How to create an org chart from Excel in Visio
The Organization Chart Wizard needs three things from your spreadsheet and does not care what the columns are called. The full desktop procedure, plus the refresh behaviour that makes org charts go stale.
Visio builds an org chart from Excel through the Organization Chart Wizard on the Windows desktop app, which needs only an employee name, a unique identifier and a reports-to value, under any column headings you like.
The short version
- Three things are required in the source: an employee name, a unique identifier, and whom each person reports to, blank for the person at the top.
- Column names are irrelevant. You identify the name and reports-to columns yourself on a mapping page in the wizard.
- File tab > New > Organization Chart > Metric Units or US Units > Create starts the wizard automatically. Windows desktop only.
- Refresh updates fields inside existing shapes: "Refreshing the data does not add or remove shapes." A joiner, a leaver or a re-org means manual moves, Compare, or a rebuild.
- Visio for the web has an Organization Chart template but cannot import Excel, and the desktop Create Diagram from Data wizard has no org-chart template at all.
Three things, under whatever headings you already use
Visio turns an Excel file into an org chart through the Organization Chart Wizard, which starts by itself when you choose the Organization Chart template in the Windows desktop app. It asks your sheet for three things, and it does not care what your columns are called: an employee name ("the way that employee names appear in this field is the way that they appear on the organization chart shapes"), a unique identifier, which "can be the Employee Name column if all names are unique", and whom each person reports to, holding "each manager's unique identifier" and left blank for the person at the top. Titles, departments and phone numbers are optional extras you can choose to display.
That tolerance is worth dwelling on, because the other Excel-to-org-chart route Microsoft published was the opposite. The retired Visio Data Visualizer add-in for Excel wanted five fixed headers (Employee ID, Name, Title, Manager ID, Role Type) and told you "don't change the names of the column headings". Microsoft announced that add-in's retirement in November 2025 and set the service shutdown for 2 March 2026, a date it confirmed in December 2025 was unchanged; older add-in support pages still describe the retirement in the future tense despite the elapsed shutdown date. /guides/how-to-use-visio-data-visualizer covers that whole tangle. The desktop wizard, by contrast, has you point at your own columns on a mapping page and get on with it.
The fact nobody writes down comes next, and it is the reason org charts go stale. Refresh does not restructure the chart. You update it with Data > External Data > Refresh All, but Microsoft's own words are that "if the shapes are linked to data, the data is updated normally when you run Refresh Data, but only inside existing shapes. Refreshing the data does not add or remove shapes." A new title lands. A joiner does not. A leaver does not disappear, and a reporting line moved from one director to another does not move the box. "If new data doesn't exactly match the data the chart was built with, you might have to move individuals manually", and Microsoft's stated remedies for a genuine reorganisation are manual moves, Compare, or rebuilding the chart.
Two platform facts before you start, because both are widely misreported. The wizard is Windows desktop only: there is no Visio desktop app for macOS, and Visio for the web cannot import Excel. But "you can't make org charts in Visio for the web" is wrong: the web ships an Organization Chart template with five stencils, and Plan 1 and Plan 2 users get a Format Org Chart pane for styling, photo uploads and employee fields. What the web cannot do is read your spreadsheet. Nor can the desktop Create Diagram from Data wizard help: it has no org-chart template, only Basic Flowchart, Cross-Functional Flowchart and Audit Diagram.
The mechanic the wizard runs on: a column that names another row
This walkthrough is a churn-risk review process rather than an org chart (QueryChart draws org charts in a separate org mode) and what it demonstrates is the mechanic the wizard depends on: a column in which each row names another row, and a structure that redraws itself when those values change.
Rows with no relationships
Three rows ("Refresh the churn-risk dataset", "Score every account against the churn-risk model" and "Is the risk score above the intervention threshold?") carry shapes and nothing else. An employee sheet with a name column and no reports-to column is in exactly this state: a list of people, and no organisation.
One column names another row
Filling in the row number each step leads to draws the whole structure, which is precisely what Reports_to does in the wizard's starter workbook. Note that "Keep the account on the watchlist" points back to row 2: a process may loop, whereas an org chart may not, because the wizard's reports-to column has to resolve to a tree.
Say which branch is which
"Is the leading driver commercial or product-related?" now labels its two exits, and so does the re-engagement check at the end. An org chart needs no branch labels, but it does need the same discipline: an identifier that resolves, on every single row, or the shape is orphaned.
Change the owner, and the box moves
The last two columns hold the phase and the owner, so "Prepare the renewal and pricing position" sits in Account manager and "Confirm the blocked feature in the usage data" sits in Product. Reassign a step and the diagram redraws around it, which is the reorganisation case that a Visio org-chart refresh will not absorb, because refreshing adds and removes nothing.
How it works
Get the three required things into your Excel file
One row per person, with a column holding the employee name, a column holding a unique identifier (which may be the name column itself if all names are unique) and a column holding whom each person reports to, containing that manager's unique identifier and left blank for the person at the top. Headings can be anything. If you would rather start from Microsoft's own layout, the wizard can generate a sample workbook whose header row is Name, Reports_to, Title, Department, Telephone; if you use it, note the instruction not to delete the Name and Reports_to columns.
Open the wizard from the Organization Chart template
On the File tab, point to New, select Organization Chart, choose Metric Units or US Units and then select Create. Choosing the template starts the wizard automatically: there is no separate command to hunt for. In Visio 2016 the template sits under File > New > Business > Organization Chart. This is a Windows desktop procedure: Microsoft's article on creating an organization chart automatically from employee data lists the perpetual Professional and Standard editions, 2016 to 2024, in its Applies To banner.
Choose your file as the source
The first page offers "Information that's already stored in a file or database" or "Information that I enter using the wizard". Take the first if you have the spreadsheet, the second if you want Visio to generate the starter workbook for you. The readable sources are a Microsoft Excel worksheet, a text file, a Microsoft Exchange Server directory and an ODBC-compliant data source; Excel formats accepted are .xls, .xlsx, .xlsm and .xlsb, along with tab-delimited, comma-delimited and Org Plus text files. Then browse to the workbook.
Point the wizard at your name and reports-to columns
This is the page that makes the column headings irrelevant: you identify which columns contain the employee name and the reports-to name yourself. Get the reports-to mapping right in particular: if you supplied a separate identifier column, the reports-to values must be manager identifiers, not manager names. Exactly one person, the one at the top, should have that field empty. The next pages let you choose which fields are displayed on the shapes, using Add and Remove and Up and Down to order them, and which fields are carried as shape data.
Decide about photographs
The wizard offers "Don't include pictures in my organization chart" or "Locate the folder that contains your organization pictures". If you point it at a folder, the naming rule is strict and unforgiving: "The pictures all need to be in a single folder, with the file name in the format 'Employee Name.FileType' – for example, Jonathan Foster.jpg (the name has to match the name in the data source exactly)." You can add them later instead from the Org Chart tab > Insert > Multiple Pictures.
Set the pagination, then finish
The final page offers "I want to specify how much of my organization to display on each page" or "I want the wizard to automatically break my organization chart across the pages". Two opt-in checkboxes go with it: "Hyperlink employee shape across the pages", which makes a manager on one page clickable through to their team on another, and "Synchronize employee shape across the pages", which keeps duplicated shapes consistent. Both are worth ticking on any chart big enough to span pages. Then select Finish and Visio draws the shapes and connectors.
Mistakes to avoid
Expecting a refresh to absorb a reorganisation
Refresh All updates data inside the shapes that already exist: "Refreshing the data does not add or remove shapes." Joiners, leavers and changed reporting lines are not applied. Microsoft's own remedies are moving individuals manually, Org Chart > Organization Data > Compare, which compares two versions of the same drawing, or rebuilding the chart from the sheet. Plan on rebuilding rather than refreshing after any real structural change.
Reports-to values that do not resolve
If you supplied a separate identifier column, the reports-to field must hold each manager's unique identifier rather than their name, and duplicate employee names without an identifier column will not survive. Two blanks in the reports-to column means two separate trees, and none means nothing at the top. Where you use Visio's generated workbook, the instruction is explicit: do not delete the Name and Reports_to columns.
Photo files named the way a person would name them
The required format is "Employee Name.FileType" (Jonathan Foster.jpg) in one folder, matching the data source exactly. J.Foster.jpg, foster_jonathan.png or a middle initial the sheet does not have will simply not attach. Also note that employee pictures and employee fields are not available in Visio in Microsoft 365, the free bundled web app.
Reaching for Data Visualizer to build an org chart
Two different features are involved and neither substitutes for the other. The desktop Create Diagram from Data wizard, covered at /guides/how-to-use-visio-data-visualizer, offers Basic Flowchart, Cross-Functional Flowchart and Audit Diagram: there is no org-chart template. Link Data to Shapes, described at /guides/how-to-import-excel-data-into-visio, binds rows to shapes but draws no connectors at all. Only the Organization Chart Wizard generates the hierarchy.
Editable organizational charts
Build a chart whose structure is data
Open the example as your own chart to see how a column that names another row keeps a diagram in step with the table behind it, then paste your own rows over it.
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
What columns does my Excel file need for a Visio org chart?
Three things, under any headings you like: an employee name, a unique identifier, and whom each person reports to. Microsoft is explicit that "it doesn't matter what the column names are in the data source, because in the wizard you manually identify which columns (or field names) contain the employee name and the reports-to name." The identifier can be the name column itself if every name is unique; otherwise add a column that does uniquely identify each person, and put those identifiers in the reports-to column. Leave the reports-to field blank for the one person at the top. Title, department and telephone are optional and can be displayed on the shapes or carried as shape data.
Can I create an org chart from Excel in Visio for the web?
No. The Organization Chart Wizard is a Windows desktop feature, data linking is desktop only, and there is no Visio desktop app for macOS: Mac users work in the browser. But it is wrong to say the web cannot do org charts at all: Visio for the web ships an Organization Chart template with five stencils, and Plan 1 and Plan 2 subscribers get a Format Org Chart pane for styling, photo uploads and employee fields. What the web cannot do is import your spreadsheet, or open a chart the desktop wizard built, because templates carrying solutions and add-ins are not editable there. On the web you draw the hierarchy by hand.
Why doesn't my Visio org chart update when someone joins or leaves?
Because refresh was never designed to restructure it. Data > External Data > Refresh All updates the data held inside shapes that already exist, and Microsoft states plainly that "refreshing the data does not add or remove shapes." A changed job title appears; a new hire does not, a leaver's box stays, and a reporting line that moved leaves the shape where it was. Microsoft adds that "if new data doesn't exactly match the data the chart was built with, you might have to move individuals manually", and offers three remedies: manual moves, Compare, or rebuilding the chart. For a quarterly re-org, rebuilding from the sheet is usually less work than reconciling the old drawing.
Is the Organization Chart Wizard the same as Data Visualizer?
No, they are unrelated mechanisms. The Organization Chart Wizard reads an employee list and generates a hierarchy from a reports-to column, and is reached from the Organization Chart template on the desktop. Data Visualizer means the Create Diagram from Data wizard and its three Plan 2 templates (Basic Flowchart, Cross-Functional Flowchart and Audit Diagram) which map a process table of step IDs and next-step IDs and support two-way sync with the workbook. There is no org-chart template among them. The separate Data Visualizer add-in for Excel could produce org charts, but Microsoft announced its retirement in November 2025 with a service shutdown set for 2 March 2026. One further confusion worth clearing: Org Explorer is not Visio: it visualises Microsoft Entra ID data inside Outlook and Teams, with no Excel file involved.