Note to the Audience: The intended audience for these instructions is any individual using
Visio to create an organization chart for the first time. Users should be familiar using a
PC with Microsoft Office applications, as well as have good written and verbal
communication.
How to an Organization Chart Using Microsoft Visio 2003
Most companies create organization charts to show the separation of duties and
responsibilities in a department, or the company in its entirety. The individuals who
usually create the organization charts are either upper- or middle-level executives or their
assistants. However, anyone with basic computer skills, the ability to follow directions,
and access to Visio 2003 can create a professional-looking organization chart. After
reading these instructions, you will know (1) why to use Visio to create organization
charts; (2) how to design your own organization chart; (3) how to add depth and
emphasis to your design; and (4) how you can increase your Visio skills with some
helpful hints for editing organization charts.
Why Use Microsoft Office Visio 2003?
Visio is a program that allows you to create more visually descriptive diagrams with the
ease of its many tools and templates. A few of the many types of diagrams that can be
created with Visio are building plans, business processes, street maps, flowcharts, web
diagrams, network diagrams, graphs and charts, and of course organization charts.
Create Your Own Organization Chart
The basic tasks for creating an organization chart include starting Visio, selecting the
chart type, adding and moving shapes, and deleting shapes.
Start an organization chart. To create a simple organization chart:
1. Open Visio by clicking the Start menu, select Programs, then Visio.
2. From category list, select Organization Chart.
3. From the two options, choose the first one (not the Wizard option). A blank page
appears.
4. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the toolbar. To the far left of the
screen you will see the organization chart shapes stencil that you will be using.
There are six types of positions that can be used in the organization chart with
various sizes and outlines. Depending on the size and structure of your company
you may or may not use all six types. You will also see some other shapes that
can be used to (a) label groups of employees; (b) insert the company name or
date; and (3) add multiple employees at one time. However, these functions are
not essential in creating a basic org chart, so they will not be discussed any further
in this document.
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Add shapes to the organization chart. Follow these steps to add the organization chart
shapes to the blank document:
1. Hold the cursor over the Executive shape.
2. Left-click and drag the shape onto the drawing page. You’ll see inside the shape it
reads Name and Title.
3. Double-click the shape. The text box opens to allow you to type in the employee’s
name, along with that employee’s title.
4. Once you’ve typed the name and title, click outside the box onto the drawing page
to close the text box.
5. Now you want to fill in the employees who report to this executive. Left-click the
Manager shape, drag it over to the drawing page, but place it right on top of the
Executive shape. When you drop the shape, it automatically makes it subordinate
to the Executive shape, as shown below.
Name
Title
Name
Title
Figure 1.
Note: Any time you place a shape directly on top of another shape, Visio assumes
that you want the second shape to be subordinate to the first. You may not always like
the way Visio auto-formats your shapes, but luckily adjusting their position is easy.
Move shapes on the drawing page. Moving the organization shapes on the drawing
page is very simple. You can use the keyboard arrows or the mouse. If you need to move
a shape only a small distance sometimes its easier to use the arrows because you don’t
have to worry about losing the alignment of the shapes. To move a shape by using the
keyboard arrows:
1. Left-click the shape to select it.
2. Use the up, down, left, right arrow keys to move the shape anywhere you’d like it.
If you choose to use the mouse start with step 1 above, then drag it to the place you want
it.
Note: By default, when using the organization chart properties, Visio glues the shapes
together using a shape-to-point connection. What this means is that the shapes stay
connected at the same exact points as when they were first added to the drawing page, no
matter how much you move the shapes around. So as long as you keep the connector the
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same, you will have no problems moving your shapes. Click the blue line connecting the
shapes to see which type of connection is used. Table 1 explains this in more detail.
Table 1
Point-to-point connection
The connector stays glued to its specific
connection point on each shape when you
reposition the shapes.
Use this when it's important that a
connector stay attached to a specific place
on a shape.
Shape-to-shape connection
The connector adjusts to take the most
direct path between shapes, not by a
specific connection point.
Use this when the exact location of
connection on a shape doesn’t matter.
The small red
boxes show it’s
a point-topoint
connection.
The large red
boxes show what
a shape-to-shape
connection looks
like.
Source: “Connect 2 Shapes Together,” Microsoft Office Online. 2006 Microsoft
Corporation. http://office.microsoft.com/training/Training.aspx. (23 Mar. 2006).
Understanding the differences between these two connection types will help you once
you become more advanced with Visio; however, as mentioned earlier Visio 2003 is very
smart and will probably auto-format your organization chart by default.
Delete shapes from the drawing page. Deleting shapes is also very simple, and again
there is more than one way to do it. Choose any one of these:





Right-click the shape, and choose Cut from the menu.
Left-click the shape, and press the Delete button on the toolbar.
Left-click the shape ,and press the Delete button on the keyboard.
If deleting more than one shape at a time, you can left-click and drag to form a
square around the shapes you want to delete. When you let go, the shapes are
highlighted in hot pink, and you can press Delete either on the toolbar or
keyboard.
Left-click the shape, and choose Clear from the Edit menu.
Add Depth and Emphasis to Your Organization Chart
Visio provides many tools to make your organization chart stand out and look more
professional. For example, you can give your chart a background, add divider lines, apply
color and shading to the shapes, which all emphasize the shapes that create your
organization chart.
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Add a background. A basic organization chart can look a bit plain and boring. If you
are planning to present the chart in a meeting or make it part of a document, you might
want to spice it up a little. Adding a background can definitely do this, but be careful that
you don’t choose something too distracting. Otherwise, people will not pay attention to
the information you are presenting; instead they’ll focus on why you chose such an ugly
background.
Note: For the least amount of hassle, don’t add your background until you’ve completed
your organization chart design.
To add a background:
1. In the Shapes menu, toward the far left of the screen, select the Backgrounds tab.
2. Select a background from the list, and drag and drop it onto the drawing page.
Note: You’ll notice that when the background is added to the page, the grid lines are
all removed. This is why I suggested that you wait until the chart is finished to add
the background. However, it is removable.
Remove a background. If you did not pay attention to the earlier note, or you’ve just
decided you no longer want the background, here’s what you do:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
From the File menu, choose Page Setup.
Select the Page Properties tab.
For the Type option, choose the Background radio button.
In the Background field, click the drop-down menu, and choose None.
Then click OK.
Right-click the VBackground tab on the bottom of the page, and choose Delete
Page.
Add a divider line. Depending on your preference, you may want to add a divider line to
your shapes. Here’s a couple ways of doing this:


Right-click the shape, and choose Show Divider Line or
Left-click the shape. From the Shape menu scroll down to Actions, then choose
Show Divider Line.
Note: To remove the divider line, you follow the same process, but instead the option
will read Hide Divider Line.
Add or changle shading to a shape. The only shapes that default with shading are the
Executive and the Manager. However, you can add as much or as little shading as you
like to all the shapes in your organization chart. Just follow these steps:
1. ChooseSelect the shape; then from the Format menu, chooseShadow.
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2. From this point you can adjust the style, color, and pattern for the shading, as well
as its width.
Note: If you want your shapes to have color, follow the same steps as above, but
under the Format menu, choose Fill. By experimenting with the patterns and colors,
you can create some very eye-catching shapes, like Figure 2 below.
Kerri Lugo
VP of Marketing
Jane Doe
Marketing Manager
Figure 2
Edit Your Organization Chart with Ease
As mentioned earlier, sometimes Visio will not format your shapes how you want them,
or after new promotions you may need to make some adjustments to your organization
chart. The rest of these instructions guide you through some of the most helpful hints
that can save you a lot of time and headaches and make your editing process a breeze.
Move multiple shapes at once. To move all the shapes over to make room to add some
new positions:
1. Left-click and drag until you create a square/rectangle around all the shapes you
want to move.
2. Let go and notice how they’ve been highlighted in hot pink.
3. Use the keyboard arrows to move the shapes.
Change layout of organization chart. The default layout for Visio 2003 aligns the
shapes horizontally. Unfortunately, if you have many shapes to add here, they may start
to overlap, which you don’t want to happen because they’ll cover up one another. Visio
offers different layouts that align shapes to the left, right, staggered, and many other ways
that allow more shapes to fit on one page. Here’s how you do it:
1. Choose the shapes you want to be re-arranged. On the top of the toolbar, you’ll
see the layout icons. There is the horizontal, vertical, side by side layout, and the
re-layout icon.
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Note: If you’re not changing all the shapes, make sure you choose a superior
shape. The layout is changed according to the superior shape and arranges its
subordinates by the option you select.
2. Choose one of the four layout icons, and then choose one of its options. For
example, if you have three Manager positions subordinate to the Executive
position and you want them to have a vertical layout (aligned to the left), you
would follow these steps:
a. Choose the Executive shape
b. Choose the Vertical Layout icon
c. Choose the Align Left option
Kerri Lugo
VP of Operations
Jane Doe
Marketing Manger
John Doe
Sales Manager
Dave Smith
Promotions
Manager
Figure 3.
Change position type. If you made a mistake or have to change an employee’s position
type, do the following:
1. Right-click the shape.
2. Select Change Position Type.
3. Select what position you want to change it to.
4. Press OK.
Now that you’ve learned the basics, you can start to create your own organization
charts. As you become more familiar with the application, you will you learn more
tricks and advances functions, but for a beginner these instructions will get you off to
a good start.
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