How Entity Labels Work on Ownership Diagrams

Every entity on an ownership diagram carries its name, and usually a line or two of detail, inside the shape that represents it. This page explains what that text is made of, how it is arranged, and what to do when a name is too long for the shape.

What the label is made of

The text inside an entity is built from two parts:

The name, on top, in the larger of the two diagram font sizes.
The details, beneath it, in the smaller font — the facts StructureGram holds for that entity, such as ACN, ABN, TFN, trading name, or status (for example Alive or Deceased).

Which details appear is up to you. The entity's own facts are toggled in Diagram Settings → Entities; a relationship set to show In Entity on the Relationships tab adds its own line inside the node as well. A joint holding draws its text smaller than an ordinary entity, because the shape itself is smaller.

How the text is arranged

The label is laid out to sit inside the shape, not across it:

Lines are centred, and each line is given the width the shape actually offers at that height. In an ellipse or a diamond that means narrower lines near the top and bottom and wider ones through the middle; in a rectangle the width is even, with the corners respected.
The text keeps clear of the border, including a thicker border applied by a status style or by your border-width setting.
Line breaks you have deliberately included are kept, and a non-breaking space will not be used as a wrapping point.

Some nodes keep their text below the shape, or draw it themselves, which is unchanged:

Assets, whose label sits under the asset icon.
Individuals shown as avatar cards. Switching avatars on turns every individual into an avatar card — a person without an uploaded photo is given a default avatar — so their names move below the card.
Grouped asset boxes, which lay out their own contents.

A draft entity — one you have dragged from the palette but not yet saved — shows its name in italics. For an individual, company, trust or asset draft the name also updates on the node as you type it into the inspector; a partnership or SMSF draft shows its new name when the diagram next refreshes.

When the text does not fit

If the complete text will not fit the shape, what happens depends on one setting. (It applies to the nodes that draw their text inside the shape — not to assets, avatar cards or grouped asset boxes, which are laid out as described above.)

By default (setting off): the text is shortened and a single ellipsis (…) marks what has been cut. The remaining text stays at the font size you chose, so it is always as legible as the rest of the diagram.

With the setting on: StructureGram first tries to scale the text down so the complete content fits inside the shape, and falls back to the ellipsis only if it still will not. There is a floor: the text will not keep shrinking to whatever size the content demands, because past a point it stops being readable on screen or in a printed pack.

The setting: Fit entity content within shapes

You will find it on the diagram itself, not in your account settings:

Open the diagram.
Open Diagram Settings.
Go to the Display tab.
Under Labels, switch on Fit entity content within shapes.

Its description reads: Scale entity label text down when needed to fit the complete content inside its shape; otherwise show an ellipsis.

The setting belongs to the diagram, so switching it on affects that diagram for everyone who opens it, and takes effect immediately — the labels are laid out again without a reload.

It is not a preference that carries to your other diagrams on its own. To reuse it, save the diagram's settings under a name and apply that saved setting to another diagram (see How to Save and Apply Diagram Settings); saving needs Admin — Tenancy or Member — Group Admin, and any member can apply a setting already saved.

In a scenario that inherits its display settings from the base diagram, this toggle is shown but cannot be changed; turn off inheritance in the scenario's settings first if you want it to differ.

If a name still does not fit

Switching the setting on is one of four things you can do, and often not the best one:

Make the entity bigger. Entity width and height are set in Settings → Ownership Diagram → Entity Size, and you can resize a single entity by selecting it and dragging its handles.
Reduce the font size. Primary Font Size and Secondary Font Size are in the same settings section, and lowering them gives every label more room without any scaling.
Show fewer details. Every detail line competes with the name for the same space. Turn off the ones this diagram does not need: the entity's own facts on the Entities tab of Diagram Settings, and any relationship set to show In Entity on the Relationships tab.
Then, if it is still tight, switch on Fit entity content within shapes so the remaining content scales rather than being cut.

A long name that is cut off with an ellipsis is not stored differently; only its display is shortened, and selecting the entity shows its full name in the inspector.

Be aware that a visual export takes the diagram as drawn: PNG, SVG, PDF and print all capture the labels exactly as they appear on the canvas, ellipsis and all. If a name matters in the pack you are sending, fix it on the canvas first — a larger entity, a smaller font, or the fit setting — and then export. Reports built from stored data are unaffected.

How to Save and Apply Diagram Settings — saving a diagram's settings under a name and applying them to another diagram.
How to Manually Edit a Diagram — resizing an individual entity.
Entity Purpose and General Notes — notes, which appear as callouts beside a node rather than inside its label.