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Update a survey

A survey is composed of two parts: the form item that the app uses and the feature layer that contains the data submitted from the survey. You can update a survey that has been published.

Surveys created in Survey123 Studio, the Survey123 web designer, and Survey123 Connect can be updated and republished in Survey123 Studio.

Before updating an existing survey, consider the following recommendations:

  • Confirm that all unsent surveys have been submitted.

  • Download the results of the original survey first.

  • Ensure that you have the most recent survey files by backing up a copy of your survey, deleting the survey in Survey123 Studio (which deletes the local copy only), and downloading the survey to avoid overwriting changes made elsewhere since it was last published from your device.

Note:

The first time you download and republish a Survey123 Connect or web designer survey with Survey123 Studio, the Survey123 Mobile option is automatically turned on for Submission apps in the Distribution settings. Republishing surveys with Survey123 Studio will also update this setting based on the initial defaults or what was set when the survey was last downloaded in Survey123 Studio.

When a survey is republished, users must update the survey on their device to see and work with the latest version.

Caution:

If a survey has been created from an existing feature layer (either an ArcGIS Server feature layer or hosted feature layer), new questions and choice list values can be added to the survey only after the corresponding field or domain is added to the feature layer.

After making changes to a survey, you can typically republish it without re-creating the feature layers. You can make the following changes to a published survey in Survey123 Studio:

  • Reorder questions

  • Add questions

  • Add notes

  • Add groups

  • Add repeats

    Note:

    When adding repeats to a published survey, you cannot change the hierarchy of existing repeats. For example, you can add a nested repeat, but you cannot nest an existing repeat in a new repeat. If you're using ArcGIS Enterprise, republishing after adding a repeat requires version 10.9.1 or later.

  • Update labels in questions

  • Update labels in groups

  • Update constraints, defaults, hints, and whether a question is required

  • Update calculations

  • Update choice filters

  • Delete choices in lists

  • Delete questions and repeats

  • Change question types (if the underlying field type is the same)

Note:

Renaming a question creates a field in the feature layer under the new name. The old field is retained in the feature layer, so before republishing, it is recommended that you review its contents and either copy the data to the new field or delete it.

In some cases, republishing an updated survey re-creates the feature layers, renaming the original. Examples include changing the layer's geometry (such as changing a geopoint question to a geoshape question) and changing the field type of a question (such as changing an integer question from esriFieldTypeInteger to esriFieldTypeString).

When you republish, a warning appears if the feature layer does not support the changes. If you ignore the warning and republish the survey, Survey123 Studio does the following:

  • Renames the original feature layer and feature layer views.

  • Creates a new feature layer and feature layer views.

If Survey123 Studio created a web map when you first published the survey, the web map continues to reference the original feature layer. Add the new feature layer to the web map in Map Viewer.

Field aliases

When a survey is first published, a question's label becomes the alias for its field in the feature layer. When you modify question labels and republish the survey, Survey123 Studio displays a summary of the changes, and you can choose whether these changes should be applied to the field aliases in the feature layer. Field alias updates are made to the feature layer, the _form feature layer view, and the _results feature layer view. Consider the following when updating question labels:

  • If a question has a value in the bind::esri:fieldAlias column, this value will always be used as the field's alias.

  • For surveys that use a submission URL, field aliases will not be updated, and no summary of the changes will be shown.

Choice lists

When you modify the choices for select_one questions and republish the survey, Survey123 Studio displays a summary of the changes, and you can choose whether these changes should be applied to the coded value domains in the feature layer. Choice list updates are made to the feature layer, the _form feature layer view, and the _results feature layer view. Consider the following when updating choices for select_one questions:

  • Adding a choice, or updating the name for an existing choice, adds a domain value to the feature layer.

  • Updating the label for an existing choice updates the label for the existing domain value in the feature layer.

  • Deleting a choice from a choice list has no effect on the feature layer's domains.

  • If an addition or update to a choice list results in domain values that have duplicate labels, a warning appears in Survey123 Studio when republishing.

  • For surveys that use a submission URL, if there are choices that are missing from the feature layer's domains, a summary of the missing choices is displayed. You can republish the survey, but the domains will not be updated.