Apps use temporary layers to put results on the map without adding anything permanent to your project: the parcels that pass a zoning test, a highlight around matching sites, or a set of features pulled out for a closer look. A temporary layer lasts until you reload the page.
What a temporary layer is
A temporary layer holds a set of features for the current session. It appears in the Layer Palette with a T-in-a-circle icon, alongside your other layers. Apps built with the Giraffe SDK create most temporary layers.
How long a temporary layer lasts
A temporary layer exists only in your browser for the current session.
It's gone when you reload the page or reopen the project.
Collaborators don't see it.
Save Visibility doesn't save it.
Scenes and saved views don't include it.
🚨 Warning: a temporary layer can't be recovered after a reload. Keep the features by creating a permanent layer, described below.
Work with a temporary layer
Open the layer menu on a temporary layer in the Layer Palette to see what you can do with it.
Open Table or Close Table to see its features in the Data Table
Apply Lens or Unapply Lens, when the layer has a lens
Remove from project to delete it
The row also has an opacity box and an eye, like any other layer. Temporary layers can't be renamed, locked, or restyled from the Layer Palette.
Keep the features from a temporary layer
Temporary layers can't be converted. To keep the features, copy them into a new permanent layer.
Open the layer menu on the temporary layer and choose Open Table.
Select the rows to keep.
Click Create layer from selection in the table footer.
Type a Layer name, untick Temporary layer, and confirm.
Only rows with geometry are copied.