We have encountered a problem with our form. We have been collecting data on a Kobo form for many years but after updating the redeploying a form with a new translation on May 1st, one column, ‘weight (kg)’, is now missing all data. This data also does not appear in the ‘table’ in the ‘data’ tab on the Kobo website (for all translations). The data only appears if ‘include fields from all 5 versions’ is selected in the ‘advanced options’ in the ‘data tab’ - but under an additional heading ‘weight’ - a heading that does not appear in any of our translations. We never changed the original ‘data column’ name, only the ‘translation’.
I would greatly appreciate any help with this. Thank you.
Could you explain, please, what this means?
If you change the title of a column this would create a new variable (and keep existing values in the old one, now hidden in the standard view). This is the “normal” behaviour.
Thank you for your response! We didn’t create a new column but added the “Access (Eng)” translation. The ‘weight’ data now no longer appears as a result of this change it seems. Please see the image.
On another note, is there a way to ‘unhide’ the old variable? It might be worth trying this. Thanks.
Hi Kal_Lam. The problem here is that when ‘include all fields from previous versions is selected’, we can no longer ‘select questions to be exported’, otherwise the data goes missing again. This means we have numerous other unnecessary columns in the downloaded data. Is there a way to make the original question appear as the default.
What you’re experiencing is a known issue in KoboToolbox when a form is redeployed after changes in translations. Even if you did not touch the question name, Kobo might treat a field differently if the label or structure is changed.
What Likely Happened
You updated the translation and redeployed the form. During this process, Kobo might have registered the weight (kg) field as a new version of the question. That is why the data appears only when you enable “include fields from all 5 versions.” The column weight that shows up separately may have been auto-created due to the translation update or label shift.
What You Can Do
Export with all versions enabled
Use the “include fields from all 5 versions” option when exporting your data to Excel. This will show both versions of the weight field. You can then combine the data manually if needed.
Check the XLSForm structure
Download your XLSForm and confirm that the name value for the weight question has not changed. The label can differ across languages, but the name field is what controls where data gets stored.
Avoid changes to field names in the future
If you only want to change how the label appears in different languages, make sure you are only editing the label columns, not the name.
Re-deploy with corrections
After verifying and correcting the field names, re-upload and redeploy the form. This will ensure consistent data mapping moving forward.
Thanks for reaching out. It sounds like the issue may be related to how Kobo handled the updated translation let me look into this and get back to you shortly.
