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You are laying out the destinations a client will click through, so start with the two levels a layout gives you: a Section becomes an entry in the plan’s left navigation, and a Tab sits inside a section. Blocks, the paragraphs, charts, tables and figure rows a plan is made of, sit in either one. Nothing nests deeper: a design that seems to want a third level wants another section. Two blocks hold other blocks, Tab group and Priority list; a Tab group draws a real row of chips you can click between. The outline lists sections and tabs, never blocks, so look inside a container on the canvas.

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The default spine

Out of the box, a plan runs five sections in this order. Reorder them if your firm tells the story differently. Getting there carries no blocks of its own by default, so Hazel writes whatever sits above the tab bar. A section can hold both: its own blocks lead, then the tabs.

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Adding a section or a tab

Structure is added in the layout editor, which opens from Design layout on the Plan layout card. A top-level section. You build this one by hand: open the Modules tab in the left rail, expand Building blocks at the foot of the list (it starts closed), and drag Section from the Structure group onto the canvas. It arrives titled “New section”, set to Always. No module makes a top-level section: the five section-shaped modules each add a tab to Getting there instead, and their cards wear a Tab badge. A tab. Drag Tab from the same shelf into the section that should hold it, or add one of those five modules and let it bring its own tab and blocks. A tab that arrives with a module starts on When it applies; one you drag in starts on Always. An empty tab works: give it a heading and Instructions to Hazel, and Hazel composes that tab from them.

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Ordering

Reorder from the Outline tab in the left rail. Hover a row and two arrows appear, moving it up or down among its siblings. Moving a block to a different parent is a drag on the canvas.

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Naming

Section and tab names are client-facing, so name them the way you would say them out loud. “Cash flow” beats “Cash flow and budgeting analysis.” Select a section and the Editor panel on the right offers:
  • Heading. The words above the section’s content.
  • Subtitle. One optional line under the heading.
  • Nav label, under Advanced. A shorter label for the left navigation. Hazel’s own first section uses it: “Executive summary” above the content, Summary in the navigation.
A tab’s Heading names the tab and heads its content. If the right name runs long, keep it and add a Short tab name under Advanced: the full heading leads the content, the short one rides the tab.

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Headings inside a section

You name the section, and Hazel writes the headings on the blocks inside it unless you pin them one at a time. Pin them where your firm has standardized. See Block settings.

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A worked example

Say your firm presents tax planning as its own destination rather than a tab. Drag in a Section, set its Heading to “Tax planning”, and move it after Getting there. Add Roth conversion, plus RMD calculation if you serve retirees: both land in the Retirement tab, so open that tab on the canvas and drag each block across. Put a Narrative block ahead of the schedules, then set the section’s When it shows up to Always if it belongs in every deliverable.

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If a section you designed is missing from a plan

  • The design was never saved. The save button still reads Save changes.
  • The plan predates the change. A design shapes the plans built from now on.
  • The section is set to When it applies, and this household’s facts did not call for it. Switch it to Always if it belongs everywhere.
  • Strictness is doing what you asked. Flexible, where a new firm starts, treats your design as a starting point. See Strictness.
  • You edited a different design. A plan is built from the base template or from the persona Hazel matched the household to, and each carries its own layout. See Inheritance.

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Where to go next