How to Diagram One Company or Part of a Group
This article explains how to make a diagram that shows only part of a Group — for example, one company and the entities connected to it — without creating a new Group.
You do this with the green Entities button. It chooses which of the Group's entities appear in a diagram. There are no templates to set up first: each diagram keeps its own selection, and you change it at any time.
Before You Start
Make sure the company (or trust, or SMSF) and the entities around it are in your active Group, with their relationships recorded.
Step 1: Create the Diagram
- In the left-hand navigation, go to Diagrams.
- Click Create Ownership for the Group.
- Give the diagram a name, such as "ABC Pty Ltd structure", and click Create Diagram.
A new diagram starts with every entity in the Group. The next step cuts it down.
Tip: Keep one diagram that shows the whole Group, and make a separate diagram for each company or sub-structure you want to present. Each diagram has its own selection, so changing one never changes another.
Step 2: Open the Entities Dialog
Click the green Entities button. You can find it in two places:
- On the diagram canvas — in the header, next to the diagram name. It shows a count, such as Entities (24/24).
- On the Diagrams page — on the diagram's row, so you can change the selection without opening the diagram.
The Entities in this diagram dialog opens.
Step 3: Choose the Entities
There are two ways to do this. Use whichever fits.
Option A: Let Focus entity find the connected entities (quickest)
- Click Focus entity at the top of the dialog to open it.
- Choose the company in Select focus entity.
- Click one of:
- Direct links — the company plus every entity one link away from it: its shareholders, directors, secretary, subsidiaries it holds shares in, and so on.
- All links — the company plus everything connected to it directly or indirectly, such as the shareholders of its shareholders.
- The ticks in the list are replaced with that set, and a message tells you how many entities were selected.
- Review the Included list. Click any row to tick or untick it.
Focus entity only fills in the ticks. Nothing is saved until Step 4.
Option B: Tick the entities yourself
- Click Select None to untick everything.
- Type the company's name in the search box and click its row to tick it.
- Clear the search and tick each other entity you want to show.
To bring in a whole type at once, use the type buttons next to Select None — Individuals, Companies, Trusts, Partnerships and SMSFs (hover over each icon to see its name). A type button adds that type to what is already ticked; it does not untick anything. So to show only companies, click Select None first, then the Companies button.
To start again from the full Group, click Select All.
Step 4: Save
Click Save Changes. The diagram now shows only the entities you included.
Assets are not in the list. An asset appears on the diagram when an included entity owns it and assets are turned on in Diagram Settings.
Changing It Later
Click the green Entities button again at any time to add or remove entities, or to run Focus entity on a different entity. Removing an entity from a diagram never deletes it — it stays in the Group and in every other diagram that includes it.
If the Result Isn't What You Expected
- Focus entity picked up too much. All links follows every connection, so a shared shareholder can pull in a second structure. Use Direct links instead, or untick the extra entities before saving.
- Focus entity missed an entity. Focus entity follows ownership-structure relationships (shareholdings, unitholdings, trustee, beneficiary, member, partner, director, secretary, loans, leases and similar) that the diagram draws as links. Family relationships, such as spouse or parent, never count. Check the relationship is recorded and that Diagram Settings → Relationships shows it as a link, or tick the entity yourself.
- A type button missed some entities. The type buttons only act on the rows currently in the list. If you have typed a search, clear it. If the list ends with Load more, click it until every entity is showing, then use the type button again.
- Select All and Select None are greyed out. They are unavailable while a search is typed. Clear the search box.
- I can't see the Entities button. It is hidden while you are viewing a scenario — open the base diagram instead. On the Diagrams page, it only appears if you have permission to manage the diagram.