How to copy or retrieve saved forms

Support
#1

1. What is the problem? Be very detailed.
I created ODK questionnaires and set the submission file on google drive. unfortunately, the link didn't work well so I cant send the finalized form.
2. What app or server are you using and on what device and operating system? Include version numbers. google drive and ODK Collect v1.24.1

3. What you have you tried to fix the problem?
don't know my way around it
4. What steps can we take to reproduce the problem?
don't know my way around it
5. Anything else we should know or have? If you have a test form or screenshots or logs, attach below.
I want to know how I can copy or retrieved all the save files from the device since I cant send the finalized forms

#2

Hi @Nana_Kobina_Ahenkan

first of all welcome to the forum! Please introduce yourself here!

could you elaborate? maybe you could attach a screenshot if you get any error?

#3

thanks for the support.

Screenshot_20191204-154129%5B1%5D
Screenshot_20191204-154129%5B1%5D600×1024 31.2 KB
this the screen message I get when I try to send the saved files. is there a way I can copy the saved forms from the device into lets say and excel sheet and use the data.

#4

Could you share the spreadsheet you tried to use?

#5

the fact is i have created a new submission sheet which is working perfectly and currently collectors are able to send finalized forms to the google drive. the main problem here is that i have about 200 saved forms which cannot be send because the submission sheet is missing. what I want is a way to copy the saved forms on the device directly to let say my PC.

#6

So you probably added submission_url to your form and filled some forms but the spreadsheet has been removed?

#7

Yes and I still have the saved forms on the device. how do I get it and use it

#8

If you used ODK Aggregate or Central you could use Briefcase to force pushing filled forms to another server.

In your case I think there is just one solution:

  1. Connect your device to a computer via USB
  2. Go to sdcard/odk/metadata and make a copy of this dir (just in case)
  3. Copy instances.db from sdcard/odk/metadata to your computer
  4. Download a tool for browsing sqlite databases like https://sqlitebrowser.org/dl/
  5. Open the file you copied in step 4 (instances.db)
  6. Select Brows Data tab and instances table, you should see something like:
    image
    image1706×660 121 KB
  7. There is a column called submissionUri you can edit each row which contains wrong submission url manually one by one (be careful).
  8. Once you are done you can save your changes and copy this file back to sdcard/odk/metadata
  9. If there is something wrong you have your copy which I asked you to make in step 2.