---
title: "How To: Use Activity Metadata to Preconfigure Assignment Settings"
description: When creating assignments from existing activities, the system automatically applies any stored default settings from the original activity.
---

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# How To: Use Activity Metadata to Preconfigure Assignment Settings

## When creating assignments from existing activities, the system automatically applies any stored default settings from the original activity.

When creating assignments from existing activities, the system automatically applies any stored default settings from the original activity. This allows you to define assignment behavior in advance—streamlining the process and ensuring consistency across assignments.

When an activity is created (either manually within the platform or imported from an external system), any supported settings stored in its metadata will be used as defaults when the activity is later used to create an assignment.

This includes:

- Sampling questions by tag
- Rendering items inline
- Shuffling items
- Setting a random question count  
  ...and more.

#### **Setting Default Assignment Behavior**

To define default assignment behavior in an activity, add a metadata.default\_settings block to the activity's source JSON.

### **Example: Tag-Based Sampling**

You can configure question sampling based on specific tags. This is especially useful for ensuring topic coverage or balanced assessments.

1. Create an activity and add items with your preferred tags.
2. Open the activity’s source view.
3. Add the following metadata:
   
   `"metadata": {`
   
   `  "default_settings": {`
   
   `    "sample_on_tags": true,`
   
   `    "tags_to_sample": "{\"YourTagType:TagValue1\": 1, \"YourTagType:TagValue2\": 1}"`
   
   `  }`
   
   `}`
4. Save the activity.

**Important:**

- Replace `YourTagType:TagValue1` with the actual tag types and values used in your environment.
- The `tags_to_sample` value must be a JSON string (note the escaped quotes \\").

### **Result**

When you create an assignment from this activity:

- The system will enable tag-based sampling.
- The sampling settings will follow the configuration in the activity’s metadata.

#### **Additional Supported Defaults**

You can define most assignment settings using the same approach. Examples include:

`"metadata": {`

`  "default_settings": {`

`    "render_inline": true,`

`    "shuffle_items": true,`

`    "random_question_count": 5`

`  }`

`}`

These defaults will be applied automatically when a new assignment is created from the activity.

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