Survey123 App - Survey description not appear

[YHH]

Hello all,

I have been creating my survey using Survey123 version 3.17. I am still in the process of designing the survey. When I click "Preview", I can see my survey description, but the description doesn't appar when I see my survey in the ArcGIS Survey123 App. I have tried the iPhone and Microsoft desktop versions. The Survey elements (survey header, description, footer) are on. I re-downloaded the app, but it still have the same issue.

I believe I could see the survey description last year. Is it an error?

Please advise.

[ChristopherCounsell]

Thanks Ruth. I'd reviewed the documentation and blogs and they referred to the description as a Note question:
https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-survey123-blog/introducing-custom-themes-in-survey123-web/ba-p/...

The Survey Description element, in Survey123 jargon, is a Note question type

@IsmaelChivitemight be worth adding the caveat to the blogs?

[James_Whitacre_PGC]

Thanks for responding @Ruth_JiatengXu and for clarifying. However, this seems to indicate that in order to use a survey in both a browser and the mobile app, you much now publish the survey from Connect and that surveys designed using the web designer can only be used in a browser. If that is the case, this a serious design flaw in the overall design of Survey123. I would hope and expect that no matter where you design the survey, it should look the same across all devices and platforms.

To put this in perspective, this issue/flaw resulted in me losing over 6 hours of work trying to troubleshoot and figure out the proper solution as I was trying to push the survey to go live. So what I expected to be a 15 minute process resulted in me basically losing a day of work and a day delay in going live on the survey. I am also now forced to continue using the Connect app to make any edits instead of the more convenient web designer.

[ChristopherCounsell]

hi @James_Whitacre_PGC here's a few bullet points that may help understanding working with Survey123 designers moving forward:

• Survey123 is generally treated as a 'developer' platform. It's more accessible to traditional non-developers, but you really benefit from taking a developer approach (build, test, release)
• Survey123 Connect was the original designer for the Survey123 field app. The web forms and web form designer came later, and started off with minimal functionality.
• Although the web designer is getting better, Survey123 Connect is much more powerful for designing survey forms. There are some things that are only supported in the web designer.
• I generally use Survey123 Connect to design for the Survey123 field app. There's a more direct alignment with this builder and the field app. I also use it for web forms, but make sure to test in the target environment and check what functionality won't be supported by the browser.
• I generally only use the web form designer when I'm making a brief survey, it's simple, it will primarily be used in the web browser e.g. by external users, or if another staff member needs to update it and they don't have skills in Survey123 Connect

You can make it easier by just going Connect = field app, web designer = web forms. If you want to blur the lines:

https://doc.arcgis.com/en/survey123/faq/faqcreatesurveys.htm#anchor1

https://doc.arcgis.com/en/survey123/desktop/create-surveys/quickreferencecreatesurveys.htm

Change the 'connect' vs 'web designer' on the documentation pages
And take care when exploring newer functionality - test in both target environments.

Hope this helps with future efforts.

[Ruth_JiatengXu]

Hi @James_Whitacre_PGC, we are sorry for the inconvenience. I have created an internal issue to support the survey description in the field app. I will let you know when the fix is available.