Filling Type Selection FAQ

Filling type determines whether a target group's quotas count prescreens or completes.

• Completes counts only respondents who successfully finish your survey.

• Prescreens counts entries as soon as they qualify, which caps the target group earlier and helps prevent overfilling or late over-quotas.

Every target group displays one of three states:

Automated is not a separate stored value. It indicates that fielding automation is on and that the target group is running on prescreens. Every new target group begins in this state.

To configure filing types:

1. Locate the Filling strategy badge in the header of the Profiling section. This badge is read-only and always displays the currently active state. Hover over the badge to view details.

2. Open the three-dot menu in the Profiling section.

3. Select one of the following:

• Prescreens – automation off

• Completes – automation off

There is no direct option to select Automated. To return to this state, turn a fielding automation setting back on in the Finalize section. See the following question for further detail.

You may set the filling type before launch, in draft, or at any point afterward, in Manage. The same interface pattern applies in both locations.

To return to this state, turn a fielding automation setting back on in the Finalize section.

If automation is currently on and you select a filling type, a confirmation dialog will appear. Changing the filling type in this case will turn off all automated fielding settings.

If you turn on a fielding automation setting while the filling type is set to Completes, a separate confirmation dialog will appear, as this action will change the filling type to Prescreens.

No confirmation is required when automation is turned off, as this action does not alter the filling type.

Automated is a display state rather than a stored value. It represents fielding automation being on, with the target group running on prescreens. To re-enter this state, turn a fielding automation setting — Prevent overfilling, Balanced fill, or Pace your completes — back on.

Turning automation off does not alter the filling type; it leaves the current value unchanged. If the stored value was prescreens, the badge will continue to display Prescreens. To use Completes, select it directly from the three-dot menu.

A fielding automation setting was turned on, either by you or another member of your team. Completes and quota automation cannot operate together, so enabling automation changes the filling type to prescreens. A confirmation dialog will always precede this change.

No. Only three settings interact with the filling type: Prevent overfilling, Balanced fill, and Pace your completes.

This toggle has been replaced by the filling strategy badge and the corresponding option in the three-dot menu, consistent with the pattern now used in both draft and Manage.

No. New target groups continue to begin with automation on and a stored value of prescreens, displayed as Automated.

Yes. A new optional field, filling_strategy, is available on draft create, update, and get requests. Accepted write values are prescreens and completes; the field defaults to prescreens when not specified. This field is available in API version 2025-12-18 (Espresso) and later; earlier versions remain unchanged.

The API will reject the request with a 400 invalid_parameters error. This combination is not a valid configuration.

Update-draft requests are processed as a full replacement of the draft's configuration. Any field omitted from the request reverts to its default value, and filling_strategy defaults to prescreens. To preserve an intended value, include it explicitly in every update request.

No. Automated is a UI display state only. It is never a writable value, and a draft get request will always return the raw stored value: either prescreens or completes.

No. Turning quota automation off does not change the filling type under any circumstance. For example, a target group set to completes, then changed to prescreens upon automation being turned on, will remain on prescreens after automation is subsequently turned off.