What are repeatable sections?

How to set up 'parent/child' data relationships using repeatable sections in Fulcrum templates.

Cory MacVie avatar
Written by Cory MacVie
Updated over a week ago

Repeatable sections allow you to nest “sub-forms” within a larger form, creating multiple child records that are associated with the parent record. While the data is inside of Fulcrum, child records can be accessed through the main parent record or by selecting the repeatable field from the app drop-down menu on the record editor page of the web app.

When exported, the record id of the parent record serves as the unique id that can be used to link the child records to the main parent record. Every child record captured can have its own unique location and data associated with that record.

Along with having their own location, you can set the minimum/maximum number of child records (using validation rules) that a repeatable section can have, and set the child record title. Additionally, each child record has its own timestamp.

This example shows an app for surveying parks (the parent) and the status of features within them (the children):

Example of an App that uses repeatable sections for Features that are available in a given Park.

To nest fields in a repeatable section, you will want to drag the field more towards the center of the app designer and over the top of the section that you want to nest it in.

If you’re looking to import data, please see our guide: Import Data into Repeatable Fields.

Once you create a record that includes a repeatable section, you will be able to add multiple entries in this section within a single record. When viewing the record, it will display the total of existing entries for the repeatable section.

Reviewing some records that were created from a Repeatable field.

Repeatable sections are only available on select plans. Please check out the plans page to see which plans have access to repeatable fields.

Notes

  • Adding a repeatable section inside of another repeatable section is not recommended as it could create performance issues, as well as a significant increase in mobile-syncing time. If you are looking to have one-to-many relationships between records at the grandchild level, please consider using record links instead of repeatable sections.

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