How to make an org chart in PowerPoint

Option 1: Insert an Organization Chart

1. Choose a slide layout with plenty of room, such as Title Only or Blank.
2. Open the Insert tab and click SmartArt.
3. Select Hierarchy, then Organization Chart (or Name and Title Organization Chart for a separate title line).
4. Click OK, then open the text pane with the arrow on the left edge of the graphic.
5. Type one person per line. Enter adds a box on the same level, Tab moves a line one level down and Shift+Tab moves it back up.

Option 2: Convert a bullet list

If you think in outlines, this is quicker. Type the names in an ordinary text placeholder, one per line, and indent reports with Tab. Select the placeholder, then on the Home tab choose Convert to SmartArt in the Paragraph group, open More SmartArt Graphics and pick Organization Chart under Hierarchy. Each indent level becomes a level in the chart.

Add people, assistants and change the layout

Select a box and use the SmartArt Design tab. Add Shape inserts a colleague (After or Before), a manager (Above) or a report (Below). Add Assistant places a staff position on a side connector under its manager. The Layout button switches the selected manager’s team between Standard and hanging layouts, which stack reports vertically and save width.

Change Colors and the SmartArt Styles gallery restyle the whole chart. Picture Organization Chart adds a round photo placeholder to every box if you want faces on the slide.

Fit a larger organisation on slides

A 16:9 slide holds far less than a printed page, and text has to be readable from the back of the room. Rather than shrinking everything, split the chart: one overview slide with the leadership team and department heads, then one slide per department. Hanging layouts help for teams with many reports. If you present live, add a hyperlink from each department box to its slide so you can jump in and back.

Animate the chart

Select the chart, pick an entrance effect on the Animations tab, and open Effect Options. Besides showing the graphic as one object, SmartArt can appear one box at a time or level by level, which is a simple way to walk an audience through a new structure.

PowerPoint org chart templates

PowerPoint’s template search (File → New) and the SmartArt gallery itself are the built-in starting points. They give you the look, but not the content. The mivochart template gallery contains complete example organisations, from a startup to a school, that open in the editor; once you have replaced the people with yours you can export the chart for your deck.

Where PowerPoint reaches its limits

SmartArt in PowerPoint is the same engine as in Word, with the same trade-offs. In general experience:

• Everything is typed or pasted; there is no import from a staff list or from Excel.
• Text shrinks as boxes are added, and a single slide becomes unreadable long before a printed page would.
• Layout options are limited to the gallery, and moving boxes by hand breaks the automatic alignment.
• No built-in marking for open positions, part-time roles or dotted-line reporting.
• After a reorganisation, every slide that shows the chart has to be edited again.