idea Allow to add linked content before survey is published in ArcGIS Survey123 Ideas

Allow to add linked content before survey is published

AnthonyRyanEQL — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 01:13:32 GMT

Please allow linked content to be added to the survey before it's published. The Survey123 Connect app is connected to the ArcGIS Enterprise Portal, so not sure why this section would limit the user to publish their survey before linking other content/items from Portal to it.

The reason is we have developed CI/CD pipelines that publish our surveys to ArcGIS Enterprise which allows us to keep the same item id throughout our environments so if the survey is used with hyperlinks in ArcGIS Field Maps, then these links will not be broken when the survey is republished, etc from an update/upgrade/etc.

Thanks

Re: Allow to add linked content before survey is published

Philip-Wilson — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 03:04:02 GMT

Hi @AnthonyRyanEQL,

It is not possible to link content to a survey via Linked Content in Survey123 Connect if the survey has not been published at least once and exists as an item in the ArcGIS organisation (Online or Enterprise).

The reason being is that Linked Content uses the "survey2data" relationship to link other content items to the survey form item. If they survey has not yet been published to the organisation then the item does not exist and have a unique id and form item available to be linked to from other items.

https://developers.arcgis.com/rest/users-groups-and-items/relationship-types/

Regards,

Phil.

Re: Allow to add linked content before survey is published

AnthonyRyanEQL — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 03:56:45 GMT

@Philip-Wilson

Wouldn't the publishing process just need to altered to ensure the survey form item is created first (itemid would then be known) and then with what items that have been linked in Survey123 Connect app would have their relationships created as one of the last steps?

I thought this would be easier than the user having to publish the survey, go back to link items, and then republish again

FYI. I have worked out the way we are going to do it as part of our CI/CD pipelines.

Re: Allow to add linked content before survey is published

Philip-Wilson — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 04:07:12 GMT

Hi @AnthonyRyanEQL,

Great to hear you have found a workaround as part of your CI/CD pipelines to link content to the survey.

And yes, if the publishing process and survey2data workflow for linked content was redesigned and engineered to accomodate form items before they are published and exist in the organisation, this could in theory work. We will add it as a future enhancement to be considered in the roadmap when linked content is added to the next generation apps which are currently under development.

Regards,

Phil.

Re: Allow to add linked content before survey is published

AnthonyRyanEQL — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 04:17:43 GMT

@Philip-Wilson

Thanks for the consideration.

Re: Allow to add linked content before survey is published

abureaux — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 18:07:53 GMT

I would also love to see this. The workflow at present is just annoying.

I get that it "can't be linked"... But Connect already knows what content should appear in that list. Just give us the list, let us select like normal. Then when we publish, Connect jumps through an additional hoop of "oh, I need to link this content as well. Okay, I'll publish first, and then attempt to link the content automatically". Basically, Connect can do in one step what currently takes us two steps.