ArcGIS Enterprise Sites provides file downloads for several item types that are added to a site’s content library. Downloading is a process where someone requests a complete or filtered file for a content item. Various file formats are available depending on the type of item and whether services are hosted or non-hosted.
The following recommendations and workflows that can help you optimize data downloads and related processes. See Explore and download data and documents for related information.
Recommendations
Review these recommended configurations and limitations when making items available for download.
- Migrate data from map services to feature services.
- Publish data as feature services (as individual layers if applicable).
- Publish data through hosted services (in Enterprise), especially large files with many records or complex geometry, or frequently updated content. See Publish hosted feature layers and Upload content as a file or using a URL.
- For hosted services, enable the Extract capability (Enterprise Sites) or enable the Export data setting (Enterprise) to have more download formats. See Allow data exports to learn more.
- Upload .csv files as hosted table layers in Enterprise. When publishing a .csv file as a hosted layer, if any field is assigned the Date Only data type, exclude that field or change its Type to String to enable shapefile download.
Note:
Enterprise Sites does not support filtering a .csv file by Type set to Date Only or downloading a filtered .csv file.
Available download formats
Various download formats are available depending on published data formats and whether services are hosted or non-hosted.
Feature services hosted in ArcGIS Enterprise
Downloads are available on Enterprise-hosted services with the Export data setting (Enterprise) or the Extract capabilities setting (Enterprise Sites) enabled and only for feature services. Feature services only (feature layers, table layers) can be downloaded as CSV, Shapefile, GeoJSON, File Geodatabase, Feature Collection, and Excel.
Image services in all configurations
Download formats available for image services in all configurations depend on the ArcGIS Server version used.
- For all configurations, image services withArcGIS Server versions greater than 10.2, image services can be downloaded as: JPEG, PNG, PNG8, PNG24, and PNG32.
- For all configurations with ArcGIS Serverversions less than 10.2, image services can be downloaded as: JPEG, PNG, PNG8, and PNG24.
Note:
Other specific item types can be downloaded in their native format (for example, a GeoJSON item can be downloaded as .geojson).
Enable downloads for hosted services
The Export data setting allows Enterprise Sites to use a different method to generate download files and has many benefits and some known limitations. It is better at handling large items with many records or complex geometry, and is recommended for public data to hasten the download process.
To make data available for download, an administrator or user with the create items privilege must enable the Export data setting for the item in ArcGIS Enterprise. See Allow data exports to learn more. This enables the Extract capabilities setting in Enterprise Sites.
You can also enable the Extract capabilities setting in Enterprise Sites (edit mode, Content details, Downloads tab). This enables the Enterprise Export data setting.
Note:
In addition to enabling data for export, Enterprise Sites creates an exported item on an authenticated user’s account. In Enterprise Sites, users will see an item-export folder where these exports are stored. When a user downloads an updated file, they will see an additional item in this folder.
Anonymous downloads
Download files are not automatically available on publicly shared data to users who do not have an Enterprise account. To make data available for anonymous download, an administrator must also ensure the following:
- The item is shared publicly and belongs to the content library of a publicly shared site.
- An administrator with the create items privilege must have already created a cached version of each file format (CSV, Shapefile, GeoJSON, and so on). These are exported items. This must be accomplished by selecting Download for each format on the item's content page within the site.
- The resulting
exported items in the user's home folder or the user's item-exports folder must then be shared publicly.
Note:
This process is not automatic. When an item's data or metadata are updated, an administrator or user with the create items privilege must repeat this process and publicly share new exported items.
Due to the workflow outlined above, the application will show a warning to anonymous users or users without the create items privilege. These users will see a permanent warning stating that some download formats may be unavailable or that the available download formats may not be up to date.
Additional download formats
Site owners and group members can provide links that reference files or documents that are not supported natively in Enterprise (not supported by feature services), such as CAD files, PDF files, and so on. To add an additional resource, ensure that the Export data (Extract capabilities) setting is enabled. Open the item's details page in Enterprise. Select Metadata, Distribution, and Online resource.
Tip:
If the Metadata button is hidden, an Enterprise administrator must enable metadata.
Provide a link for URL and text for Name, and set Function to Download. Additional resource links appear on the item's content view on the side panel (at bottom) when selecting the Download button 
.
Note:
At this time, additional resources are supported for downloadable feature services.