How to create an org chart in Word and display it in SharePoint

If you only need a small, manually maintained organisation chart, the old Word idea is still useful: create the chart with SmartArt, save the .docx file in SharePoint, and display it on a modern page with the File and Media web part.

But Word is not the best answer to every org-chart problem.

Use SharePoint's Organization chart web part when you want a live view of the reporting hierarchy held in Microsoft 365. Use the People web part when the page simply needs a curated “meet the team” section. Move to Visio or a third-party product when you need richer diagrams, matrix reporting, directory search or data from somewhere other than the standard Microsoft 365 profile.

This guide shows the updated Word method first, then helps you choose the right alternative without pretending they all do the same job.

Choose the right SharePoint org-chart method

Method	Where the chart comes from	Best for	Main limitation
Word SmartArt + File and Media	A Word document maintained by a named owner	A small or stable chart where you need full control over wording and layout	Every change is manual; a wide diagram can be hard to read on a phone
SharePoint Organization chart web part	Microsoft 365 people and reporting information	A straightforward reporting hierarchy that should follow managed profile data	Limited design controls; external users cannot be added; it is a poor fit for matrix structures
SharePoint People web part	Profiles selected by the page author	A “meet the team” panel with contact cards	It is a manually curated list, not a reporting hierarchy
PowerPoint SmartArt + File and Media	A PowerPoint presentation maintained by an owner	Branded, presentation-style charts or one chart per slide	Manual maintenance and the same small-screen problem as Word
Visio	A manual diagram, or data with the appropriate Visio plan	Larger or more complex diagrams that need proper connectors and layouts	Org-chart capability varies materially between Visio in Microsoft 365, Plan 1 and Plan 2
Third-party or custom directory	Microsoft Entra ID, an HR system or another governed source	Matrix reporting, search, filters, custom fields or multiple organisational views	Adds cost, permissions, supplier dependency and another product to govern

The important question is not “Which diagram looks nicest?” It is “Who owns the reporting data, how often does it change, and what must an employee be able to do with the chart?”

Method 1: Create the org chart in Word

Microsoft still documents SmartArt as a supported way to create an organisation chart in Word. It works well when one person can own a modest chart and update it when reporting lines change.

Before you start

You need:

• Word with SmartArt;
• permission to upload or create a document in the chosen SharePoint library; and
• permission to edit and republish the SharePoint page.

Choose the library deliberately. Anyone expected to see the embedded chart also needs access to its source document. Do not put a company-wide chart in a restricted working library and assume the page will bypass the file permissions.

Also decide what the chart is allowed to reveal. A reporting line, job title or photograph may be ordinary internal information in one organisation and sensitive in another.

Step 1: Insert the SmartArt hierarchy

1. Open a blank Word document.
2. If the chart will be wider than it is tall, switch the page to Layout > Orientation > Landscape.
3. Select Insert > SmartArt.
4. In the SmartArt gallery, choose Hierarchy.
5. Select Organization Chart or another layout that genuinely fits the structure, then select OK.

Do not start with photographs, colours and connector styles. Get the reporting relationships right first.

Step 2: Add people and reporting levels

Use the SmartArt text pane for the quickest first pass:

1. Open the text pane from the control on the edge of the SmartArt graphic.
2. Enter each person's name and, if useful, their role.
3. Press Enter to add another item.
4. Use the hierarchy controls in the SmartArt design tools to promote or demote an item.

You can also select a box and use SmartArt Design > Add Shape. Microsoft's current instructions document these options:

• Add Shape After or Before for a peer;
• Add Shape Below for a direct report;
• Add Shape Above for a manager; and
• Add Assistant for an assistant relationship in an organisation-chart layout.

SmartArt can show a dotted-line relationship, but a growing collection of solid and dotted connectors is usually a warning that a static Word diagram is no longer the right tool.

Step 3: Make the document usable

Keep the chart readable at normal zoom. If fifty names only fit by making every box tiny, split the structure into an overview and departmental charts.

Add a visible last reviewed date and the name or mailbox of the chart owner. That tells employees whether the diagram is current and where to report an error.

Do not make the SmartArt graphic the only way to understand the structure. Add a short text list or table of the key reporting relationships, and run Word's Accessibility Assistant or Accessibility Checker before publishing.

Step 4: Save the Word file in SharePoint

Save the finished file as .docx in a SharePoint document library whose permissions match the audience for the page.

Use a clear filename such as Organisation-chart.docx. Turn on the library's normal versioning and approval controls if the chart is treated as an official corporate record.

Avoid renaming the file after it has been selected by a web part unless you are prepared to check and repair the page connection.

Step 5: Display it on a modern SharePoint page

Microsoft's current File and Media web-part guidance says that Word, PowerPoint and Visio files can be inserted on a page.

1. Open the SharePoint page and select Edit.
2. Open the page toolbox and choose See all web parts.
3. Select the file-viewing web part. Microsoft currently calls the feature File and Media, while parts of its own instructions still use File viewer; use the label shown in your tenant.
4. Choose the Word file from the site, a recent file, an upload or a link.
5. Add a short description if the chart needs context.
6. Select Publish or Republish.

Test the published page with an ordinary member account, not only with the site owner account. That catches the common mistake where the editor can see the document but the intended audience cannot.

Test it at a narrow browser width too. An embedded landscape document may be technically available on a phone while still being unpleasant to read.

What happened to the old “save Word as HTML” method?

Older SharePoint instructions sometimes told authors to save the Word document as a web page, upload the exported HTML and supporting files, then link to that output.

That advice belongs to an earlier SharePoint publishing model. It creates a bundle of generated files, awkward relative links and no clear content owner. A modern SharePoint page plus the supported File and Media web part is the cleaner route for a Word document.

Keep the useful part of the original idea—SmartArt is quick and familiar—but stop treating Word's HTML export as a SharePoint page template.

Method 2: Use SharePoint's Organization chart web part

If your organisation maintains reliable manager relationships in Microsoft 365, the native web part avoids drawing and redrawing boxes in a document.

Microsoft's current Organization chart web-part instructions are short:

1. Edit the modern SharePoint page.
2. From the toolbox, add Organization chart.
3. Enter the name or email address of the person around whom the chart should be centred.
4. Open the web-part properties and choose the number of reporting levels up to display.
5. Republish the page.

Visitors can select or hover over a person to view profile information and contact options.

There are two important limits. The web part is built around a people hierarchy rather than a free-form canvas, and Microsoft says external users cannot be added. If one employee has several functional managers, or the page must show project squads as well as formal reporting lines, do not force that model into a single-manager tree.

Why the native org chart is blank or wrong

Work through the data before rebuilding the page:

1. Check the selected person. Edit the web part and confirm that the intended person can be found by name or email address.
2. Check the upstream profile. Microsoft's people-data documentation lists job title and manager among the HR attributes commonly sourced from Microsoft Entra ID into Microsoft 365 profiles.
3. Check the manager relationship. Microsoft's Org Explorer guidance says an org chart cannot be shown there when manager relationship data is absent from Entra ID. A missing manager link should be corrected by the identity or HR data owner, not disguised with boxes drawn on the page.
4. Allow for profile synchronisation. SharePoint imports profile attributes through its User Profile Application process. Microsoft says the process runs at regular intervals and synchronisation time varies with workloads and batch size. It does not promise a fixed 24-, 48- or 72-hour window.
5. Remember the external-user limit. If the person is an external user, the standard Organization chart web part is not a supported route.

Record the exact person and field that are wrong when escalating the issue. “The org chart is broken” gives the identity team very little to investigate.

Method 3: Use the People web part for a team page

Sometimes the request is not really for an org chart. The page owner wants a row of useful contacts: the leadership team, service owners, project contacts or people who can approve a request.

The People web part is better for that job.

Add the web part, search for each person and select the profiles to show. Microsoft documents small, medium and large card layouts, and the medium layout can include an optional tagline and profile link.

This is a curated set of cards. The author chooses and orders the people, so the page owner must update it when responsibilities change. Do not describe it as an automatic organisational hierarchy.

Method 4: Use PowerPoint for a designed static chart

PowerPoint uses the same Insert > SmartArt > Hierarchy route as Word, but its slide canvas can be easier when exact visual placement matters.

Use it when communications or HR already maintains a presentation and the SharePoint page should display one or more polished slides. Store the .pptx file in SharePoint and select it with the File and Media web part.

The trade-off is still manual ownership. A beautifully arranged slide can be confidently wrong. Put the owner and review date on the slide, and split a dense company chart into an overview plus readable department slides.

Method 5: Use Visio with the correct licence boundary

Visio becomes useful when connectors, layout control and a larger diagramming canvas matter.

Do not buy or promise it on the assumption that every Visio entitlement has the same org-chart features. Microsoft's current Visio feature comparison draws these boundaries:

• Visio in Microsoft 365 is a lightweight web app included with Microsoft 365 commercial subscriptions. Organisation charts are only partially supported; Microsoft specifically notes that pictures and employee fields are unavailable.
• Visio Plan 1 adds richer web-based org-chart templates, shapes and formatting, including pictures and employee fields.
• Visio Plan 2 adds the desktop app and the data features used to generate org charts from sources such as Excel, Exchange or Microsoft Entra ID and to link shapes to data.

Check the products actually assigned to the person who will create and maintain the chart. “We have Microsoft 365” is not enough evidence that the required Visio feature is licensed.

Microsoft also provides a current Visio organisation-chart procedure covering both manual web diagrams and the richer data-driven desktop route.

When a third-party or custom org chart adds value

The native SharePoint web parts cover a formal manager hierarchy and curated profile cards. That may be all you need.

Evaluate a third-party or custom product when the accepted requirements include several of these:

• dotted-line or matrix reporting with more than one manager;
• searching and filtering a directory by location, skill, role or business unit;
• data mastered in an HR system rather than the standard Microsoft 365 profile;
• several views of the organisation for different audiences;
• richer branding, printing or export;
• delegation to HR without giving broad SharePoint page-editing rights; or
• a combined employee directory and org-chart experience.

Before approving a product, ask:

1. Which system is the source of truth?
2. Which Microsoft Graph or SharePoint permissions does the app request?
3. Where is copied or cached employee data stored, and for how long?
4. How quickly do joiners, movers and leavers appear?
5. How does it handle guests, contractors, hidden profiles and regional privacy rules?
6. Is the chart usable with a keyboard, screen reader, zoom and a small screen?
7. What remains available if you stop paying the supplier?

A marketplace listing proves that an app can be acquired. It does not prove that the app fits your data model, privacy position or support model.

Where Copilot fits

Copilot can help an authorised user turn a verified roster into an outline or tidy the wording of roles. That can save some typing.

It is not the system of record, and the official SmartArt and SharePoint web-part procedures do not replace their setup with a “generate my org chart” button. Do not publish an AI-generated diagram or list of reporting relationships until the named data owner has checked every person, title and manager.

For a live Microsoft 365 hierarchy, fix the profile data and use the native web part. For a manual chart, use Copilot—if it is available and permitted—as a drafting aid only.

A sensible publishing checklist

Before the page goes live, confirm:

• the chart has a named business owner;
• every person and reporting line has been checked;
• the page and source file have the intended audience permissions;
• contractors, guests and sensitive roles are handled deliberately;
• there is a readable alternative to a dense visual diagram;
• the page works at high zoom and on a small screen;
• the review date is visible; and
• there is a clear route for employees to report an error.

The best org chart is not the one with the most polished boxes. It is the one employees can trust next month.

Frequently asked questions

Does Word SmartArt still work for a SharePoint org chart?

Yes. Create the hierarchy in Word, save the .docx file in a SharePoint library and insert it on a modern page with the File and Media web part. It remains a manually maintained document, not an automatic view of HR or Entra data.

Should I use Word or the native SharePoint Organization chart web part?

Use Word when a named owner needs complete manual control over a small, fairly stable chart. Use the Organization chart web part when the page should reflect the formal people hierarchy maintained in Microsoft 365.

Why is a person missing from the SharePoint org chart?

Confirm that the selected person can be found, then ask the identity or HR data owner to check the person's Microsoft 365 profile and manager relationship. Microsoft says SharePoint profile synchronisation runs on a schedule and timing varies; external users cannot be added to the standard web part.

Is Visio included with Microsoft 365?

Microsoft's current comparison says the lightweight Visio in Microsoft 365 web app is included with commercial subscriptions, but its organisation-chart support is partial. Plan 1 adds richer org-chart formatting, while Plan 2 is required for generating charts from data sources such as Excel, Exchange or Entra ID. Check the licence actually assigned in your tenant.

Can Copilot create and maintain the SharePoint org chart?

Do not treat Copilot as the source of reporting truth. It may help draft an outline from verified information, but the supported SharePoint route still depends on the native web part and profile data, or on a manually maintained document. A human data owner must verify the result.

Keep your SharePoint decisions current

If you look after SharePoint pages, permissions, intranet content or Microsoft 365 people data, join the SharePoint & Teams Admins Space. It is where we keep the practical guidance current as Microsoft changes the platform.

Official Microsoft sources

• Use the Organization chart web part
• Create an organization chart in Office using SmartArt
• Use the File and Media web part
• Show profiles with the People web part
• SharePoint user profile synchronisation
• People data sources in Microsoft 365
• Compare Visio versions and features
• Create an organization chart in Visio
• Introducing Org Explorer