> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.dscout.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.dscout.com/diary-studies/create-a-diary-study/add-activities-to-a-diary-study.md).
# Add activities to a diary study
Activities are the building blocks of a diary study. Each one is a distinct task with its own instructions, questions, timeframe, and number of entries—so a study that unfolds over a week is really a sequence of activities, not one long questionnaire.
{% hint style="success" %}
**Tip:** If you haven't decided how to break your research into activities yet, start with [Design a diary study](/diary-studies/create-a-diary-study/design-a-diary-study.md). For the vocabulary, see [Activities and entries in a diary study](/diary-studies/what-are-diary-studies-in-dscout/activities-and-entries-in-a-diary-study.md).
{% endhint %}
### Add an activity
Activities live on the **Questions** tab of the **Setup** page. Every new diary study starts with one activity already in place.
**To add an activity:**
{% stepper %}
{% step %}
On the **Setup** page, open the **Questions** tab.
{% endstep %}
{% step %}
Click **Add activity**.
{% endstep %}
{% endstepper %}
Your new activity is added to the end of the list. You can **drag activities** in the list to reorder them, and the **Options** menu on each one offers **Duplicate** and **Delete**.
{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** A study can have up to **10 activities**. Some accounts are configured for more—if you've reached the limit and need additional activities, contact your Dscout Research Advisor.
{% endhint %}
### Set an activity's specs
Each activity has a handful of settings that together define how much work you're asking participants to complete and when.
| Setting | What it controls |
| -------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Instructions** | What participants are expected to do during this activity. This is the most important field on the page—it's what people read before deciding what to capture. |
| **Entries** |
How many times participants answer all of the activity's questions. This is a minimum, not a cap.
Accepts values 1–99.
|
| **Days** |
How long participants should spend on this activity.
Accepts values 1–365.
|
| **Scout experience** | Whether the activity is completed in the mobile app or on a computer. |
| **Due date** | Optional. When the activity should be completed by. |
**A few limits worth knowing:**
* Your per-activity **Days** should add up to roughly the **Days per scout** you set for the study. The two are configured separately, so it's easy to end up with a seven-day study containing fourteen days of activities.
* An activity can include up to **5 photo questions** and **3 video or screen recording questions**. See [Activities and entries in a diary study](/diary-studies/what-are-diary-studies-in-dscout/activities-and-entries-in-a-diary-study.md).
For more on the device setting, see [Device options in a diary study](/diary-studies/what-are-diary-studies-in-dscout/device-options-in-a-diary-study.md). For due dates and the reminders that go with them, see [Activity due dates and reminders](/diary-studies/create-a-diary-study/activity-due-dates-and-reminders.md).
{% hint style="success" %}
**Tip:** What participants actually feel is activities × entries × questions. Four entries of six questions is twenty-four answers, and it lands very differently than one entry of twenty-four.
{% endhint %}
### Publish an activity
Building an activity isn't the same as making it available. An activity has to be **published** before it can be opened to participants, and activities are published and opened in sequence—you can't open Activity 3 while Activity 2 is still unpublished.
**To publish an activity:**
{% stepper %}
{% step %}
On the **Setup** page, open the **Questions** tab and select the activity.
{% endstep %}
{% step %}
Review and resolve any **Before you publish** checks. If you don't see this button, your activity is ready to publish.
{% endstep %}
{% step %}
Click **Publish**.
{% endstep %}
{% endstepper %}
The activity is marked **Published**, with a timestamp of when you last published it. Publishing makes an activity available to open from the **Manage** page—it doesn't open it to participants by itself. You can keep editing a published activity and publish it again, right up until you open it to participants.
How and when the rest of your activities open depends on whether you've set **Activity availability** to manual or automatic. See [Manual vs. automatic diary studies](/diary-studies/what-are-diary-studies-in-dscout/understanding-manual-and-automatic-diary-studies.md).
### Next steps
With your activities in place, you're ready to write the questions participants will answer in each one. See [Add questions to a diary study](/diary-studies/create-a-diary-study/add-questions-to-a-diary-study.md).
Before you launch, run through the study on a real device. See [Test a diary study](/diary-studies/create-a-diary-study/test-a-diary-study.md).
### Frequently asked questions
Can I edit an activity after it's been opened to participants?
No. Once an activity is open it's locked, and there's no way to unlock it—the only route would be returning the whole study to draft, which Dscout doesn't recommend because of the risk to data you've already collected. Activity 1 opens for everyone the moment you launch, so treat launch as the deadline for changes to it.
---
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