How To Make An Organizational Chart In Google Sheets

Last Updated on November 3, 2023 by Jake Sheridan

In this tutorial, you will learn how to make an organizational chart in Google Sheets.

An organizational chart is a tool for visualizing the relationships between individuals at an organization or within a group or family. They can be used to clearly show hierarchy or family relationships through connections between nodes that represent the individuals of the group. Organizational charts can be time consuming to make if you have to create them manually, but fortunately Google Sheets makes it quick and easy to generate an organizational chart from just a few columns of data. Read on to learn how.

Prepping the Data

Before adding the organizational chart, the data to chart must be properly set up in Google Sheets following these steps:

Step 1

Add the following 3 headers to your spreadsheet for the 3 columns of data needed for the organizational chart:

• NAME
• REPORTS TO
• JOB TITLE

Note that the job title column is optional and can be used for any other information you’d like to display about individuals. For example, in a family tree you might use this column for date of birth. Data in this column will display in a tooltip on hover

Step 2

Enter individual names in the Name column

Step 3

Select the cells in the Reports To column and open the Data menu, then choose Data Validation

Step 4

In the Data Validation dialog, make sure List from Range is selected in the dropdown, then click on the Select Data Range icon in the input field

Step 5

Click and drag to select the range of names in the Name column, then click OK

Step 6

Click Save to save the data validation and dropdowns will appear in cells in the Reports To column

Step 7

Click on the dropdown arrows or start typing a name then choose an option from the dropdown for each person in the organization except the CEO or whoever is at the top of the organizational structure

Step 8

Fill in Job Titles or whatever tooltip information you desire in the final column

Charting

Once you have the data set up following the above steps, you’re ready to make the chart

Here’s how:

Step 1

Select the 3 columns of data from the preceding steps, excluding headers, and open the Insert menu, then choose Chart

Step 2

In the Chart Editor, under Chart Type, select the Organizational Chart option from near the bottom

Step 3

An organizational chart will be inserted in your spreadsheet. Resize the chart as needed by clicking and dragging the drag handles to display all data

Summary

Example Spreadsheet: Make a copy of the example spreadsheet

In this tutorial, I covered how to make an organizational chart in Google Sheets. Want more? Check out all the Google Sheets Tutorials.