Is there anyway to export schemas to excel along with the associated attachements?

paudelsushil

Hi community,

I have used survey123 form to collect forest attributes which have many nested columns and attachments fields. I found one of the column has error field name so I updated that and published the form. I updated that form in my tablet and continued to survey the forest plots. Now, the problem is I could not sync those data with server. All the data are in outbox. 

I tried manually to retrieve those data using python code but could not retrieve all the data from lower field and also most important I could not get the information or link to attachments (e.g. Images) in the schema.

I need help either to upload to sync or export those data to excel. 

Thank you in advance.

VenkataKondepati

You’ve run into one of the more painful Survey123 “gotchas” — once you change the schema of a published form (renaming fields, adding/removing questions), the local database on the device no longer matches the hosted feature layer. That’s why your Outbox refuses to sync.

Why this happens

• The SQLite database on the tablet (the Survey123 field app’s local store) was created with the old schema.

• After you republished with a corrected field name, the server has the new schema.

• Sync fails because ArcGIS can’t reconcile the column mismatch.

Options to rescue the data

1. Try to Sync with the old schema

If possible, roll back:

• In Survey123 Connect, rename the field back to the original error name.

• Republish so the feature layer matches what the Outbox is expecting.

• Then sync.
  Once all outbox records are on the server, fix the schema again and migrate data with ArcGIS field calculator or Python.
  ➡️ This is usually the fastest/safest way if you can tolerate the “bad” field name temporarily.

2. Export directly from the device

• On Android: navigate to Android/data/com.esri.survey123/files/ArcGIS/My Surveys/databases/

• Each survey has an SQLite .sqlite database. Open it with DB Browser for SQLite or Python (sqlite3).

• Tables:

  • main table has your attributes (with the old field names).

  • Related tables hold attachments. There you’ll find filenames or BLOBs. Attachments are stored under ArcGIS/My Surveys/Media/ on the device.

• You can export to CSV/Excel manually or with Python (pandas.read_sql).

3. Python path (ArcGIS API for Python)

If you already extracted the local .sqlite, you can read:

import sqlite3, pandas as pd

conn = sqlite3.connect("path_to_survey.sqlite")
df = pd.read_sql("SELECT * FROM main", conn)
df.to_excel("survey_backup.xlsx", index=False)

 

For attachments:

• Join main with attachments table on globalid.

• Copy attachment files from the Media folder using the REL_GLOBALID.

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✅ Recommended next step for you:
If you still have the old XLSForm (with the original “wrong” field name), republish that version, let the devices sync, then repair field names after everything is safely on the server.