Reuse a structure as a template
A standard structure filed on a group, and added to a structure in any of that group's matters in one step.
Screenshots are taken from the app on every release. Updated 13 October 2026.
Most acquisitions for a client start from the same picture: the fund, the holding company, BidCo, the target. Drawing it again for every deal takes time and lets small differences creep in. Draw it once, file it on the client's group as a template, and start the next deal's chart from it.
A template is a copy of a structure kept on a group rather than in a matter, and every matter in that group can use it. Two questions decide how you set it up. Which group's matters will need it? And is it a pattern for many deals, or the chart of this one? Only the first makes a good template.
Prepare the structure
Open the structure you want to reuse, in the matter where you drew it.
Take out what belongs to this deal alone: real company names, registration numbers, ownership percentages that will differ next time. Use names that describe the role instead, such as Target, BidCo, Seller and Fund, so the next team knows what to replace.
Keep what should be the same every time: the layout, the colours, the legend, and slides the next deal will need too. The template copies the whole structure, every slide included.
Save it as a template
You need to be an admin of the group you file it on. If you are not an admin of any group, the dialog says "You have no groups to file a template on yet": ask a group admin to save it for you.
Open the Export tab in the ribbon and click Save as template, after the export formats.
Under Group, choose the group whose matters should be able to use it. If you are an admin of one group only, it is chosen for you. Organisation admins also see the firm's organisation-wide library, which every matter in the firm can use.
Check the Name. It starts as the structure's name; give it one that says what the template is for, such as "Fund acquisition, two-tier BidCo".
Click Save. Juristic files a copy on the group and says so. The structure you were working in stays in its matter, unchanged.
Save as template is not offered on a structure that has not been saved to a matter yet, or on one that already lives on a group.
If your structure opens with the floating toolbar rather than the ribbon, Save as template is at the bottom of the export menu.
Use it in another matter
In a matter of the same group, open the structure where the new chart should go, or create one.
Open the Import tab and click Template.
Choose the template under Template. The list holds the templates filed on this matter's group and those in the firm's organisation-wide library; if templates are kept in folders, they are listed by folder.
Click Import. The template's slides are added after the structure's own slides, and the canvas opens on the first of them. Nothing already in the structure is changed.
Replace the role names with the deal's companies, and adjust the holdings.
With the floating toolbar, click Import structure and open the Template tab.
Find and keep the group's templates
A group's templates are on the group's page, under the heading "Templates in" followed by the group's name. Only the group's admins can change a template there; everyone else can use it.
| What you have | What to do |
|---|---|
| A chart the whole firm draws the same way | File it on the organisation-wide library (organisation admins) |
| A client's standard deal structure | File it on that client's group |
| One deal's structure that the next deal will look nothing like | Keep it in its matter; duplicate it if you need a copy |
| A template that has gone out of date | Change the template itself on the group, rather than saving a near-copy beside it |
Tips from practice
- Name it for the deal type, not the deal. "Fund acquisition, two-tier BidCo" is found by the next team; "Project Alpha structure" is not.
- One template per pattern. Three near-identical templates on a group leave everyone guessing which is current. Update the one that exists.
- Leave the percentages out. A template with real ownership figures gets imported and sent with last deal's numbers.
- Start new structures from it too. A template on the group is also offered when a new structure is created in that group's matters; see start from your firm's templates.
To set up the group the templates live on, see set up a group's templates and standard content. For the boxes and lines every chart in the group uses, see set up the group's elements and relationship types.