Why offline matters
A lot of fieldwork happens in places with poor or no mobile signal - remote sites, basements, deep in landfills, behind metal sheds. The EnviroAutomate app is built so you can complete a full fieldwork form with no connection at all, and the form syncs back to EnviroAutomate automatically once you regain signal.
What you need to do before losing signal
Two things must reach your device while you still have a connection:
The dispatched task itself - the form has to be in your Inbox before you go offline. If it’s not there, refresh the inbox while you still have signal.
The lookup data - things like the assessment locations for the Site are pulled from EnviroAutomate when the task is dispatched. The first time you open a freshly dispatched task, the app may need a few seconds to download these. Do this once while online.
Recommended habit: open every dispatched task once while you still have wifi (e.g. at the office, before driving to the Site). This guarantees everything is cached and ready.
Filling out forms offline
Once a task is in your inbox and the lookups are cached, the form behaves identically offline:
Open the form, move through pages, fill in fields, take photos, capture signatures.
Save as draft as you go.
Tap Submit when finished.
If you’re offline when you submit, the form goes into your Outbox instead of being sent. The app shows a small badge or indicator to remind you that you have queued submissions waiting.
Drafts vs Outbox
Drafts - forms you started but didn’t submit. Stored on your device. You can come back to them anytime.
Outbox - forms you submitted but that haven’t uploaded yet. The app will send them automatically when you’re back online.
Syncing when you’re back online
The app sends queued submissions automatically when it detects an internet connection. You don’t normally need to do anything.
If you want to force a sync (for example, you’re back at the office and want to confirm everything is uploaded):
Open the FastField app.
Open your Outbox.
Pull down to refresh, or tap the sync / send icon.
When all submissions have uploaded successfully, the Outbox is empty.
If a submission gets stuck
Make sure you have a working internet connection (try loading a webpage).
Open the Outbox - if a submission shows an error, tap it for details.
Common causes: the device went to sleep mid-upload (just retry), or a photo upload failed (re-add the photo if it’s missing, then resubmit).
If a submission stays stuck for more than a few hours after you’re back online, screenshot the error and contact your tenant administrator.
Tips
Open every freshly dispatched task once while you still have wifi to make sure the form and its lookups are cached.
Save as draft frequently - drafts survive the app crashing or your phone running out of battery.
Photos take more bandwidth than form data. Don’t panic if your Outbox shows a slow upload over a weak signal - it will get there.
Don’t uninstall or sign out of the app while you have queued submissions in your Outbox. Wait until the Outbox is empty.