> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.qrtub.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Default Destination for New Items

> The URL template every new Item in a pass-through Collection starts with — built with field tokens, previewed against a real Item, and stamped at creation

A Collection in Direct Mode can carry a **Default destination**: one URL template that every new
Item starts with, so you configure the destination once instead of 500 times. It sits in
**Settings → Scan behavior**, directly under the scan toggle, and only appears when pages are
off — a Collection whose Items open a page has no single destination to default.

## Building the URL

Type the URL and insert field tokens where the Item's own data belongs. Typing `item.` offers the
Collection's fields, and inserts them as `{{item.field_key}}`:

```text theme={null}
https://safetyculture.com/asset/{{item.safetyculture_asset_id}}
```

With a real Item's data, that resolves to `https://safetyculture.com/asset/AST-4471`.

The builder previews the result live against **a real Item from this Collection** — not a mock. It
picks an Item that has a value for every field the template references, so the preview shows a URL
that actually resolves; if no Item has all of them, it uses the first one.

Two rules to keep in mind, because neither produces an error:

* **Values are inserted exactly as stored, with no URL encoding.** A field containing a space,
  `&`, `?` or `#` produces a broken link. Keep the fields you use inside URLs free of those
  characters.
* **A missing or empty field inserts an empty string**, so the URL is still built — just wrong.
  That is what the warning below is for.

## The missing-value warning

If the template references a field that some Items have left blank, a warning appears naming the
field and counting them: *"Uses Serial, but 12 of 40 items don't have a value yet — their codes
won't resolve until filled,"* with a link straight to the Item grid.

Take it seriously before a print run. Those Items have QR codes that will resolve to a truncated
URL, and nothing about the code itself will look wrong.

## App links and their fallback

If the default destination is an app deep link (`myapp://…`) rather than a web URL, the builder
adds a fallback pair: a web URL to send people to, and a message to show, when the app is not
installed. Both belong to this default and are stamped onto new Items alongside it.

Remove the default destination and the fallback pair is cleared with it, so a stale fallback can
never quietly reactivate later.

## Stamped at creation, never read at scan

This is the one behavior worth being precise about.

The default is **copied onto each Item when the Item is created**. Adding an Item through the form
prefills its destination with the Collection default, where you can edit or clear it before
saving; CSV imports and API calls get the same copy applied when the row does not supply a
destination of its own.

Two consequences follow:

1. **Editing the Collection default is not retroactive.** Existing Items keep the copy they were
   created with. To change many Items at once, update them — CSV export, edit the destination
   column, re-import.
2. **There is no scan-time fallback.** Nothing looks up the Collection default when a code is
   scanned. An Item whose own destination is blank resolves to nothing, by design.

This is the one exception to how field defaults normally work; see [Field
Defaults](/fields/field-defaults) for the general rule.

## Related

* [Scan Behavior for New Items](/collections/scan-behavior-default)
* [Field Bindings & URL Templates](/destinations/field-bindings)
* [Field Defaults](/fields/field-defaults)
* [App Links & Fallback URLs](/destinations/app-links)