The end of ESRI ArcMAP has been widely communicated for the past year. Most people are familiar with the March 1 2026 date when ESRI will end support but may have not considered when ESRI licensing of ArcMAP for the U of I will end. ESRI is not renewing the ArcMAP license for the U of I Enterprise account after the expiration of the current license agreement that ends on August 3, 2025.
Esri will continue to officially support ArcMAP until March 1st 2026, but a valid ArcMAP license is needed to continue using it until that date.
Licenses for ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Enterprise along with all the various extensions and add-ons will be renewed and end users will have continuous access to those applications. Although ArcGIS Desktop/ ArcMAP will not work after August 3, 2025, previous projects and data created in ArcMAP can be opened and edited in ArcGIS Pro through the methods described below.
To ensure a smooth transition from ArcMap to ArcGIS Pro, users can refer to the following helpful resources:
General Guidelines and information
Maintaining accessibility of existing projects and data:
- Users can access their data in ArcGIS Pro by performing a folder connectionto the location where their files are stored (e.g., shapefiles, file geodatabases, etc.).
- Existing .mxd files created in ArcMap can be imported directly into ArcGIS Pro using the Insert > Import Mapoption. This will convert the map into a Pro-compatible .aprx project.
For end users who are using an earlier version of ArcMAP that is already retired (versions before 10.8), it is highly recommended that you perform a gradual upgrade of your version of ArcMAP to at least 10.8 and resave your data before the license expires. Projects created in earlier versions of ArcMAP may be subject to compatibility issues with Pro. A gradual upgrade would mean that you update your current version to a newer version that is no more than 2 major steps ahead. For example if you need to upgrade from 10.4, then first upgrade to 10.6 before upgrading to 10.8.
Please refer to the ArcMAP lifecycle and also be aware that ESRI is no longer providing ArcMAP licensing directly at this time.