How can I keep past creation dates when uploading data to Survey123?

Question

I have past data that has dates for when each record was created and I need to get this data into an already created survey in Survey123. I had no issue uploading the data using the Append tool in Pro, but when I did this, all the original created dates were over written.

I really need to keep these original dates for the records already created. Can this be done? I've tried everything I can think of and am out of ideas.

dougbrowning · Answer

We when had this issue in SDE we turn off editor tracking, join, field calc the fixes, turn editor tracking back on.

But in your case an Append is NEW data so not sure how you would ever expect keep old dates that way.  You need to join and copy the changed fields over instead.  Turning off editor tracking while doing so.  I would test this to make sure AGOL does not up and remove the editor fields (it does not in SDE).

What also may work is to Append in the new records, join to the old records, then field calc over the editor tracking fields.  Not sure it will let you do that but it might allow it if tracking is turned off.

Good luck