How to make an org chart in Word

Step 1: Prepare the page

Org charts are wide, and a portrait page fills up after three or four boxes per row. Switch the page to landscape first (Layout → Orientation → Landscape) and consider narrower margins. If the chart is part of a longer document, put it in its own section so only that page turns sideways.

Step 2: Insert the Organization Chart

SmartArt is Word’s built-in diagram tool. The organisation chart layouts sit in its Hierarchy category.

1. Click where the chart should go.
2. Open the Insert tab and choose SmartArt.
3. Select Hierarchy on the left.
4. Pick Organization Chart. Name and Title Organization Chart gives each box a separate title line; Picture Organization Chart adds a photo placeholder.
5. Click OK. Word inserts a starter chart with a few placeholder boxes.

Step 3: Type the names in the text pane

Typing into the boxes one by one is slow. Open the text pane instead, using the small arrow on the left edge of the graphic. Each line in the pane is one box. Press Enter for a new box on the same level, Tab to move a line one level down (it becomes a report of the line above), and Shift+Tab to move it back up.

To show a name and a job title in one box, put a line break inside the line with Shift+Enter. You can also paste a list of names copied from another document or a spreadsheet: every line becomes a box, and you then set the levels with Tab.

Step 4: Add boxes, assistants and change the layout

Select a box and open the SmartArt Design tab (called Design under SmartArt Tools in older versions). Add Shape offers After and Before for a colleague on the same level, Above for a new manager and Below for a new report. Add Assistant places a box on a side connector between the manager and the team, which is how SmartArt shows staff positions such as an executive assistant.

The Layout button in the same tab changes how the reports of the selected box are arranged: Standard puts them side by side, while Both, Left Hanging and Right Hanging stack them vertically. Hanging layouts are the main way to keep a wide team on one page.

Step 5: Style the chart

Change Colors and the SmartArt Styles gallery restyle the whole graphic at once. To colour a department, select its boxes with Ctrl and set a fill on the Format tab. Keep it simple: SmartArt shrinks the text as boxes are added, so check that names are still readable when printed. Dragging the outer frame makes the whole graphic larger.

Org chart templates for Word

Word’s own template gallery (File → New, then search for “organization chart”) offers a few ready-made org chart documents, depending on your version and region. Underneath they are SmartArt or ordinary shapes, so they share the limits below. If you want a template with realistic roles that you can edit and export, the mivochart template gallery opens each one directly in the editor.

Where Word reaches its limits

SmartArt is designed for small diagrams inside a document. In general experience these are the points where it gets in the way:

• No import: every name is typed or pasted, and nothing is linked to your staff list.
• Text shrinks as the chart grows, and in our experience it is hard to keep readable on one page somewhere past 30 boxes.
• Layout is limited to the SmartArt gallery; moving single boxes by hand breaks the automatic alignment.
• No built-in way to mark open positions, part-time roles or departments, and dotted lines have to be drawn as separate shapes that do not follow the boxes.
• After every reorganisation you edit the diagram again by hand, with no record of what changed.