"},{"ID":319692,"user_firstname":"Taylor","user_lastname":"McNeil","nickname":"Taylor McNeil","user_nicename":"tmcneil","display_name":"Taylor McNeil","user_email":"tmcneil@esri.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2022-10-06 12:43:53","user_description":"Taylor is a Product Engineer on the ArcGIS Online team based in Nova Scotia, Canada. She has received a BSc in Biology and a MSc in Applied Geomatics. When she's not at work, she can be found taking care of her houseplants, reading copious amounts of fiction, and exploring local thrift stores.","user_avatar":"
"}],"short_description":"Learn how to include attachments when adding or updating features in your hosted layer using Update Data.","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<\/h1>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2020\/03\/breakgray.png\")
\nWhen do you see the option to include attachments?<\/h1>\n
\nWhen do you see the option to include attachments?<\/h1>\n
The<\/span> Include attachments<\/span><\/b> toggle will appear in the Update Data workflow when the following conditions are met:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Including attachments will add any associated attachments for both new and existing features.<\/span><\/p>\n When inserting features, any related attachments are also added. When updating features, only attachments that don\u2019t already exist on the feature will be added. Regardless of the operation selected, any pre-existing feature attachments will never be updated or deleted<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a closer look at this behavior with an example. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Scenario: <\/span><\/i>You are a field worker for a construction company in Boring, Oregon. Your task is to ensure the hosted feature service containing fire hydrant locations and inspection information (in the form of image attachments) is kept up to date. Let\u2019s explore how you could do this using the various workflows available in Update data. If you need a refresher on the workflows and what they do, check out the blog <\/span>here<\/span><\/a> first before continuing.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add new point geometries representing fire hydrant assets to your existing hosted feature layer. The new features also have attachments. When \u201cInclude attachments\u201d is toggled on, the features <\/span>and<\/span><\/b> their associated attachments in the uploaded file will be inserted into the existing feature layer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2880432,"id":2880432,"title":"AddExample","filename":"AddExample.jpg","filesize":35670,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/AddExample.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-online\/data-management\/add-attachments-with-ease-using-update-data\/addexample","alt":"Image shows two new hydrant features and their associated attachments inserted into the table.","author":"319692","description":"","caption":"Two hydrant features and associated attachments are added to the table.","name":"addexample","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2868082,"date":"2025-07-07 16:09:04","modified":"2025-07-07 17:14:43","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1496,"height":192,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/AddExample-213x192.jpg","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":192,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/AddExample.jpg","medium-width":464,"medium-height":60,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/AddExample.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":99,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/AddExample.jpg","large-width":1496,"large-height":192,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/AddExample.jpg","1536x1536-width":1496,"1536x1536-height":192,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/AddExample.jpg","2048x2048-width":1496,"2048x2048-height":192,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/AddExample-826x106.jpg","card_image-width":826,"card_image-height":106,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/AddExample.jpg","wide_image-width":1496,"wide_image-height":192}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/AddExample.jpg"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" As a field worker, you are also <\/span>responsible for <\/span>inspecting existing hydrants and <\/span>adding a new <\/span>inspection <\/span>image of each hydrant for the current year. <\/span>Use the u<\/span>pdate <\/span>workflow to <\/span>update <\/span>the attributes <\/span>for <\/span>pre-<\/span>existing hydrant features <\/span>(e.g., latest inspection date) <\/span>while also adding in the <\/span>most recent<\/span> hydrant<\/span> inspection<\/span> image.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n First, the existing feature<\/span> is matched with the corresponding feature in the <\/span>uploaded<\/span> file according to the user-specified <\/span>unique identifier field<\/span>. <\/span>If <\/span>the feature in the uploaded file has an attachment that <\/span>is not<\/strong> present <\/span>on the existing feature, <\/span>it will be added<\/span> during the update operation.<\/span><\/span> If the attachment is already present on the feature, it will not be added.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2880462,"id":2880462,"title":"UpdateExample","filename":"UpdateExample.jpg","filesize":51606,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/UpdateExample.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-online\/data-management\/add-attachments-with-ease-using-update-data\/updateexample","alt":"Image shows an existing hydrant feature's attribute being updated and a newly inserted attachment.","author":"319692","description":"","caption":"The existing feature's attributes are updated and a new attachment is inserted. ","name":"updateexample","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2868082,"date":"2025-07-07 16:14:29","modified":"2025-07-07 17:37:53","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1847,"height":194,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/UpdateExample-213x194.jpg","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":194,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/UpdateExample.jpg","medium-width":464,"medium-height":49,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/UpdateExample.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":81,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/UpdateExample.jpg","large-width":1847,"large-height":194,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/UpdateExample-1536x161.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":161,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/UpdateExample.jpg","2048x2048-width":1847,"2048x2048-height":194,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/UpdateExample-826x87.jpg","card_image-width":826,"card_image-height":87,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/UpdateExample.jpg","wide_image-width":1847,"wide_image-height":194}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/UpdateExample.jpg"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" Combine both the Add and Update workflows outlined above<\/span>. <\/span>Simultaneously insert new hydrant features and <\/span>their <\/span>attachments<\/span> to your existing feature layer. Additionally, <\/span>update <\/span>attributes <\/span>for existing hydrant features<\/span> and insert<\/span> the<\/span> most recent inspection attachment image.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2880472,"id":2880472,"title":"UpsertExample","filename":"UpsertExample.jpg","filesize":68467,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/UpsertExample.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-online\/data-management\/add-attachments-with-ease-using-update-data\/upsertexample","alt":"Image shows a new hydrant feature and its attachment being inserted into the table while an existing feature has a new attachment added and has attributes updated.","author":"319692","description":"","caption":"A new hydrant feature and its associated attachment are added to the table. Simultaneously, an existing feature is updated and a new attachment is added to it. ","name":"upsertexample","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2868082,"date":"2025-07-07 16:14:42","modified":"2025-07-07 17:42:09","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1892,"height":260,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/UpsertExample-213x200.jpg","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/UpsertExample.jpg","medium-width":464,"medium-height":64,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/UpsertExample.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":106,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/UpsertExample.jpg","large-width":1892,"large-height":260,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/UpsertExample-1536x211.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":211,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/UpsertExample.jpg","2048x2048-width":1892,"2048x2048-height":260,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/UpsertExample-826x114.jpg","card_image-width":826,"card_image-height":114,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/UpsertExample.jpg","wide_image-width":1892,"wide_image-height":260}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/UpsertExample.jpg"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" Just like features, every attachment has a unique Attachment ID. If your hosted feature service contains a GlobalID field, each attachment will have an Attachment GlobalID, in addition to the Attachment ID. <\/span><\/p>\n The field type used as the unique identifier in the Update or Add and update workflows will determine what ID is used to determine if an attachment is already present on a feature or not. If a GlobalID field is used as the unique identifier, the Attachment GlobalID is used to match attachments between features. Otherwise, the Attachment ID will be used.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n There are two ways to view your attachment information, including the Attachment ID and Attachment GlobalID (if present). If your data is contained in a file geodatabase, you can add the .zip file into ArcGIS Pro and open the ATTACH table. Alternatively, you can query the attachments using the <\/span>queryAttachments operation<\/span><\/a> via the REST API.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"\n
<\/h1>\n
\nExample<\/h1>\nAdd<\/h3>\n
Update<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
Add and update<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
<\/h1>\n
\nHow do we determine if an attachment already exists on a feature?<\/h1>\nLooking at attachment information<\/h3>\n