Converting old XLS Form into new XLS Form template

[AlainChouinard]

The new XLS Form template coming with newest versions of Survey123 Connect is very valuable, with new features and a clearer presentation of the various parameters. But it seems that the columns are no longer in the same order as in the old template. Is there an easy way to import an old XLS Form file into the new template, to update an existing survey? I could copy and paste the columns one by one, but this operation is clumsy and there's a high risk of error.

Thanks for your help !

[Anonymous User]

Alain,

Make a copy of the old template and change the column headings as necessary rather than copy/paste the columns.

[Jim-Moore · Accepted solution]

Hi @AlainChouinard 

The suggestion from @Anonymous User is a good one - if you get the column order set up in another workbook first, you can then copy/paste the whole lot into the new template (at cell A2). Should be significantly quicker than copying each column one-by-one. It is recommended to always use the paste values option when copying and pasting any content (cells, rows, ranges) in the survey worksheet, as this will ensure the data validation is preserved and erroneous links to other workbooks are not created.

Please see this blog post for a few best practices that might be of use.

Best,

Jim

[AlainChouinard]

Thanks Jim !

The blog post by Ismael indicates clearly that you have to copy-paste column-by-column. It's a bit long but after all you just have to do it once ! 

Regards

Alain