How to make a flowchart in Excel
Excel has flowchart shapes but no layout engine, so every arrow is placed by hand. For a short process that’s fine. For anything with decisions, build the chart in a flowchart maker and drop it onto the sheet as a picture.
Fastest: build it here, insert it into Excel
- Type your steps in the flowchart maker (or start from a template).
- Click Download PNG, or SVG if you use Microsoft 365.
- In Excel, go to Insert → Illustrations → Pictures → This Device and choose the file.
- Right-click the picture → Size and Properties → Properties → Don’t move or size with cells, so filtering or resizing columns doesn’t squash it.
Tip: Next to a process table, Left → right usually fits a landscape sheet better than top-down.
Draw it with Excel’s own shapes
Good for five to eight boxes in a straight line.
- Optional: select all cells and set column width to match row height so the grid becomes square; shapes then snap to an even grid.
- Insert → Illustrations → Shapes, then pick from the Flowchart group (hover to see names such as “Flowchart: Decision”).
- Click a shape and start typing to label it.
- Join shapes with Lines → Elbow Arrow Connector, dropping each end on a shape’s connection dot so it follows the shape when moved.
- Select the shapes and use Shape Format → Align → Align Center and Distribute Vertically to tidy up.
SmartArt (Insert → Illustrations → SmartArt → Process) is quicker for a straight sequence, but it cannot draw a decision with two branches.
Same guide for other apps
Flowchart in Word · Flowchart in PowerPoint · Flowchart in Google Docs
Questions people ask
Does Excel have a flowchart template?
Excel has no built-in flowchart template, only the flowchart shapes and SmartArt process layouts. Our flowchart templates are free to edit online and insert into a sheet as a picture.
Is Excel or Word better for flowcharts?
Neither is built for it: both give you the same shapes and connectors with no automatic layout. Word is easier when the chart sits inside a document; Excel when it sits beside data. For anything with decisions, a dedicated flowchart maker is faster in both cases.
Can Excel turn a table of steps into a flowchart automatically?
With Microsoft 365 you can add Microsoft’s “Visio Data Visualizer” add-in (Insert → Get Add-ins), which draws a diagram from a table. Without it, paste your step list into the flowchart maker: one step per line becomes one box.
How do I keep the chart sharp when printing?
Insert the SVG file in Microsoft 365. It stays vector, so it prints crisply at any size. In older versions use the PNG, which FlowBuilder exports at twice screen resolution.