Enabling and managing editor tracking

Editor tracking allows you to make a log of who edited data and when they did it. Once tracking is enabled, each time an edit is made, information about editors is automatically recorded in the fields you specify.

The quickest way to enable editor tracking is by enabling with predefined settings. Right-click a dataset, point to Manage, and click Enable Editor Tracking. This displays a message listing the fields that will be added to the dataset.

To enable editor tracking with your own field names or to record times in database time, you need to use the dataset's Properties dialog box or the Enable Editor Tracking geoprocessing tool. The Enable Editor Tracking tool allows you to add new fields and enable editor tracking on those fields at the same time.

Steps:

1. To enable editor tracking with predefined settings, right-click the dataset in the Catalog window, point to Manage, and click Enable Editor Tracking.
2. To customize how tracking is enabled, use either the dataset's properties or run the Enable Editor Tracking tool.
   • To use the Feature Class Properties or Table Properties dialog box, right-click the dataset in the Catalog window and click Properties. Click the Editor Tracking tab and check Enable editor tracking. Set the fields that will be updated when a feature is created or edited. Keep in mind that the fields must already exist; you can click the Fields tab to define a new field prior to enabling editor tracking. Finally, specify whether dates will be recorded in UTC or the database time.
   • To use the geoprocessing tool, open the Enable Editor Tracking tool from the Data Management Tools > Fields toolset. Set the fields and other parameters as desired. If the fields are not already present, check Add fields if they do not exist to create them when the tool runs.
3. To change which fields are used to store the editor tracking information or update other settings, right-click the dataset in the Catalog window and click Properties. Click the Editor Tracking tab and make changes as needed.
4. To stop tracking edits, use the Catalog window menu, the dataset's properties, or run the Disable Editor Tracking tool.
   • To use the Catalog window, right-click the dataset, point to Manage, and click Disable Editor Tracking.
   • To use the Feature Class Properties or Table Properties dialog box, right-click the dataset in the Catalog window and click Properties. Click the Editor Tracking tab. To turn off editor tracking for one field at a time, click the type of editor tracking, such as creator or creation date, and set it to <None>. To disable editor tracking altogether, uncheck Enable editor tracking.
   • To use the geoprocessing tool, open the Disable Editor Tracking tool from the Data Management Tools > Fields toolset. Check the types of editor tracking you want to disable. When all types are checked to be disabled, editor tracking is turned off completely.