How to Find and Use Excel's Free Flowchart Templates

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Updated December 02, 2019

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Microsoft has a large number of Excel templates available online that make it easy to quickly create a good-looking and functional worksheet for any number of purposes. However, the easiest type of template to use to create a flowchart in Excel is SmartArt.

Instructions in this article apply to Excel for Office 365, Excel 2019, Excel 2016, Excel 2013, and Excel 2010.

Group of business people looking at a flowchart on a laptop — Lifewire / Charlotte Fu

How to Make a Flowchart in Excel

There are several flowchart designs available in Excel. The key is to look in the SmartArt Process category.

Open the Excel worksheet where you want to add a flowchart.
Go to the Insert tab.
In the Illustrations group, select SmartArt to open the Choose a SmartArt Graphic dialog box.
Choose Process in the left pane.
Select the flowchart template you want to use.
Select OK. A new basic flowchart appears on the spreadsheet.

Customize the Flowchart

Once you have the basic template, make changes to it and create the flowchart you need.

To change the appearance of the SmartArt flowchart:

Select a blank area of the flowchart to activate the SmartArt Tools tabs.
To change the color, go to SmartArt Tools Design and select Change Colors.
To add text to the shapes, select a shape, type the text, then press Enter.
To add more shapes, select the shape to which you want to connect a new shape, go to SmartArt Tools Design, select the Add Shape dropdown arrow, and choose where you want to insert a new shape.

Not all Add Shape options are available for all flowcharts.
To change the layout of the flowchart, go to SmartArt Tools Design and choose a option from the Layouts group.
To change any shape in the flowchart, right-click the shape, point to Format Shape, and choose the shape you want to apply.
Save the worksheet when you are happy with the changes you've made.