Before you start building in Gatheroo, it helps to understand how a request is organised and why that structure matters for how your clients experience it.
The Gatheroo Request Structure
Every Gatheroo request follows a four-level hierarchy:
Request > Page > Section > Field.
Understanding this structure helps you plan and build more effective requests from the start.
1. Request
The Request is the top-level container, it’s what you create and send to your client.
Each request has a name, a due date, a request owner, and access settings.
It holds everything your client needs to fill in.
The number of active requests you can have in your account is driven by the subscription plan.
2. Page
Inside a request, content is organised into Pages.
Pages act as logical groupings.
For example, “Contact Information”, “Staff Details”, or “Supporting Documents”.
Your client navigates between pages using the Contents panel on the left of their view.
3. Section
Each page contains one or more Sections.
Sections are sub-groupings within a page.
For example, a “Contact Information” page might include a “Business Information” section and a “Main Contact” section.
Sections help break up longer lists of questions into digestible groups.
4. Field
Fields are the individual questions or upload prompts that your client actually responds to.
Each field has a type (such as Single Text Line, File Upload, or Single Select) and optional settings such as Mandatory, Encryption, or Conditional Logic.
Read more about the Field Types in Gatheroo
Read about the various Field Settings in Gatheroo
5. Groups (Coming Soon)
Groups will allow you to create repeatable sets of fields within a section.
Groups are useful when you need clients to provide the same information for multiple items, such as details for each company director.
How the Structure Reveals Itself
When you first create a new request and add fields, everything appears in a flat, in-line list.
It can feel like fields are just floating in your request with no deeper structure.
But this changes the moment you add a second Page or Section.
As soon as a second page/section is created, the Contents panel on the left will show the fields you already have live in the first page and first section.
They were always contained inside a default page and a default section. Gatheroo simply kept that structure hidden until it became relevant. You will have the ability to Hide the page and section levels from being shows in the client’s link.
Planning your requests intentionally from the start will help you structure it in Gatheroo: decide upfront which pages you need, how to name your sections, and how to group your fields for the clearest client experience.
Understanding and planning pages and sections is especially helpful if you need to “stitch requests together”, through saving pages and sections as templates that can be inserted into existing requests.
Tips for Planning Your Request Structure
- Use the Welcome message at the top of each request to give your client context and instructions for the entire request
- Decide on your Pages first, these are your major topics or stages (e.g. Personal Details, Business Information, Documents Required)
- Use the Page description to add guidance specific to each page
- Within each page, use Sections to break up related questions into logical sub-groups
- Keep the number of fields per section manageable, a well-organised request improves client completion rates
- Use the Section description to add guidance specific to each group of questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Gatheroo request structure?
A Gatheroo request is structured as a four-level hierarchy: Request > Page > Section > Field.
The request is the top-level container sent to your client.
Inside it, pages group related content, sections sub-group questions within each page, and fields are the individual questions or uploads your client responds to.
Do I have to use pages and sections in Gatheroo?
Every Gatheroo request contains at least one page and one section by default, even if you don’t explicitly create them.
You only need to add extra pages and sections when your request grows in complexity and benefits from clearer organisation.
What is the difference between a page and a section in Gatheroo?
A page is a top-level grouping within a request that your client navigates to via the Contents panel.
A section is a sub-grouping within a page.
You can have multiple sections on a single page, each with its own name and optional description.
What are Gatheroo Groups?
Groups allow you to define a repeatable set of fields within a section, for example, asking for the same details about multiple directors, multiple properties, or multiple previous addresses, without needing to manually duplicate fields in the Request Builder.
What is a Gatheroo subscriber?
A Gatheroo subscriber is the account owner, the person or business that has created and manages a Gatheroo account.
Read more about Gatheroo subscribers: Gatheroo Terminology Guide
Also commonly searched
How should I organise a client information request?
Group related questions together using pages and sections.
A good approach is to put basic identifying information first, then work through topic areas logically, for example, personal details on one page, financial information on the next, and document uploads at the end.
Clear page and section titles also help clients understand exactly what’s being asked and why.
What’s the best way to structure a client onboarding form?
Start with the information you need most urgently (contact details, key identifiers), then move to supporting information, then document uploads.
Breaking it into pages reduces overwhelm, clients can complete one section at a time.
A client intake tool like Gatheroo lets you structure this as a multi-page request with named sections so the flow feels organised, not like a wall of questions.