The structure of a digital record refers to the structure as it was originally made and reproduced on the screen. This is the logical hierarchy of, and the relationships between, the parts of the record. The structural elements of email are, for example,

The structure of a digital record refers to the structure as it was originally made and reproduced on the screen. This is the logical hierarchy of, and the relationships between, the parts of the record. The structural elements of email are, for example, the headers, the message text and any attachments. The structural elements of a report (a text document) on the other hand can be formed by a cover sheet, a table of contents, chapters (divided into sections and paragraphs) and a bibliography and/or appendices.

¶ It is important that these structural elements are correctly identified and that sections of the email or report are reproduced in the right order. It is also important to know whether there are other essential structural characteristics, for example the presence of footnotes or endnotes in a text document. If this structure is lost as the result of a migration, the record may be reproduced wrongly.