Flow charts are an effective way to visually represent processes, workflows, and decision-making steps.
Excel provides various tools and shapes to design flow charts, allowing for detailed customization to create professional-looking visuals. If you have a business process or project timeline that you want to map out, this guide will show you how to create a flow chart in Excel to effectively communicate your ideas.
Creating a Flow Chart in Excel Using Smart Art
Smart Art offers a simpler and quicker method for creating flow charts.
Step 1: Go to the Insert tab > Illustrations group > Smart Art.
Step 2: Choose a SmartArt graphic that suits your needs by exploring the different types in the left pane.
We’ll use a style from the hierarchy as we have decision points and multiple options in our chart.
Step 3: Once inserted, add more shapes by right-clicking on any shape, choosing to add the shape before or after, below or above.
Step 4: Right-click on any shape > click on Change Shape to change the shapes within the flow chart.
Step 5: Keep adding shapes and changing them as needed.
SmartArt automatically connects shapes with arrows, and you can adjust connections by selecting a shape and using the tools provided in the SmartArt Tools tabs.
Step 6: Add text in each shape as desired.
Step 7: Use the small circles on the borders of the flow chart to drag and resize the whole chart. Or, resize individual shapes as needed.
Step 8: Once the chart is made, go to the Smart Art Design tab and choose different designs and color palettes.
If you do not want the shapes to be connected as a flow chart, select the chart, and go to the SmartArt Design tab > Reset > Convert to Shapes button.
The chart will be converted into individual shapes.
Creating a Flow Chart in Excel Using Shapes
The basic method of creating flow charts in Excel involves using the shapes library.
Excel has a vast library of shapes, from basic circles to more complex ones like waves or scrolls. You can draw these shapes and connect them using arrows to create a flow chart.
We’ll create a flow chart for a product assembly workflow, from receiving the raw material to shipping the product.
Step 1: Go to the View tab > Show group > Uncheck the option for Gridlines.
This gives you a clean canvas.
Step 2: Go to the Insert tab > Shapes.
Step 3: Scroll down to the Flowchart shapes section.
Step 4: Choose the desired shape.
We’ll begin with inserting an oval.
Step 5: Click and drag on the worksheet to draw an oval as the start shape.
Step 6: Double-click on the oval to write within it. Label it as “Start”.
Step 7: Go to Inserting shapes again > select a Rectangle shape.
Step 8: Draw it towards the right of the Start shape. Label it Receive Raw Materials.
We are making the flow chart horizontally (progressing towards the right). You can also make it from top to bottom.
Step 9: Draw another rectangle next to the previous one and label it “Inspect Quality”.
Until here we are covering steps within the process hence we are using rectangles. Make sure to keep the size of shapes similar.
Step 10: Draw a diamond next and label it as “Quality Acceptable?”.
Using a diamond since this is a decision point.
Step 11: Add two more rectangles slightly above and below the diamond to label as “Reject and Return” and “Assemble Product”.
Step 12: Draw another rectangle next to “Assemble Product” and label it as “Test Product”.
Step 13: Add more steps to the process by adding rectangles and label them as “Package Product” and “Ship Product”.
The structure of the flow chart is now ready.
Step 14: Go to the Insert tab > Shapes > select the Arrow shape.
Step 15: Draw arrows connecting one shape to another, indicating the flow of the process.
Step 16: At each decision point, add text boxes near the connecting arrows by going to the Insert tab > Text box.
Step 17: Write “Yes” and “No” in each textbox to make sense out of the flow chart.
You can change the colors of the boxes by selecting each shape and exploring options from the Format Shape tab.
Similarly, you can adjust the fonts and styles of the text inside each shape.
Excel provides flexible tools for creating flow charts to visualize different processes. By using shapes and SmartArt, you can design professional flow charts.