Excel to Flowchart: Sample Spreadsheet and Editable Process Map

The CSV that produces this diagram

One row per step. The numbers in Line to are row numbers — that is what draws the connectors, and it is the column most files are missing.

#,Shape,Box text,Line to,Line text,Horizontal lane,Vertical lane
1,Start,Raise a travel request with dates and purpose,2,,Request,Employee
2,Process,Estimate the total trip cost,3,,Request,Employee
3,Decision,Trip within the travel policy?,"5, 4","In policy, Out of policy",Request,Travel desk
4,Process,Document a policy exception with justification,5,,Request,Employee
5,Decision,Line manager approves the trip?,"6, 7","Approved, Refused",Approval,Line manager
6,Decision,Total cost over the approval threshold?,"8, 9","Over threshold, Within threshold",Approval,Line manager
7,Reject,Travel request refused,,,Approval,Employee
8,Decision,Finance approves the escalated cost?,"9, 2, 7","Approved, Cheaper option only, Refused",Approval,Finance
9,Process,Book flights and accommodation,10,,Booking,Travel desk
10,Document,Issue the itinerary and booking references,11,,Booking,Travel desk
11,Decision,Plans changed before departure?,"13, 6, 12","No change, New dates, Trip cancelled",Trip,Employee
12,Reject,Trip cancelled and bookings released,,,Trip,Travel desk
13,Process,Travel and keep every receipt,14,,Trip,Employee
14,Input,Submit the expense claim with receipts,15,,Expenses,Employee
15,Decision,Receipts complete and within policy?,"16, 14","Complete, Missing or unclear",Expenses,Finance
16,Success,Expenses reimbursed in the next payroll run,,,Expenses,Finance

The diagram those rows produce

Rendered from the rows above, unchanged. Edit a cell and the diagram follows; move a box and the rows follow.

Choose the next step

• Prepare your Excel columns
• Edit the travel-request example
• Explore a budget-approval process map
• Map an existing Data Visualizer workbook

How it works

1. Structure your Excel spreadsheet

   Use one row per step. Give each row a Shape and Box text, put destination row numbers in Line to, and add Vertical lane for the owner. Model approvals as decision rows with labelled outcomes.

2. Paste or upload the spreadsheet into QueryChart

   QueryChart parses the rows and columns deterministically: the same input produces the same diagram every time. No AI guessing, no .xlsx-to-.vsdx round-trip.

3. Review the generated process map

   QueryChart renders the spreadsheet as a swimlane process map with owners assigned and approval gates marked. Edit either side; both stay in sync.

4. Submit for approval and publish

   Route the process map through the approval workflow. Approvers leave comments, approve or reject, and the published version is checkpointed with author, timestamp, and an immutable audit trail.

Drawing quantities instead of steps?

Converting a spreadsheet of quantities rather than steps? A Sankey diagram draws source, target and amount rows as flows.

• Sankey chart from Excel data
• Sankey diagram vs flowchart

Frequently asked questions

How do I make a flowchart from an Excel spreadsheet?

Use one row per step with Shape, Box text and Line to columns. Add Vertical lane for owners and Line text for decision outcomes. Import the prepared file into QueryChart, then check the drawn connections against the source sheet.

Is the Excel-to-flowchart conversion deterministic or AI-generated?

Deterministic. The same spreadsheet always produces the same diagram — no AI inference, no hallucinated steps. That deterministic property is what makes the output suitable for compliance and audit use.

How is QueryChart different from Visio Data Visualizer?

QueryChart is the web-native, license-free alternative — Excel and Google Sheets in, audit-ready process maps out, with native approval workflow and an immutable audit trail. No Visio Plan 2, no Microsoft 365 dependency, first-class macOS support.

How is QueryChart different from Lucidchart?

Lucidchart is built for diagrams; QueryChart is built for governance. Every QueryChart process map carries approval workflow, version history, and audit trail as first-class primitives.

How is QueryChart different from Draw.io?

Draw.io is free and ungoverned. QueryChart adds the things compliance and audit teams actually need: spreadsheet-native ingestion, approval workflow, version control, and an immutable audit trail.

How is QueryChart different from Mermaid?

Mermaid is the text-to-diagram tool of choice for engineers. QueryChart is the spreadsheet-to-process-map tool for operations, compliance, and ERP teams — collaborative, governed, web-native, and free of any DSL.

How is QueryChart different from process mining tools?

Process mining tells you what actually happened by reading event logs. QueryChart documents what should happen, with approvals — the controlled to-be process map, not the discovered as-is.