How to Make an Org Chart in Word, Google Docs or Excel

Your boss wants an org chart for Monday’s all-hands, and the last one is a PowerPoint slide from two reorgs ago. This guide covers how to make an org chart in Word, Google Docs or Google Sheets, with the exact clicks for each, and then the part most guides skip: how to keep it right after the next hire.

The drawing takes 20 minutes. Getting the reporting lines correct takes longer, and that’s where you should start.

Collect three facts per person before you open any tool

Every org chart is one relationship repeated: this person reports to that person. You need three things for each person: a name, a job title, and who their manager is. Put them in a sheet, one person per row.

Leave “Reports to” blank for whoever sits at the top. If two people share a name, add an ID column now. You’ll thank yourself later. Already keeping a staff list? The spreadsheet in the employee directory template guide already includes a manager column.

Then make four decisions before drawing anything:

• Contractors. On the chart, off it, or marked differently?
• Open roles. A “Hiring” box tells candidates and new managers where the gaps are.
• Assistants. They hang off the side of an executive’s box, not below it.
• Dotted lines. Someone who reports to one manager and works for another needs a second, dashed connector. Decide which line is solid.

Ask each manager to check their own row. That’s a five-minute email that catches the errors you’d otherwise print.

How to make an org chart in Word with SmartArt

Word’s built-in option is SmartArt. These steps follow the Microsoft Support guide to SmartArt organization charts:

1. On the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, click SmartArt.
2. Click Hierarchy, choose Organization Chart, then OK.
3. Open the Text pane with the small arrow on the left edge of the graphic.
4. Type or paste your names, one per line. Tab moves a line down a level; Shift+Tab moves it up.
5. To add someone in place, select the nearest box, open SmartArt Design, click the arrow next to Add Shape, and pick After, Before, Above, Below or Add Assistant.

Running out of width? Select a manager’s box and use Layout then Left Hanging or Right Hanging to stack their reports vertically. For faces instead of plain boxes, pick the Picture Organization Chart or Circle Picture Hierarchy layout from Microsoft’s SmartArt guide in the same Hierarchy gallery.

SmartArt is identical in PowerPoint and Excel. If the chart is headed for a slide, the PowerPoint org chart guide covers dotted lines and larger layouts. If your list already lives in a spreadsheet, the Excel org chart guide shows how to build the chart straight from rows.

Google Docs has no org chart button. Use Sheets.

There’s no SmartArt equivalent in Google Docs. You have two routes.

Draw it in Docs. The Google Docs Editors Help page on drawings describes the path: Insert, then Drawing, then New, then add shapes, lines and text with the editing tools. It works for six boxes. Past that, you’re nudging connectors by hand every time someone moves.

Build it in Sheets. This is the better option, because Sheets draws the tree from your data. According to Google’s Docs Editors Help on organizational charts, column A holds every person’s name, column B holds each person’s manager, and an optional column C holds notes that appear when you hover over a box. Each row is one person.

1. Paste your name and “Reports to” columns into A and B.
2. Select the data and click Insert, then Chart.
3. In the chart editor, set Chart type to Organizational chart.

Change a manager in column B and the chart redraws. That’s the whole point. The names in column B must match column A exactly, though. “Sam Lee” and “Sam Lee ” with a trailing space are two different people to Sheets.

Why your org chart is wrong by next quarter

Making the chart is a one-afternoon job. Keeping it accurate is the real work, and most charts fail here.

Total separations ran at 3.2 percent of US employment in August 2026, according to the BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. For a 100-person company, that’s roughly three departures a month, before you count new hires, promotions and team moves. Every one of those changes a box.

Three habits keep a hand-built chart honest:

• One owner. Name a person. “HR” or “whoever has time” means nobody.
• A trigger, not a reminder. Put “update the org chart” on the onboarding and offboarding checklists so it happens the day the change does.
• An “as of” date on the chart. A visible date tells readers how much to trust it and shames the owner gently when it’s old.

Even with all three, a drawn chart depends on someone remembering. The only chart that stays current without effort is one generated from the system where the change already happens: your identity provider or HR records. That’s what dedicated org chart software is for.

FAQ

What’s the easiest way to make an org chart?

Start with a list of names, titles and managers, then use whatever tool you already have open. Word and PowerPoint both have a SmartArt Organization Chart layout, and Google Sheets has an organizational chart type that draws the tree from two columns.

Does Word have an org chart template?

Yes. SmartArt’s Hierarchy category in Word includes an Organization Chart layout, plus picture layouts if you want a photo in each box. You fill it in by typing names into the Text pane.

Can you make an org chart in Google Docs?

Docs doesn’t have an org chart layout. You can draw one with Insert, Drawing, New using shapes and lines, or build it in Google Sheets, where the organizational chart type reads a name column and a manager column and draws the hierarchy for you.

What should an org chart include?

At minimum, each person’s name, job title and who they report to. Department, location and a photo help in a company where people don’t all sit in one room. Skip anything you won’t keep current, because a stale field makes the whole chart look untrustworthy.

How often should you update an org chart?

Every time someone joins, leaves, or changes manager. A calendar reminder every quarter isn’t enough at most companies. Tie the update to the onboarding and offboarding checklist so it happens on the same day as the change.

An org chart that follows your identity system

We’re building the version where nobody redraws anything. InstaCheckin People, our employee directory and org chart app, is coming soon. It’s planned to include a browsable org chart where you move up to a manager or down to direct reports (coming soon), built from profiles that show each person’s manager, direct reports and assistants (coming soon).

The list underneath is what keeps it accurate. Sync with Google Workspace and Microsoft Entra ID is coming soon, so when someone changes teams in your identity system, the chart follows.

Compare approaches on our org chart software page, see how People (coming soon) fits against other employee directory software, then join the waitlist and we’ll email you when it opens.