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Editing features

Change a feature's attributes straight from its popup, and reshape, move, extend or split the geometry of features you already have.

Every feature on a data layer can be edited in place, with no separate “edit mode” to turn on. You can change a feature’s attributes (its field values) and its geometry (its shape and position), starting from the map, the popup or the attribute table.

Editing is turned off for layers that are edit-locked, and in the read-only shared viewer. The popup still shows everything; it just has no edit controls.

Edit attributes in the popup

Click a value in the popup, type over it, and close the popup to save.

Click a feature on the map to open its popup. On an editable layer, each value is click-to-edit:

  1. Click a value. It turns into an input box, or a dropdown if the field has a pick list.
  2. Type the new value, then press Enter or click away to keep it. Escape cancels that field.
  3. Keep going with other fields. Changed values are highlighted until they’re saved.
  4. Close the popup (×) to save your changes. They’re also saved if you click another feature, switch to geometry editing, or the popup closes any other way.

Things to know:

  • Hyperlink fields stay clickable. Use the small pencil next to the link to edit the value.
  • Number fields with a min/max are clamped to that range, and date and time fields use a date or time picker (see field types).
  • App-managed fields (longitude, latitude, length_m, area_m2, perimeter_m) are read-only. They update by themselves when you change the geometry. Fields set to Read-only on the Form tab, and tracking fields, can’t be typed into either.
  • Missing required values are tinted so you can spot them.
  • If a click hits several overlapping features, use ◀ / ▶ in the popup header to move between them and edit each one.
  • Photos can be added or removed right in the popup too. See Photos & attachments.

The popup’s ⋯ menu

The ⋯ menu in the popup header has the feature-level actions:

  • Edit starts geometry editing on this feature.
  • Split into single-part features is only shown for multipart features. It breaks the feature into one feature per part, and each part keeps the attributes.
  • Zoom to feature, Add to / Remove from selection and Show in table.
  • Delete feature removes the feature, after you confirm.

Other ways to edit attributes

  • Attributes in the geometry-edit panel (below) opens the layer’s form.
  • The attribute table edits values cell by cell. A row’s ⋯ → Edit attributes opens the same form.

The form asks for the fields chosen on the layer’s Form tab, in that order, with any help text, required fields and show-only-when questions. See Fields & forms.

Edit an existing feature’s geometry

Snap to the Buildings layer, double-click a building, drag two corners onto its neighbours, then move it.

There are several ways to start editing a feature’s shape:

  • Double-click a feature on the map.
  • Edit in the tool rail at the bottom of the map. Click any feature to start.
  • ⋯ → Edit in the feature’s popup.
  • ⋯ → Edit geometry on a row in the attribute table. The map pans to the feature.
  • Edit in the Select panel when exactly one feature is selected.
  • When you finish drawing a new shape, you go straight into editing it.

The feature shows edit handles, and the edit panel opens above the tool rail. The hint at the top of the panel tells you what dragging will do.

Move, Vertex, Scale & rotate

Lines and polygons have three editing modes:

  • Move: drag the whole feature to a new position.
  • Vertex: reshape it point by point. Drag a vertex to move it, click a midpoint handle to add a vertex there, and click a vertex to delete it.
  • Scale & rotate: a box with handles appears around the feature. Drag inside it to move, drag a corner to scale, or drag the rotate handle to turn it.

A point has just one mode. Drag it to a new location.

If snapping is on, the vertices you drag snap onto nearby features.

Multipart features

For a feature with more than one part, ◀ Part n / N ▶ chooses which part you’re editing. The Delete button changes to Delete part and removes only that part.

Build: Continue, Add part, Split

  • Continue adds more vertices. On a line, click to extend it from its nearest end. On a polygon, click to add vertices to it. Press Done when you’re finished.
  • Add part draws another part onto the feature, which makes it multipart. For example, a second island in the same polygon. Double-click to finish the part, and the edit reopens on it.
  • Split cuts the feature. Draw a line across it, and it’s divided into separate features along that line. If the line doesn’t cross the feature, nothing changes.

Finish: Done, Undo, Delete

  • Done keeps your changes and ends the edit.
  • Undo puts back the original geometry from when this edit started. It’s only enabled once you’ve changed something.
  • Delete removes the feature (or the current part), after you confirm.

The Detail buttons in the same panel open Attributes (the full field form) and Photos. For annotations on a drawing layer, Style sets that one shape’s colours.

On a phone or tablet

  • The popup becomes a bottom sheet. Drag its grip to resize it, or tap the grip to switch between half and tall.
  • The edit panel is a draggable bottom sheet too, so you can pull it down to see more of the map while you work.
  • When you place new vertices on a touch screen, you use a crosshair instead of tapping the exact spot. Pan the map to aim the crosshair, then tap Add vertex, or tap My location to use GPS. Undo removes the last vertex, and Finish completes the shape.

Where edits go

Edits save to the layer straight away and show in the map, the popup and the attribute table. If cloud sync is on, they also sync to your other devices and anyone the map is shared with.

Next steps