Hi Amber,
I've recently been on the same path and have developed / scrounged / assembled some functionality for adding data to an ArcGIS Online Group I own. I will provide some Python scripts, BUT you need Python 3 to use the the Python ArcGIS API. So the code to get you going is minimal, but getting a Python 3 environment may be where the heavy mental lifting and possible exacerbation comes in. However, I am no computer genius, I simply installed Arc Pro which will install Python 3. I run my scripts through the command line in Conda environments. If you are not familiar with the Command Line, I can respond with some instructions on getting started there. Here is some code you can save in a script and run(<script_name>.py i.e. add_to_agol.py) or run from Arc Pro Python console (that exists right?). Line 5 is where you access your AGOL account, line 37 adds your zipped shapefiles.
from ArcGIS.gis import GIS
import os
your_gis_name = GIS(username = 'your_username', password = 'your_password')
print('Connected to {} as {}'.format(your_gis_name.properties.portalHostname,
your_gis_name.users.me.username))
outDir = 'path/to/parent/folder/with/zipped/dirs'
zipped_dirs = [subD.path for subD in os.scandir(outDir)]
title = ['agricultural lands', 'commercial_property', 'forests']
tags = [['land_project', 'agricultural'],['land_project', 'commercial'],
'land_project', 'forests']
snippet = ['some agricultural lands in Kentucky', 'proposed development sites',
'where forests are classified']
for idx, shp in enumerate(zipped_dirs):
properties_dict = {'title':title[idx],
'tags':tags[idx],
'snippet':snippet[idx]}
fc_item = your_gis_name.content.add(properties_dict, data = shp)
Here is a link for setting up Python 3 through the Command Line
Python and ArcGIS Pro 2.2
That blog also mentions that many people just use Arc Pro, similar to the Python Console in ArcMap I imagine.
Dan Patterson has dozens of useful blogs on setting up Python, Pro, Conda, etc. Dan Patterson . Here is one that has multiple links to traverse /blogs/dan_patterson/2018/07/01/arcgis-pro-your-conda-environments . * Note he recently set up a new username if you need future content *
And here is the ArcGIS Python API tutorials from which I gleaned those two lines of code using the GIS module Using the GIS | ArcGIS for Developers
Good luck! Let me know what you find out and where you get hung up...
Zach