in the Clipboard group, click Copy.
    2. Click the down-arrow under the Paste icon, and select Paste Special.
Access the Paste Special feature by navigating to the Edit tab on the ArcGIS Pro ribbon, select Copy in the Clipboard group, and click the down-arrow under the Paste icon and select Paste Special.
  1. In the Paste Special window, navigate to the Layer tab.
  2. Click the down-arrow and select the layer to paste the copied features to. In this example, the layer is 'Line_new'.
  3. Click OK.
In the Paste Special window, select the existing feature layer on the Layer tab, and click OK at the bottom of the window to paste the copied features to the destination feature layer. In this example, the Line_new layer is selected.
  1. The copied features are pasted to the 'Line_new' layer.
The copied features are pasted to the Line_new feature layer. The new lines are represented in light-green color on the map.

Make a new layer from the selected features

  1. Select specific features of the existing polyline feature layer.
    1. In ArcGIS Pro, navigate to the Edit tab, and click Select.
    2. Press and hold the Shift key on the keyboard, and click to select multiple features.
  2. Use the Make Layer From Selected Features option to create a new layer with the selected features.
    1. In the Contents pane, right-click the polyline feature layer containing the selected features. In this example, the layer is 'Line'.
    2. Navigate to Selection, and click Make Layer From Selected Features.
Right-click the feature layer containing the selected features, navigate to Selection in the menu, and select Make Layer From Selected Features to create a new layer with the selected features.
  1. The new layer, 'Line selection' is created from the selected features.
The new layer titled, 'Line selection' is added to the Contents pane. The new line features are displayed in red on the map.
Note:
To export the features in a layer to a new feature class, refer to ArcGIS Pro: Copy features using Export for the steps to do so.

Article ID: 000027203

Software:
  • ArcGIS Pro 2 8 x
  • ArcGIS Pro 2 7 x
  • ArcGIS Pro 2 x

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