You can keep track of who edits features in feature layers shared to portal members by enabling editor tracking on the feature class (or feature classes) that are used in the feature layer. If editor tracking is set on the feature class, the account information for the person who creates or edits a feature in the feature layer is recorded, along with the date and time the edit was made.
How you enable editor tracking depends on whether you enable it on a hosted feature layer or a feature layer from an ArcGIS GIS Server site.
Enable editor tracking on a hosted feature layer
The hosted feature layer owner or the portal administrator can enable editor tracking on a hosted feature layer by checking the Keep track of who created and last updated features option on the Settings tab on the hosted feature layer's details page. See Manage hosted feature layers for more information.
When an authenticated user edits a feature layer shared with everyone (public), the member's username is recorded in the creator and editor fields. If a non-authenticated user (anonymous user with no account in the organization) edits a feature layer shared with everyone, the creator or editor field value is left empty.
If you use ArcGIS Pro or ArcMap to publish a hosted feature layer from geodatabase data that is enabled for editor tracking, editor tracking is also enabled on the hosted feature layer.
Beginning with ArcGIS Pro 2.5, you have the option to retain the values in the editor tracking fields when you publish or to replace them. By default, the creator and editor name values are replaced with the name of the ArcGIS Enterprise or ArcGIS Online account you use to connect to your active portal, and the creation and edit dates are replaced with the date you publish. The reason for this is to make it possible for you to use the setting that controls who can view individual features. The database logins in the creator and editor fields in your source data will never be used to access or edit the hosted feature layer data. If you preserve those values, no one would ever see those features if you enable the option Editors can only see their own features.
Enable editor tracking on an ArcGIS Server feature layer
To enable editor tracking on data in an ArcGIS Server feature layer (feature service), the owner of the source data must enable editor tracking in the enterprise geodatabase. See Editor tracking for feature services in the ArcGIS Server help for more information.
Because ArcGIS Server feature layers reference the data in the registered data store, ArcGIS records the editor's login and the date and time the edit was made both in the geodatabase and in the ArcGIS Server feature layer. Be aware that those logins are not the same. For example, if you connect to the geodatabase in ArcGIS Pro and edit data, the user name you used to connect to the database gets recorded in editor tracking fields. If you edit through the feature service and the feature service is secured—which means you have to provide an ArcGIS Server login or, if the ArcGIS Server site is federated with a portal, an ArcGIS Enterprise portal login—that is the login that will be stored in the editor tracking fields.
If a nonauthenticated user edits a feature service with editor tracking enabled, ESRI_Anonymous is recorded in the creator and editor fields, and the corresponding date of creation or edit is set in the geodatabase; however, if you view these fields from the feature service, they appear empty. Note that if you add an unsecured feature service to ArcGIS Online or an ArcGIS Enterprise portal (in other words, no ArcGIS Server credential is provided for the service), edits are considered to be from a nonauthenticated user and ESRI_Anonymous is recorded in the creator and editor fields.
If you want to enable editor tracking on data you already published, do the following:
- As an administrator or publisher, sign in to ArcGIS Server Manager for the ArcGIS Server site where the map service is running and stop the map service (with feature access enabled).
- Have the data owner enable editor tracking on the feature classes used in your feature service.
- In ArcGIS Server Manager, start the map service.