Does Microsoft Word Have a Flow Chart Template?

Published October 26, 2026 · Updated October 26, 2026 · 8 min read · by the Sakura5 team

Microsoft Word does not have a dedicated flow chart template in the way Visio does, but it gives you two built-in ways to make one: the Process layouts in SmartArt, and a full set of flowchart shapes under Insert > Shapes > Flowchart. Searching File > New for “flowchart” may also turn up a few online templates, but what you get varies by version and region, and they are usually decorative rather than practical.

So the honest answer is: yes for simple, linear processes, and “sort of” for anything with decisions and loops. SmartArt is fast but can’t branch. Shapes can branch, but you have to set them up properly or they drift around the page every time you type.

This guide covers what Word actually ships, when each option works, how to build your own reusable flow chart template in Word, a full worked example of an onboarding process, what to do when the chart outgrows a page, and the questions people ask most.

Does Microsoft Word have a flow chart template? What it actually ships

Open Word and look for anything called “Flowchart” in the template gallery and you’ll mostly come up short. Word’s flowchart tools live in two other places.

• SmartArt Process layouts. Go to Insert > SmartArt > Process and you get layouts like Basic Process, Vertical Process, Step Up Process and Basic Bending Process. You type steps into a text pane, and Word draws the boxes and arrows for you. It’s the closest thing Word has to a flowchart template.
• Flowchart shapes. Under Insert > Shapes, the Flowchart group holds the standard symbols: Process (rectangle), Decision (diamond), Terminator (rounded oval), Data (parallelogram), Document, Predefined Process, Connector and more. Combined with connector lines, these let you draw a real branching chart.

The gap between them is the whole story. SmartArt only flows in one direction. The moment your process has a yes-or-no question — “Approved?”, “In stock?” — you need a diamond with two exits, and SmartArt can’t draw that. Shapes can, but nothing about them is pre-built. If you want a template, you make it once yourself.

SmartArt or shapes: which one to use

Pick based on whether your process branches.

• Use SmartArt for a straight line of five to eight steps with no decisions: a publishing checklist, a recipe, the stages of a project. It re-spaces automatically when you add a step, and you can restyle the whole thing from SmartArt Design in one click.
• Use shapes for anything with a decision, a loop back, or two possible end states. Most real business processes fall here. A refund that gets declined, an order that’s out of stock, a form that comes back incomplete — each needs a diamond.

If you’re not sure what each symbol means, our guide to flowchart symbols and their meanings covers the shapes you’ll actually use. In practice, four do almost all the work: oval for start and end, rectangle for an action, diamond for a decision, and the arrow.

How to build your own flow chart template in Word

This takes about fifteen minutes once, and saves you the fiddly setup every time after. Start with a blank document.

1. Set up the page

Flowcharts run top to bottom, so portrait is usually fine. Go to Layout > Margins > Narrow to win back space on each side. If your processes tend to run wide, with lots of side branches, switch to Layout > Orientation > Landscape instead.

2. Insert a drawing canvas

On Word for Windows, go to Insert > Shapes > New Drawing Canvas and stretch it to fill the page. Everything you draw goes inside it. The canvas matters because connectors drawn inside it snap to the grey points on each shape and stay attached when you move a box. On Word for Mac, there’s no canvas option, so you’ll group the shapes at the end instead.

3. Draw one of each symbol

Add a Terminator for start, a Process box, a Decision diamond and a second Terminator for end. Join them with Elbow Arrow connectors from the Lines group. Hover over a shape until the grey dots appear, then drag from one dot to another. If the connector ends turn green or show solid dots, they’re attached.

4. Set the styles once

Give each symbol type its own look: terminators filled dark, process boxes outlined, decisions in a second colour. Use 11 pt text or larger. Then right-click each styled shape and choose Set as Default Shape for the most common one, so new boxes come out matching.

5. Lock the position

Right-click the canvas, choose Wrap Text > In Front of Text, then Fix Position on Page. Now typing a heading above the chart won’t shove it onto the next page.

6. Save it as a .dotx

Replace your labels with placeholders like “Step” and “Question?”, then File > Save As and choose Word Template (*.dotx). Every time you open it, Word gives you a fresh copy, so the blank original stays clean.

Get the steps right before you draw

A template solves the drawing. It does nothing for the harder part, which is knowing what the steps are. Most flowcharts that confuse people do so because they were drawn from memory, mix tiny steps with huge ones, or skip the unhappy paths.

The fix is to list everything first, somewhere with no page edges, and only then pick what goes into boxes. This is where Mindmap AI fits. Paste an existing SOP, a long email thread describing how something works, or just type the process name, and with Pro the AI builds an organized map of its parts on an infinite canvas in seconds. Tap a node to expand it into sub-steps, or ask the AI to explain one you’re unsure about. Then switch to the outline view: the collapsible, ordered list is close to your flowchart in text form, and it’s far easier to reorder than boxes on a Word page.

For the full method — boundaries, verb-first labels, finding the decisions — see our guide on how to make a flowchart for a process.

A worked example: a new-hire IT setup flowchart

Say Dana runs operations at a 40-person design agency. New hires keep arriving on Monday with no laptop ready, and the IT contractor wants a one-page flowchart in Word showing who does what.

Step 1: List everything (about 10 minutes)

Dana pastes the agency’s rambling onboarding email into Mindmap AI. The map comes back with branches for hardware, accounts, software licences, security and first-day setup. Expanding “accounts” adds email, the design tool licence, the shared drive and the password manager. The canvas holds about 30 nodes, several of which turn out to be the same step said twice.

Step 2: Cut to boxes at one altitude

In the outline view, Dana merges duplicates and rewrites everything verb-first: “Order laptop”, “Create email account”, “Assign design licence”. That leaves 10 actions, which is comfortable for one portrait page.

Step 3: Find the decisions

Ordering the steps exposes three questions: “Spare laptop in stock?”, “Designer role?” (only designers need the paid licence) and “Start date under 5 working days away?” That last one is the real problem. A new laptop takes about a week to arrive, so a short-notice hire needs the spare-stock branch every time.

Step 4: Fill the template (about 15 minutes)

Dana opens the .dotx and fills in 2 terminators, 10 process boxes and 3 diamonds. The “Spare laptop in stock? No” branch runs right to “Order laptop, lend loaner” and rejoins the main flow. Because the connectors sit inside the drawing canvas, nudging the crowded right-hand column doesn’t break a single arrow.

Step 5: Walk it with one real case

Dana traces last month’s hire through the chart and finds a missing step: nobody added the new person to the shared drive group. One more box, 11 in total. The chart now fits on a page, and the IT contractor can see where each Monday surprise came from.

When the chart outgrows Word

Word handles roughly 15 to 20 shapes on a page before text gets too small to read. Past that, you have three options.

• Split it with off-page connectors. The small pentagon in the Flowchart group marks “continued on page 2”. Give each sub-process its own page and label the connector with a letter.
• Collapse a sub-process into one box. The Predefined Process symbol (a rectangle with double side lines) means “this step has its own chart”. Use it for anything with more than four internal steps.
• Move to a dedicated tool. If you’re drawing swimlanes for five departments, Visio or a diagramming app will save you hours. Word is for charts that live inside a document.

The American Society for Quality has a short reference on when and how to use flowcharts, including the less common symbols, if your process needs more than the basic four.

FAQ

Does Microsoft Word have a flow chart template?

Not a dedicated one like Visio’s Basic Flowchart. Word offers SmartArt Process layouts, which work as a template for straight-line processes, and a Flowchart group under Insert > Shapes for branching charts. Searching File > New for “flowchart” may show a few online templates, depending on your version and region.

Can SmartArt make a flowchart with decisions?

No. SmartArt Process layouts only flow in one direction, so they can’t show a decision diamond with yes and no branches. You can convert SmartArt to shapes and edit from there, but for any process with a branch it’s quicker to build from the Flowchart shapes inside a drawing canvas.

How do I stop flowchart arrows coming loose in Word?

Draw everything inside a drawing canvas (Insert > Shapes > New Drawing Canvas on Windows) and use connector lines rather than plain arrows. Drag each end onto the grey points that appear on a shape. Attached connectors follow the box when you move it; loose lines stay where they were.

Is Word or PowerPoint better for flowcharts?

PowerPoint is easier for drawing, because shapes don’t interact with flowing text and the slide is a fixed canvas. Word is better when the flowchart has to sit inside a document, like a policy or procedure manual. Both use the same Flowchart shapes and SmartArt layouts, so a chart built in one copies into the other.

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