Arcgis Pro Snapping Not Working

[Cheryll Witting]

I can't seem to snap to anything when I am creating new features. If I finish the sketch and then edit vertices, it will snap just fine. But when I am actually creating the feature, it won't snap. I've looked at the settings, I've tried to search here on GeoNet as well as other online resources, and I can't find anything talking about this.

Has anyone else run into this issue? Is it some setting that I am missing? I've tripled checked my snapping settings and the layers I'm trying to snap to are turned on in the 'List by Snapping' view of the Contents window. And yes, snapping is turned on.

I actually am experiencing that. Where my unfinished line won't snap to itself. And I do have 'Snap to Sketch' enabled. But that isn't what I'm trying to do. It's annoying but I can live with that, I don't need that feature very often.

Example: I have an already digitized storm main that was created 3 weeks ago. I am creating a new storm main that needs to connect to the existing one. And when I am creating the new feature, it won't snap to the already existing one. This is my biggest issue at the moment.

My current work flow consists of digitizing the line and then editing vertices to snap the end points to where they need to be. And it's not just lines. When creating points, points won't snap to already existing features. I have to create the point a little distance from where I need it, and then once it's created, move it so I can snap it to the vertex/end point of a line.

This is the same issue I have. And I have "Snap to Sketch" turned on as well. Edit: I have realized that it doesn't always happen to me. Sometimes it works. If I figure out when it works and when it doesn't, I'll reply on here.

We were just having the same issue. I found that if you quickly digitize and snap to any portion of the same feature, that section of line will stay. If you move your cursor to where you want to snap and hover, the last line segment will go away, and you won't be able to draw that portion of the line. It seems to be a digitizing speed issue.

That's what happened to me. It wasn't working when I posted the question but I tried it again a couple of days later, and snapping while editing worked fine. I haven't tried the snapping to sketch because I don't use that very often. But the regular snapping while creating a new feature worked fine after I restarted the project.

This is also happening to one of our users but not the others. We are using 2.2 here, is there any idea about an actual solution rather than the workaround? I know restarting Pro seems to temporarily fix this problem, but I am looking for a real solution.

I am also having this issue. I'm simply trying to snap to the boundary of an existing feature. It's not working. Ill restart the program and see what happens... Okay, so the restart didn't work. I guess I'll just have to edit the vertices.......shrug........

ArcGIS Pro 2.9.1. After creating a polygon in a file geodatabase feature class when attempt to edit the vertices using Modify Features, snapping does not work. I can create another feature and snapping works. Sometimes editing the vertices in another layer and then going back to the original layer allows me to snap again. Sometimes that doesn't work. I have tried turning off the snapping, saving edits and the project, and then turning snapping back on, saving the project. That sometimes works. I can't find a rhyme or reason why the snapping isn't always working or why if I move between layers snapping sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Anyone having this kind of experience and any tips on how to resolve this issue?

@PeteJordan Thanks for reporting the issue to Support and providing the reproducible steps. For others that might come across this issue, please contact Esri Technical Support so they can make sure your specific workflow matches the description of the following bug:

More info: Snapping can temporarily stop working for the Edit Vertices or Move tools if an edit is finished by activating another tool like the Select tool instead of using F2 or by clicking the finish button on the edit toolbar.

I was having this same issue without success in getting snapping to occur. Turns out my snapping had been suspended. I got it to work by using the space bar option. Select feature-->Edit Vertices-->press and release space bar ONE time-->snapping back on. Hope this helps.

I'm using ArcMap 10.5.1 and have been having issues with snapping not engaging for some time. I will have snapping engaged in an edit session and try to use it with the measure or create feature tool, but snapping won't engage. When I move the mouse to try to engage it, it switches to the hourglass for a moment before continuing not to snap.

I've tried modifying the snapping tolerance and the snapping types (edge, vertex, etc.) to no avail. Sometimes zooming in or out will suddenly allow snapping to work, but when I pan/zoom again it won't work. The only solution I've found to this so far is to reduce the number of layers displayed (turning off the basemap layers group, topographic lines, etc.), but I'm working with a map now that I can't get to work even after turning off all unused layers. This map does use two point feature classes with multiple tables joined to them. I assume the main issue is that the snapping function is being overloaded, but I just finished another map using the same layers without snapping issues even without turning off extra basemap layers.

Thanks for your reply Luba. In my case we use file geodatabase feature classes for everything. Based on reading the ArcMap Overview of Spatial Indexes page and looking in the feature class properties, I believe spatial indexes for feature classes are created and updated automatically. Please let me know if this is incorrect.

For the map in question, I found that turning off the layers with table joins allowed snapping to function normally. Removing the joins also re-enabled snapping. Is it possible that snapping fails when a visible feature class has an active join? This is frustrating in this case since these joined features are what I wanted to snap & measure, but knowing this could help me avoid the problem in the future. Though as stated in my original post, I've also experienced this issue in the past with non-joined feature classes and had to resolve it by turning off most of the mxd layers.

Thanks for the suggestion Michael. Testing in Pro just now, snapping with the measure tool took a few seconds to engage for most of the features but it did work. I was hoping to identify a fix in ArcMap though since we haven't switched over to Pro yet. We're hoping to switch over to Pro soon but still have some workflow and learning-curve obstacles before then.

The file geodatabases are stored on a server but I'm hoping this isn't much of an issue since the server is in the same office I am. I don't tend to have connection issues using it for all my other GIS work.

Thanks for the suggestion Robert. In this particular case I was trying to snap with the measure tool which can't be used with classic snapping, but this is still a good strategy to keep in mind for when this happens again. I tested it and classic snapping does indeed work on this map for operations like creating a new feature.

I guess overall I'm going to assume that this is a case of ArcMap snapping being overloaded by my feature class being joined to 2-3 csv tables (the joined tables are also referenced for symbology and labeling). In the future it might be a good idea for me to export these layers as a shapefile or feature class to improve performance.

Snapping allows you to create features that connect to each other so your edits are more accurate, with fewer errors. In ArcGIS 10, you can choose from one of two snapping environments to use when you are editing. The default is the new Snapping toolbar, which is flexible, easy-to-use, and has more snapping types, more options, and better feedback. Alternatively, you can enable classic snapping, which provides fine-grained control over the snapping environment. This post provides an overview of each environment, so you can decide which one allows you to get your editing done most effectively.

Snapping toolbar (the default snapping environment)
The Snapping toolbar is the central location where you manage the snapping settings. There is minimal setup required, since the most common snapping types are enabled by default. The Snapping toolbar environment is used by the editing tools, but is also available outside of an edit session and is used by other parts of ArcGIS, such as georeferencing and the Measure tool. Snapping is also part of ArcGIS Engine, so you can build custom applications that utilize snapping.

Snapping is managed at the map level, so whenever a snap type is turned on, you can snap to any visible feature layer. This also includes layer types that are not editable, such as basemap layers or CAD files. You cannot snap to features that are hidden from the map, though, including when the layer is turned off, has a definition query (visible features in the layer can still be snapped to), and is beyond the layer scale range. Snapping is useful when creating new features or when editing existing ones, such as by reshaping edges, splitting lines or polygons, moving features, or editing features in a topology.

The Snapping toolbar has buttons to enable snapping to points, edges, vertices, and ends, which are all on by default. The order in which snapping occurs to certain types is determined automatically; the highest priority is given to snapping to sketch elements. To turn on or off individual snap types, click them on the toolbar. If you want to stop snapping temporarily, hold down the space-bar. To turn off snapping altogether, uncheck Use Snapping on the Snapping menu.