How to use an existing data dictionary with a new shapefile in pathfinder office?

Question

when importing a new shapefile in pathfinder office to later be exported to the trimble geoxt, and selecting the option to import with an existing data dictionary does there need to be some common unique ID? What connects the the data dictionary to the new shapefile? Do I need to enter all of the attributes from the existing data dictionary into my shapefile? This would be a tedious task when my data dictionary has more than 40 attributes.

I have already tried to import --> properties --> and chose the 3rd option to import with an existing data dictionary but when I export and then check the file in Terrasync on the trimble, no data is associated.

Answer 1

Ideally, the shapefile you are importing would have the same attribute as the data dictionary. So if your dictionary has an attribute called UTILITY and it's a text field, your shapefile should have an attribute called UTILITY that is a text field. That way, the existing data will align with the data dictionary and your imported features will be pre-populated.

Another important step is to name the shapefile you will be importing the same as the feature within the data dictionary. So if you have a point feature in the data dictionary called UtilityPt, your shapefile should be called UtilityPt. Doesn't matter what the resulting *.imp is called, but the input should be the same as the feature.