Set up the Structure canvas the way you work
Your own toolbar layout, canvas and selection settings, like the tools you know.
Screenshots are taken from the app on every release. Updated 13 October 2026.
Most lawyers come to Structure from charts drawn in PowerPoint. Structure lets you keep the habits that work: a ribbon with tabs, a canvas the size of a slide, and a mouse that selects when you drag. A few minutes on these settings before the first big chart saves a lot of fighting with the tool later.
Two questions decide the set-up. Do you want the familiar ribbon or more room for the chart? And do you draw for a slide, or map out a large group first?
Choose the toolbar layout
Open any structure and click the layout selector in the canvas controls at the bottom of the screen. It shows the layout you use now.
Choose Traditional for a ribbon with tabs (Home, Import, Export, Layout, Settings, Collaborate) like the one in Office, or Modern for a compact toolbar with the settings in one Settings menu. Your choice applies to every structure you open.
| You are | Choose |
|---|---|
| Used to drawing charts in PowerPoint | Traditional: the tools sit where you expect them |
| Working on a laptop screen, or on large charts | Modern: more of the screen goes to the chart |
Work on the slide or on an open canvas
Click PowerPoint Canvas in the canvas controls to see the slide area that the PowerPoint export uses, and Infinite canvas to go back to an open canvas without edges. Juristic remembers your choice.
The infinite canvas suits mapping out a large group before you know what goes on which slide. The PowerPoint canvas suits a chart that is going into a deck: you see straight away what falls outside the slide.
Find the settings
In the Traditional layout, the canvas settings are on the Layout and Settings tabs of the ribbon. In the Modern layout, click Settings in the toolbar at the top.
Decide what dragging does
With Select on drag on, dragging across the empty canvas draws a frame and selects everything inside it, as in PowerPoint. Hold Space or Shift while you drag to move around the canvas instead. With it off, dragging moves the canvas, and you hold Shift to draw a selection frame.
Turn it on or off with Select on drag on the Settings tab of the Traditional ribbon, or with the Toggle Drag/Select button in the Modern toolbar. Select on drag is on each time you open a structure.
Hide the connection dots
Every box has small connection dots for drawing lines. On a dense chart they can sit on top of a line and get in the way when you click it. Turn off Show handles to hide them. Hold Ctrl (Control on a Mac) to bring them back for as long as the key is down, for instance to draw a new line. The setting is kept in your browser.
Use the grid and helper lines
- Show grid shows a grid on the canvas.
- Snap to grid makes boxes jump to the grid as you move them, which keeps rows straight without measuring.
- Helper lines appear while you drag a box, or several, and show when it lines up with the edges or centres of the boxes around it.
All three are also in the menu you get when you right-click the empty canvas.
The other settings
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Exploration mode | Click a company to highlight the ownership relationships where it is the owner. The highlight stays until you click another company or turn the mode off. Useful when you explain the group to someone. |
| Text overflow warning | When text no longer fits in a text box, Juristic offers to continue it on a new slide. |
| Include legends | Shows or hides the legend on the current slide; see explain the chart with a legend. |
| Page format | The slide size the chart is drawn for, offered while PowerPoint Canvas is on. It belongs to the structure, so it changes it for everyone working on it. |
Keyboard shortcuts
Alt is the Option key on a Mac.
| Keys | What they do |
|---|---|
| Alt + J | Show handles on or off |
| Alt + G | Show grid on or off |
| Alt + K | Snap to grid on or off |
| Alt + H | Helper lines on or off |
| Arrow keys | Move the selected boxes a small step; hold Shift for larger steps |
| Ctrl + A (⌘ + A) | Select everything on the slide |
| Alt + W / Alt + S | Bring to front / Send to back |
| Ctrl + B, I or U (⌘ on a Mac) | Bold, italic or underline the selected box or line |
Tips from practice
- Most settings are yours. Your layout, the canvas and Show handles change only what you see. Page format and the legend change the structure for everyone working on it.
- A firm-wide starting point. Your organisation admin can choose the layout and canvas that new users start with; see choose how Structure opens for new users.
- Lines you cannot click. If the connection dots stop you clicking a line, turn off Show handles and hold Ctrl (Control on a Mac) only when you draw a new line.
With the canvas set up, draw the group structure chart, and when it is done, tidy up the chart before it goes out.