Issue Displaying Photos in Survey opened from Inbox

[RobertMarros]

Hi,

I have noticed that any photos that were submitted in a survey DO NOT display in that same survey when it is re-opened from the Inbox. This functionality is available when a survey is opened from the Sent box but not the Inbox? Why is this the case? And is there a workaround or solution available or coming soon?  

My specific workflow requires that any survey that is opened from the Inbox must have the photos displayed in it as a reference for the field crew member who submitted the survey. 

Thanks

[JamesTedrick]

Hi Robert,

Currently, Survey123 does not download attachments; there are a few reasons for this, one of which is bandwidth concerns - refreshing a large Inbox over a cell connection that has 1-2 images each could lead to several hundred MB of data being transmitted.

[RobertMarros]

Hi James,

Why does the Sent folder functionality act differently than the Inbox folder?  What exactly is the difference then between opening a survey from your Sent folder versus your Inbox folder? If I capture a survey on a device and then submit it, then shouldn't all of the information and photos from the survey already be there on my device. 

[JamesTedrick]

Hi Robert,

The Inbox requests data from the feature layer that stores the survey results while the Sent folder only displays items that have been previously sent (and are stored locally on the device).  While you are correct that a Sent survey will have data locally if the Inbox is refreshed, Survey123 requests the data from the service too consistently get features that may or may not be on the device; also, it is possible other processes may have updated the information when compared to what is stored in the Sent folder.

[RobertMarros]

James,

So if that is the case, if I collect "Survey A" on my iPhone device and submit it, and then go to my Inbox folder and open "Survey A" on the same iPhone that "Survey A" was collected and submitted on, I should be able to see all of the photos and data from "Survey A" on it, right?  

[JamesTedrick]

Hi Robert,

Unfortunately, viewing from the Inbox will always be from the data as received from the feature service- think of the Sent Folder and Inbox as having 2 separate copies of the record information.

[RobertMarros]

Ok well thank you for the clarification! 

Thanks again for your quick assistance. 

[deleted-user-qzyyiYme1rz9]

James, I have a survey with a required signature at the bottom (seems pretty standard). The signature, of course, is an image. If I want the users to be able to edit their response from the inbox, then does that mean I have to make the signature field not required? Currently, since it won't load the signature from the inbox, if a user tries to update and resubmit a survey response they can't and get an error saying that their signature is required, and they are unable to update it. 

[JamesTedrick]

Hi Alexis,

Yes, since you can't currently add an attachment, it can't be required in a survey using the Inbox.  You would need to have another form of 'signature' type verification.

[AmandaLegat]

Hi James, 

I was just wondering whether there is a fix coming for not being able to use photo attachments within surveys from the inbox for survey 123? If so is there a *rough* time frame for when we may be able to expect this? 

Thanks,

Amanda