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A style is a collection of symbols, colours and other layout elements of layers and maps. The symbols and colours that you currently are using in your maps on the ArcGIS platform are managed by different styles created by Esri. You already have access to several styles in ArcGIS Pro itself, but there is also a gallery of additional styles that you can add (see link at the end).

You can also create your own styles and use them to add a standard collection of your symbols and colours to your ArcGIS projects. These styles are stored as individual files on your environment and can be shared with ArcGIS Online or Enterprise.

Creating style in ArcGIS Pro

It is possible to create an empty style in a project in ArcGIS Pro. When creating the style, you first choose the location where it will be stored on your own computer. You can always retrieve the style from this location for future projects. It is also possible to add the style as a favourite or automatically to all new projects in ArcGIS Pro.

To create a style in a project, click the Insert tab in ArcGIS Pro and then choose New Style .  To create a style that can be used on mobile applications, you can choose New Mobile Style . Next, go to the folder where you want to save the style, choose a name for your new style and click on save.

You can now find your style in the saved location and it is also immediately added to the Catalog Pane under the Styles folder. If you right-click on the style, the option Manage will appear. Here you can add symbols, colours and other layout elements. You can choose to create new elements with the existing options in ArcGIS Pro or add your own images or files.

Applying style to layer in ArcGIS Pro

Once your style is created, the symbols will also appear as options when you want to change the layout of your layer. You can choose to apply certain symbols or colours from your style to your layers. There is also a simple option to apply the appropriate unique symbols for your layers from within your own style. Suppose you have a layer where you want to apply unique point symbols depending on an attribute value for each point, for example building type. With the geoprocessing tool Match layer symbology to a style this becomes very easy, and the correct symbols are linked to the attribute in your layer.

Style Sharing with ArcGIS Online or Enterprise

Finally, it is also possible to share your style with ArcGIS Online or Enterprise. To do this, you convert your style to a web style. However, certain symbols which do not match the requirements cannot be shared and are unable to be converted to a web style.

To share a style as a web style, right-click on the style in the Catalog Pane and select Share as web style . You can then add a summary and tags. You can also choose to share the style with certain groups or within your organisation. After sharing, the style will be available in your ArcGIS Online or Enterprise. With the new Map Viewer Beta it is possible to use the point symbols of this style directly in your maps. You can find the steps for this in the link below.

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