Mapping structure in complex documents
Corinna Lines | July 7, 2025
Does any of this sound familiar?
- You’re writing something long and complex, but you’re not sure how to start.
- You’re adding detail to a document, but you don’t know where to place it.
- Multiple writers have worked on a document, making the structure illogical or unbalanced.
- You commission reports, but you’ve never thought about the priority of the information.
This blog will help you structure your content, using a process known as structure mapping or content mapping. Mapping is a way to uncover and improve the structure of any content — whether printed or online.
To map your content, you first break it up into manageable chunks. You then set out each chunk in a table or spreadsheet. This helps you see the whole ‘map’, so you can understand the relationships between the chunks. From there, you can move things around until you have a balanced structure that works for your readers.
In this blog post, we’ll look at using Microsoft Word or Excel to map content in complex documents like reports.
Clarify the purpose, audience, and outcome
Think about your purpose, audience, and desired outcome. Ask for a brief or a commissioning sheet if you need to clarify these points. If you’re the commissioner, write down these points to help your writer.
When you map your content, you’ll organise your main messages to support your purpose, audience, and desired outcome. For example, you can place the information that the audience needs most nearer to the start of your content. And you can place supporting information later.
Reveal structure using Word’s tools
You can use Microsoft Word’s inbuilt tools to see the structure of your content, whatever stage it’s at. First, apply heading styles (H1, H2, H3, and so on) throughout the document. Then experiment with the options below. Each option helps you see the hierarchy of your information.
Navigation pane
In the View menu, tick Navigation Pane. You’ll see your heading hierarchy to the left of your document window. This updates automatically as you adjust headings or move things around.
Outline view
In the View menu, choose Outline view. This view shows your whole document in a compressed format, with subheadings indented.
Table of contents
In the References menu, choose Table of Contents. When you insert one, it automatically adds all the headings you’ve formatted as H1, H2, and H3. You’ll need to update the table each time you move, add, or delete headings or sections.
Use a table to lay out and improve structure
Once you can see the structure of your content, you can map it. Use either a table in Word or an Excel spreadsheet. Add a column for each heading level (H1, H2, H3). If you wish, you can also add a column for comments that describe structural improvements. For more complex documents, use colour-coding to help communicate changes or to group related information.
Add all the headings from your document to the columns.
- Can you combine any content?
- Can you split any content?
- Do you need to promote or demote any content?
- Are your headings in a consistent format?
Move headings around until you get a structure that works for your readers.
Here’s a generic example in a Microsoft Word table. The left side has the existing structure, and the right side has the revised restructure. We’ve used colours to differentiate the phases.
Image by Write Group
Plan-for-overseas-trip-structure-map (PDF 62.6KB)
Notice what’s changed.
- The number of sections has increased to suit different types of information.
- The content is better categorised and distributed between sections and subsections.
- All level 1 headings are consistent in format (they’re all verbs).
- Level 2 headings are consistent in format within each section.
Using structure mapping in real life: a case study
A large government department wanted to update a manual. It was an A4 manual in Microsoft Word, with 64 portrait pages.
Our client had seen another team’s revised manual and liked it. They wanted us to help them transform their manual into a more visual landscape format, and to cut it down to about 20 pages — without removing anything important!
Structure mapping gave us a starting point, and something we could send the client to decide on before we invested too much time in rewriting. We colour-coded the three main sections in the process and added a comments column for the client to give feedback on individual ‘chunks’. They could see we were acknowledging their expertise before we started moving things around.
Structure mapping built trust and streamlined the project
The structure map was the overview we all needed. It helped us to see the existing structure, and how we could reorder the information so it flowed logically for readers.
Our client was reassured to see that we had a process to streamline their unwieldy manual. They felt confident that we’d consulted them and wouldn’t remove any content without their knowledge. They also felt optimistic about achieving something that felt like a tall order.
Verdict: we recommend structure mapping for any complex writing project that you’re struggling to get a handle on!
Have a complex project that feels daunting?
Bring your structure problems to us. We’ll help you get your complex content balanced and easy to navigate.
Writing at Work, by Neil James, has more detail on structure mapping. It’s a great read.