How to automatically select the first answer from a dropdown list

This article explains how to automatically select the first answer from the list of a Dropdown question in the response form.

What is the purpose of the Auto select first option check box

When building smart templates, it might be helpful to automatically select the first answer from a Dropdown question. The option Auto select first option is usually used in combination with filtering and the option Hide if no interaction, to hide Dropdown questions that do not require additional input from the end-user.

How to automatically select the first answer from the list of a dropdown

When creating or editing a Dropdown question, the Auto select first option checkbox is visible in the Advanced options:

Example

In the example the Countries data source is used:

A template is created with a 'Country' dropdown question. The question is linked to the Name column of the Countries data source.

If the option Auto select first option is disabled, then in the response form the dropdown shows 'Choose...' by default:

If the option Auto select first option is enabled, then 'Australia' is preselected, as this is the first record in the data source: