How to make an org chart in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides

Google Sheets: the built-in organizational chart

Sheets is the only Google app that builds an org chart from data. Set up the sheet with one person per row: the person’s name in the first column and their manager’s name in the second, written exactly as in the manager’s own row. Leave the manager cell empty for the person at the top. An optional third column can hold text that appears when you hover over a box.

1. Select the two (or three) columns, including the header row.
2. Choose Insert → Chart.
3. In the chart editor’s Setup tab, open the Chart type list and pick Organizational chart (it is listed under Other).
4. Make sure the first row is used as headers so it does not become a box.
5. On the Customize tab, adjust the box size and colours.

What to know about the Sheets org chart

Its big advantage is that it stays linked to the cells: change a manager in the sheet and the chart redraws. The trade-off is that it is a chart, not a design tool. Keep these points in mind:

• Names must be unique. Two people called “Alex Kim” become one box, so add an initial or a department to tell them apart.
• The manager cell has to match the manager’s name exactly, including spaces; otherwise the person appears as a separate tree.
• A box shows only the first column. To show a job title, put name and title in the same cell, and use that exact text in the manager column too.
• There are few styling options and no photos, department colours, assistant boxes or dotted lines, and wide organisations become very wide charts.
• To use the chart elsewhere, download it as an image from the chart’s menu.

Google Docs: draw it with Insert → Drawing

Google Docs has no org chart feature, but its drawing canvas is enough for a small team.

1. Choose Insert → Drawing → New.
2. Use the Shape tool to draw a box and double-click it to type a name. Copy and paste the box for each person so they stay the same size.
3. From the Line menu, choose Elbow connector and drag from one box to another; the ends snap to the dots on each shape and follow the box when you move it.
4. Click Save and close. To change the chart later, select it in the document and choose Edit.

Google Slides: Insert → Diagram → Hierarchy

Google Slides offers a diagram panel under Insert → Diagram. Choose Hierarchy, pick the number of levels and a colour, and insert one of the suggested layouts. The result is a group of ordinary shapes and lines: you replace the placeholder text with names, and adding a person means copying a box and drawing its line. That makes it a good start for a leadership slide and a poor fit for a whole company.

Org chart templates for Google Docs

Google’s template galleries cover documents, presentations and spreadsheets in general, so an org chart in Docs usually starts as a drawing, a Slides diagram or an image from another tool. The mivochart templates are complete example organisations: open one, replace the people, export it as a PNG and add it to your document with Insert → Image.

Where the Google tools reach their limits

Each of the three apps covers part of the job. In general experience:

• Sheets reads data but offers little layout or design: one line of text per box, no photos, colours per department or staff positions.
• Docs and Slides look better, but every box and line is placed by hand, with no import from a list.
• In our experience hand-drawn charts become hard to maintain somewhere past 20 or 30 boxes.
• Every reorganisation means redrawing, and nothing records what changed between versions.