insert text from custom item later

[merpy]

[edited by moderator]

I've used <varname> in the instructions before to insert a previous response into a later item, but for some reason it's not working this time, and I'm wondering if it's because the variable I'm trying to insert is a Custom item. It's a TEXTAREA variable... so like a mini essay. It's recording to the data file correctly, but when I try to recall it later for the other question, it just shows <varname> rather than what the subject entered.

Any idea what's going on, and how to fix it?

Thanks.
-merpy