topic Re: Can 'enable sync' and 'keep track of changes to the data' both be turned on a hosted feature layer? in ArcGIS Enterprise Portal Questions

Can 'enable sync' and 'keep track of changes to the data' both be turned on a hosted feature layer?

RachelS — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 11:55:26 GMT

Hi,

I have a hosted feature layer in Portal Enterprise 11.1 and I need 'Keep track of changes to the data (add, update, delete features)' to be turned on to use webhooks and I need 'Enable Sync' to be turned on otherwise users get an error on supportsApplyEditsWithGlobalIDs.

However when I turn one on the other is greyed out? Is there any way around this?

Thanks

Rachel

Re: Can 'enable sync' and 'keep track of changes to the data' both be turned on a hosted feature layer?

ChristopherCounsell — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 11:28:22 GMT

https://enterprise.arcgis.com/en/portal/latest/use/manage-editing-hfl.htm

This setting is not available if the feature layer has sync enabled.
If you enableKeep track of changes to the data (add, update, delete features), you cannot subsequentlyoverwritethe hosted feature layer.You also cannot subsequently enable sync on the layer ifKeep track of changes to the data (add, update, delete features)is enabled.

Some users have suggested going manually into the Rest Admin for the service updating the capabilities this way:

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-enterprise-questions/feature-service-webhooks-error-at-11-0/td-p/1321538

Re: Can 'enable sync' and 'keep track of changes to the data' both be turned on a hosted feature layer?

RachelS — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 12:24:47 GMT

Hi @ChristopherCounsell ,
Thanks for the reply, unfortunately my issue is slightly different. I've no problem ticking on the Change Tracking and it's visible in the capabilities.

However with 'Enable Sync' needing to be turned off to allow change tracking, users can't make any submissions through Survey123!
Which defeats the purpose of Tracking Changes when there is nothing to track if they can't add data.

If 'Enable Sync' must be turned on for Survey123 to work, surely this is a bug that you can't track the changes?

Re: Can 'enable sync' and 'keep track of changes to the data' both be turned on a hosted feature layer?

ChristopherCounsell — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 12:42:59 GMT

The documentation indicates the settings don't allow for this configuration.

What are you doing with Survey123?

Sync is not required unless you're using Inbox?

Webhooks come be setup from the app - or do you need it to come from the
feature service update?

Re: Can 'enable sync' and 'keep track of changes to the data' both be turned on a hosted feature layer?

RachelS — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 12:48:40 GMT

Funny thing is, I don't need sync, I'm not working offline or distributed collaboration, but if I turn it off I get this error.
I think Survey123 won't work with Enterprise unless sync is enabled, regardless if it's needed.

I need to know when there is an update on the feature service (when a user adds a new survey through Survey123) so that I can trigger an email to get sent to notify everyone.

Re: Can 'enable sync' and 'keep track of changes to the data' both be turned on a hosted feature layer?

AneteZvaigzneLV — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 07:53:01 GMT

Did you get your issue sorted? I have the same question, I haven't wrapped my head around this yet. Is this because it is a hosted layer not from an sde?

Re: Can 'enable sync' and 'keep track of changes to the data' both be turned on a hosted feature layer?

RachelS — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 09:32:02 GMT

I never got it resolved, I still can't get notifications sent to staff when there is an update. Maybe ESRI might have an update.

Re: Can 'enable sync' and 'keep track of changes to the data' both be turned on a hosted feature layer?

AneteZvaigzneLV — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 11:50:05 GMT

As far as I got - when talking about hosted feature layers the tracking of changes is created and last edited info, it does not store ''who, what, when'', but just ''who and when''.

Re: Can 'enable sync' and 'keep track of changes to the data' both be turned on a hosted feature layer?

gis_mags — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 18:07:51 GMT

also looking for an answer to this question!

Re: Can 'enable sync' and 'keep track of changes to the data' both be turned on a hosted feature layer?

NataliyaLys — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 16:54:52 GMT

The same issue here. I have a survey123 feature service, with related records, and I cannot overwrite the survey from Connect unless sync is enabled. But then I have to disable the sync because I need to use the webhooks and so I need to have 'Track changes...' enable for that. My data is hosted in the ArcGIS enterprise 11.4. Also, often when I try to enable/disable Sync/Track changes, I'm getting an error that the Setting cannot be saved. It's very frustrating.

Perhaps survey123 team has any suggestions: @ZacharySutherby @IsmaelChivite

Re: Can 'enable sync' and 'keep track of changes to the data' both be turned on a hosted feature layer?

BrandonCranfield — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 14:14:35 GMT

Also have a similar issue. Using ArcGIS Enterprise 11.5 | Survey123 Website version 3.22. We have Feature Service webhooks setup for Notebook Server. We are trying to see if we can get things set up with Survey123 as well. Our issue is that the 'Keep track of changes' is greyed out for us completely although editing is enabled which is preventing us from seeing the layer as an option for a webhook in the first place. Our intent is to parse the webhook payload into an HTML formatted email similar to how we have feature service webhooks configured.

Re: Can 'enable sync' and 'keep track of changes to the data' both be turned on a hosted feature layer?

RachelS — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 14:21:56 GMT

@BrandonCranfield
Funny I got notification this morning that this has been implemented at version 12.1 of Enterprise. Specifically
'Allow both "Keep track of changes to the data (add, update, delete features)" and "Enable Sync (required for offline use and collaboration)" to be simultaneously enabled in ArcGIS Enterprise'.

It'll be the end of the year before we upgrade again probably, so will have to wait another while yet for the fix.

Re: Can 'enable sync' and 'keep track of changes to the data' both be turned on a hosted feature layer?

BrandonCranfield — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 14:30:16 GMT

Related note: ArcGIS Enterprise 12.0 does allow the option to track changes for Survey123 layers. We don't have Notebook Server installed on this development instance yet, but can post in the results when/if we get this figured out and if anyone is interested.