Adding attachments to a geodatabase feature class does not trigger editor tracking

Description

In ArcMap, when adding an attachment to a geodatabase feature class, editor tracking is not triggered. Thus, fields associated with editor tracking (such as the CREATOR, EDITOR, CREATION DATE, and LAST EDIT DATE fields) are not updated.

Cause

This is by design. The editor tracking features apply only to the primary table, and ignore the related attachment table. When assigning privileges to a feature class, the privileges propagate through the relationship class to the related attachment table. This limitation applies to all related tables, including attachments.

Solution or Workaround

There are two solutions to ensure any attachments submitted by users are being tracked.

• Since the tracker does not catch updates to a related table, enable editor tracking directly to the related attachment table, or join the attachment table to the original feature class to see all of the tracking information at once without directly opening the attachment table.
• Disallow users from adding anything to the table by explicitly revoking the INSERT permission on the attachment table. By setting this permission, only users with this privilege on the related attachment table are able to add attachments.