Is it possible to prefill dropdowns from previous instance in REDCap?
el_ da
Hello REDCap experts,
I am working with an event that contains a repeating instrument (#instance). Within this form, I have a dropdown field listing lesion sites (e.g., 1 = Brain, 2 = Lung, 3 = Bone, etc.).
These lesions need to be assessed multiple times, and I would like the selected value to be carried forward from one instance to the next when a new instance is created (+). For example, if I select a value in instance #1, I would like that same value to already be selected by default in instance #2, and so on for subsequent instances.
I tried using the @DEFAULT action tag with the syntax:
@DEFAULT="[previous-instance][variable_name]"
but it does not seem to work.
To clarify, I need this field to remain a dropdown menu with predefined lesion sites (I planned for up to 10 sites, as suggested by the clinician), because the number of lesions may vary across instances. For example, there may be 1–2 lesion sites in instance #1 and #2, but a new lesion site could appear in instance #3, and possibly another in instance #4. Therefore, I cannot simply fix the lesion sites based only on the first assessment (instance #1).
Could anyone advise on how to achieve this? Is there a specific external module that I should be using? I have already tried enabling the Auto Populate Field module, but it did not solve the issue.
I am also wondering whether this is simply not possible in REDCap—perhaps it only works with text fields and not with dropdown fields?
Thank you in advance for any help!
Elda
David Edwards
Sent: 23 March 2026 15:14
To: redcap open <redca...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [REDCap Open] Is it possible to prefill dropdowns from previous instance in REDCap?
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Christopher Evans
As David suggested, this works for me: @DEFAULT='[dropdown_test:value][previous-instance]'
E.g. The variable [dropdown_test] is a drop-down field (in a repeating instrument) with blue, yellow, red as the choices. If I select 'blue' in instance #1, then when I create instance #2, 'blue' will be pre-populated.
Also, you might want to check out the Instance Table module, it could be helpful for tracking/interacting with lesion data you collect.
