Understanding "If you republish this survey all previously collected data will be lost"

[beachcamp]

Hello,

I'm trying to better understand the contexts in which this scenario occurs. I'm using a couple of surveys in production with plans to create more, and I have worked around this issue before. But it is quite disruptive and disconcerting.

I have been unable to find specific documentation for this. I know that adding or removing fields is fine. In this case for testing purposes I changed a field type after publishing. That makes sense. I think adding attachments also necessitates a full re-publish?

I would really appreciate any insight, but ideally a full list of scenarios that lead to this issue if possible.

[Katie_Clark · Accepted solution]

Hello! Does this documentation help answer your question?

https://doc.arcgis.com/en/survey123/browser/create-surveys/updatesurvey.htm

[abureaux]

Things that result in a republish:

• Changing field types (e.g., String > Integer)
• Changing field character limit/length (e.g., 255 > 300)
• Adding a repeat

[beachcamp]

Thank you both for your help. 

That does clarify somewhat, but it seems the official documentation is not complete (for example the field character limit, and adding photos also force a complete re-publish).

[abureaux]

Sorry. That is an odd interaction that I should have specified... Photos/attachments are technically added to a related table. The real thing that causes the republish isn't "repeats" it's "related tables". All repeats add a related table, but not all related tables are for repeats.

Related tables can be photos, repeats, and attachments.