Force Sync vs. Refresh vs. Reload On Return

There has been a fair amount of confusion when it comes to the difference between Force Sync, Refresh Screen and Reload on Return user interactions for an Action field in a form screen.

We hope the following brings clarity and successful use for intended results.

Force Sync

Force Sync simply force syncs the app. 

It does not trigger the form to reload as well. This means the new data source data will not be loaded into the form, and it will just be downloaded to the device disk.

Refresh Screen

Refresh interactions reload the form, which means it will reload the data sources again and at that point, any new rows will get loaded if they are present on the device. 

Refresh alone will work if you want new data source rows to reflect in a Choices field dropdown if the data source was updated from the same device because the data is already on that device. 

(a Force Sync isn’t required as the data is already on the device, no download is needed.)

If the data source data was updated by a different device and it still requires downloading, then a Force Sync is also required.

Reload on Return

Reload on Return works if the data source was updated from the same device, meaning a Force Sync is not required because the new row or row updates are already on the device that it originated from. A specific form field simply needs reloading to reflect new data source values. 

Reload on Return will also trigger dependent formula to also update, such as fields linked to the field being reloaded. The Refresh interaction does not do any of this.

Reload on Return is more suitable for data source value CHANGES/UPDATES rather than new row inserts where you want an updated data source value to reflect, but you then also want dependent formulae to re-evaluate with this updated data source value.

Refresh, on the other hand, is suitable for NEW row inserts as it doesn’t require you to specify specific fields to reload & trigger the formulas for – the new row will simply become available for selection in the dropdown.