diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/xml_module.py b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/xml_module.py
index 0b627ad4ee..9cf744461d 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/xml_module.py
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/xml_module.py
@@ -231,6 +231,8 @@ class XmlDescriptor(XModuleDescriptor):
         xml_object = self.definition_to_xml(resource_fs)
         self.__class__.clean_metadata_from_xml(xml_object)
 
+        xml_object.tag = self.category
+        xml_object.set('slug', self.name)
         # Put content in a separate file if it's large (has more than 5 descendent tags)
         if len(list(xml_object.iter())) > 5:
 
@@ -244,9 +246,6 @@ class XmlDescriptor(XModuleDescriptor):
 
             xml_object.set('filename', self.name)
 
-        xml_object.set('slug', self.name)
-        xml_object.tag = self.category
-
         for attr in self.metadata_attributes:
             attr_map = self.xml_attribute_map.get(attr, AttrMap(attr))
             metadata_key = attr_map.metadata_key