Best Way to Keep Layers Updated Between Desktop, Online, and Fieldmaps?

[ShelbyMyers]

I've been using the Stormwater Data Management Solution for a while now at work, and I've just realized that my feature layers aren't updating completely on Arcgis Online. I primarily edit data on the desktop app, but have recently started updating data on Arcgis Online as I'm starting to prefer it and want to start using FieldMaps more. Is there a best practice for keeping all the layers up to date? I want to figure this out since it's only me creating the GIS for my job, and I want to start collecting field data as well. Any suggestions? What are the real advantages of using both (desktop vs online) when it comes to using an Esri Solution, which seems to advertise cohesion between applications? Thanks!

[JRhodes]

Hi Shelby, if you're using ArcGIS Online hosted feature layers as your primary data source (in other words, you're not keeping any copies of the data on your local computer or network), your edits will always be in sync.

When you say "desktop app", do you mean you're using ArcGIS Pro? If so, be sure to click the refresh button  after making any edits in ArcGIS Online to force the layer to reload. There is also a setting in the layer properties to automatically refresh the layer:

[Joshua-Young]

As long as the data is hosted in ArcGIS Online as hosted feature services you can keep ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, and ArcGIS Field Maps in sync. You just need to use the same hosted feature service in ArcGIS Pro and Field Maps. Keep in mind there are things you can do in Pro that you cannot do in Field Maps and vice versa. You can use forms in Field Maps to automatically populate data in the attribute table when adding or updating features, but Pro does not support forms. Pro has much better editing tools for complex edits or using map topology.