---
title: "Organize your form and structure"
slug: "organizing-your-form-and-structure"
updated: 2026-10-27T12:17:33Z
published: 2026-10-27T12:17:33Z
canonical: "help.quickbase.com/organizing-your-form-and-structure"
---

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

# Organize your form and structure

## Overview

When building a form in the FastField Legacy Form Builder, you may find it helpful to organize your form fields into pages and sections—especially if your form is complex. Having a well-structured form will make it easier for you to arrange and edit your form in the Legacy Form Builder, while providing a smoother experience for your form users. This article will discuss the main components of a form (**pages**, **sections**, and **fields**), as well as some helpful information about **field keys** and **field values**, which are useful for more advanced functions.

## Components of a form

Every form created in FastField is composed of three primary components: **pages**, **sections**, and **fields**. These components assist in organizing a form, especially as it increases in size.

![Diagram showing the three-tier structure of a FastField form: pages contain sections, and sections contain fields](https://cdn.document360.io/dd260e4e-10bb-4b66-8fb3-5504c272b904/Images/Documentation/4406522637581?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-10-30T06%3A04%3A17Z&se=2026-10-30T07%3A04%3A17Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=1u9%2FiWIhAISzCXVJLWwtRTAmpPJLSAyFXFb3vf891Aw%3D)

- **Pages:** Use pages in the Legacy Form Builder to help organize your form. Your form can be all on one page, but for complex forms, it's best to group and arrange related fields into pages. Pages only affect the organization and layout within the Legacy Form Builder and will not be reflected in the app to form users.
- **Sections:** A section is used to organize fields within a page into logical groups on your form. Sections will be visible on the form to users in the app by means of a section name and description.
  - For example, if you were building a form that collected an individual's address, you might set up a section named *Address* and add *Street Name*, *City*, *State*, and *Zip* fields to that section.
- **Fields:** Fields are components of a form that the user fills out. Each field type allows you to capture a specific type of data. Field types range from standard textual data to multi-media objects, including photos, video, and audio.

## Field keys

#### What is a field key?

**Field keys** are unique identifiers for each field within a form. Since field keys must be unique, they cannot be duplicated within a single form. When a field is added to a form there will always be a default field key assigned. For example, this Text field defaults to **alpha_5** or **$alpha_5$**.

![Legacy Form Builder showing a text field with its default field key alpha_5 and the wrapped syntax $alpha_5$](https://cdn.document360.io/dd260e4e-10bb-4b66-8fb3-5504c272b904/Images/Documentation/4413713569421?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-10-30T06%3A04%3A17Z&se=2026-10-30T07%3A04%3A17Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=1u9%2FiWIhAISzCXVJLWwtRTAmpPJLSAyFXFb3vf891Aw%3D)

#### Reference field values in rules

To access a field value in a rule condition, wrap the **field key** with the **$** character. For example, for a field with a field key of **first_name**, you would use the following syntax to check if the first name is *John*.

```plaintext
if ($first_name$ == 'John')
```

## Help and support

Learn more about [field types](/fastfield/docs/field-type-overview), [setting up your first form](/fastfield/docs/organizing-your-form-and-structure#INTERNAL:202336196), or [arranging sections and fields](/fastfield/docs/re-ordering-sections-and-fields), and feel free to reach out if you have any questions.