Copy/Paste in Collector for iPhones?

[KristalWalsh]

Our team uses Apple devices at this time for our field work and we are still refining our workflow with Collector. I have been trying to follow the technical article described in https://support.esri.com/en/technical-article/000017946 to copy/paste existing features to another feature layer. I have only been able to get this to work one time and cannot replicate it. My interface is not exactly the same as shown on the tech article but we are using the new Collector. The examples I have provided as attachments show that when I select a boundary of a property (Attach 1) the copy option appears and it will allow me to continue to select from a list of other feature layers in my map.  But when I select the other features (2nd attachment) I get a different copy option which takes to me to a capture point. Our normal workflow is to search for the property we are working on and then select the portion of the property being managed. This is what we need to copy for other management practices. I hope this makes sense. Enabling this feature until I get a web app set up will greatly improve the efficiency of our work flow. Otherwise our guys will be creating features over and over again. I appreciate your help.  

[ColinLawrence]

Hi Kristal,

The article you linked is a bit dated and shows the interface for Collector Classic. It is true that the copy workflow differed in Classic from what you see in the current version of Collector. When using copy in Collector, it only copies the attributes and not the feature geometry. If the new feature lies directly on top of the copied feature you could use snapping to trace over the existing feature, otherwise, it may be best to use other parts of the ArcGIS platform to accomplish these workflows (or utilize Classic). 

Regards,

Colin

[KristalWalsh]

Hi Colin, thank you again for your reply to my questions about Collector. Why would the new Collector not retain the functionality of the Classic Collector? There seems to be several posts asking for this functionality. And yes the tech article was dated but it was the only one I could find. I don't want to have my folks trace over anything multiple times and this is almost ready to deploy for training, with screen shots in a guide etc.So, I would rather not go that way unless I have to.  It would by far be easier for them to do the editing in AGOL, but the only thing I've found so far is the smart editor widget in the web app builder ((https://community.esri.com/ideas/13937-select-copy-and-paste-feature-in-webapp-builder?commentID=706...).  My goal is to keep this as simple as possible of course since these guys are going from paper in the field and tabular data to this. If there is an easier way in AGOL through the edit function, then please point me in the right direction! Thank you so much. Kristal 

[ColinLawrence]

Kristal,

I am not sure I can answer the "why" unfortunately. This thread has some discussions around this functionality and I can see you are not the only one requesting this functionality to return. I would encourage you to reach out to Support and get attached to the bug referenced in that thread if possible. The more people that request this functionality the greater the chance it is considered.

Can you detail a bit more around the workflow you are trying to accomplish so I can pass the feedback on?

Regards,

Colin

[KristalWalsh]

Certainly! Our landowner assistance biologists perform site visits in the field many times with a landowner present. So they must be attentive and not spend too much time on their phone or notepad. They recommend management practices for the landowner based on wildlife objectives, so one 50-acre portion of a large parcel may need site prep, prescribed fire and tree planting, all of which are polygon feature data hosted in AGOL and collected on the app. We currently have about 11 practices and often then overlap on the same area. The biologist starts collecting the feature, either by walking or driving and then complete the form. We are looking for a way in Collector to copy the site prep feature at this same location and paste it into prescribed fire feature layer (at the same location) so that its form could be populated, and so on for the tree planting. Ultimately we will be mapping or accounting for landowner area managed by each type of practice and how it corresponds to fish and wildlife habitat. Often, staff may be able to grab one feature in the field and then finish the work in the office and at that time of course, copy/paste functionality in the AGOL platform would be preferred.

Thank you and I hope this helps. I will follow up by going back to the thread you mentioned. Kristal

Kristal C Walsh, MS

Biological Scientist IV

Office of Conservation Planning Services

Division of Habitat and Species Conservation

Milton, Florida 32571

(850) 851-8065

[PaulCone2]

Any update on this?  I'm still struggling to understand why ESRI removed this basic functionality from Collector.  "Use the old version" is not an acceptable answer.

[ReeseRademacher]

Any idea if this ever got solved? We need this copy/paste function!