title: Publish to Azure doesn't update files in App_Data
body: <p>My ASP.Net Core app has an App_Data folder located under the project root:</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/W20P8.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/W20P8.jpg" alt="Folders"></a></p>
  
  <p>(As I recall -- I may be mistaken -- I had to manually create that folder in the project. The template didn't give it to me automatically.)</p>
  
  <p>My problem is that changes to the files in the App_Data folder are not pushed to Azure when I publish my project. I'm using VS Pro 2019.</p>
  
  <p>When I first published the project, the App_Data folder and its contents were pushed to Azure. But, as I said, changes are ignored.</p>
  
  <p>Here's the larger issue that I don't understand: Apparently, the <code>App_Data</code> folder is special. At least, it's got an entry in the publish profile. And I've seen lots of questions and uninformed answers about difficulties publishing (or not publishing) files that live in this magic folder. But I've never seen anything close to official documentation that talks about this bit of magic.</p>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p>Here is my publish profile:</p>
  
  <pre><code>    &lt;Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003"&gt;
    &lt;PropertyGroup&gt;
      &lt;WebPublishMethod&gt;MSDeploy&lt;/WebPublishMethod&gt;
      &lt;ResourceId&gt;/subscriptions/xxx/resourceGroups/Production/providers/Microsoft.Web/sites/xxx&lt;/ResourceId&gt;
      &lt;ResourceGroup&gt;Production&lt;/ResourceGroup&gt;
      &lt;PublishProvider&gt;AzureWebSite&lt;/PublishProvider&gt;
      &lt;LastUsedBuildConfiguration&gt;Release&lt;/LastUsedBuildConfiguration&gt;
      &lt;LastUsedPlatform&gt;Any CPU&lt;/LastUsedPlatform&gt;
      &lt;SiteUrlToLaunchAfterPublish&gt;http://xxx.azurewebsites.net&lt;/SiteUrlToLaunchAfterPublish&gt;
      &lt;LaunchSiteAfterPublish&gt;True&lt;/LaunchSiteAfterPublish&gt;
      &lt;ExcludeApp_Data&gt;False&lt;/ExcludeApp_Data&gt;
      &lt;ProjectGuid&gt;xxx&lt;/ProjectGuid&gt;
      &lt;MSDeployServiceURL&gt;xxx.scm.azurewebsites.net:443&lt;/MSDeployServiceURL&gt;
      &lt;DeployIisAppPath&gt;xxx&lt;/DeployIisAppPath&gt;
      &lt;RemoteSitePhysicalPath /&gt;
      &lt;SkipExtraFilesOnServer&gt;True&lt;/SkipExtraFilesOnServer&gt;
      &lt;MSDeployPublishMethod&gt;WMSVC&lt;/MSDeployPublishMethod&gt;
      &lt;EnableMSDeployBackup&gt;True&lt;/EnableMSDeployBackup&gt;
      &lt;UserName&gt;$xxx&lt;/UserName&gt;
      &lt;_SavePWD&gt;True&lt;/_SavePWD&gt;
      &lt;_DestinationType&gt;AzureWebSite&lt;/_DestinationType&gt;
      &lt;InstallAspNetCoreSiteExtension&gt;False&lt;/InstallAspNetCoreSiteExtension&gt;
      &lt;TargetFramework&gt;netcoreapp2.2&lt;/TargetFramework&gt;
      &lt;SelfContained&gt;false&lt;/SelfContained&gt;
      &lt;_IsPortable&gt;true&lt;/_IsPortable&gt;
    &lt;/PropertyGroup&gt;
  &lt;/Project&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>and here is my project file (edited for brevity):</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Web"&gt;
  
    &lt;PropertyGroup&gt;
      &lt;TargetFramework&gt;netcoreapp2.2&lt;/TargetFramework&gt;
      &lt;UserSecretsId&gt;aspnet-xxx&lt;/UserSecretsId&gt;
      &lt;ApplicationInsightsResourceId&gt;/subscriptions/xxx/resourcegroups/xxx/providers/microsoft.insights/components/xxx&lt;/ApplicationInsightsResourceId&gt;
      &lt;ApplicationInsightsAnnotationResourceId&gt;/subscriptions/xxx/resourcegroups/MyIndigoHealth/providers/microsoft.insights/components/xxx&lt;/ApplicationInsightsAnnotationResourceId&gt;
      &lt;AspNetCoreHostingModel&gt;InProcess&lt;/AspNetCoreHostingModel&gt;
      &lt;TypeScriptToolsVersion&gt;3.1&lt;/TypeScriptToolsVersion&gt;
    &lt;/PropertyGroup&gt;
  
    &lt;ItemGroup&gt;
      &lt;PackageReference Include="Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.AspNetCore" Version="2.6.1" /&gt;
      &lt;PackageReference Include="Microsoft.AspNetCore.App" /&gt;
      &lt;PackageReference Include="Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer" Version="2.2.3" /&gt;
      &lt;PackageReference Include="Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools" Version="2.2.3"&gt;
        &lt;PrivateAssets&gt;all&lt;/PrivateAssets&gt;
        &lt;IncludeAssets&gt;runtime; build; native; contentfiles; analyzers&lt;/IncludeAssets&gt;
      &lt;/PackageReference&gt;
      &lt;PackageReference Include="Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.CodeGeneration.Design" Version="2.2.3" PrivateAssets="All" /&gt;
      &lt;PackageReference Include="Neleus.DependencyInjection.Extensions" Version="1.0.0" /&gt;
    &lt;/ItemGroup&gt;
  
    &lt;ItemGroup&gt;
      &lt;Folder Include="Areas\Identity\Services\" /&gt;
    &lt;/ItemGroup&gt;
  
    &lt;ItemGroup&gt;
      &lt;WCFMetadata Include="Connected Services" /&gt;
    &lt;/ItemGroup&gt;
  
  &lt;/Project&gt;
  </code></pre>