Getting Work Ducks In Their Different Rows
September 30, 2024 11:49 AM Subscribe
I have been asked to assist with an overhaul of the org chart at work. What's a good FREE online org chart maker that is a) easy to use and b) doesn't look like a smacked ass?
I tried using Word Smart Art but that looked terrible. I've tried about three or four "make your org chart online" services, but have run into the following problems:
1. They only had templates that I could fill in, but there wasn't a way to edit the appearance of the templates.
2. They said that they were free, but when I went to save or download the chart I got hit with a pitch to sign up for a paid subscription to the service.
3. They looked butt-ugly.
OrgChart (from Dropbox) was almost an IDEAL experience - I started with the CEO, and then I simply had to click a button underneath her to add a new delegate. As I added more delegates to each person the boxes automatically rearranged themselves efficiently. And then when I went to download it I got hit with the "sign up for a trial at $40 for 7 days" thing.
Help?
I tried using Word Smart Art but that looked terrible. I've tried about three or four "make your org chart online" services, but have run into the following problems:
1. They only had templates that I could fill in, but there wasn't a way to edit the appearance of the templates.
2. They said that they were free, but when I went to save or download the chart I got hit with a pitch to sign up for a paid subscription to the service.
3. They looked butt-ugly.
OrgChart (from Dropbox) was almost an IDEAL experience - I started with the CEO, and then I simply had to click a button underneath her to add a new delegate. As I added more delegates to each person the boxes automatically rearranged themselves efficiently. And then when I went to download it I got hit with the "sign up for a trial at $40 for 7 days" thing.
Help?
PowerPoint has a better built-in org chart maker than Word
posted by Jon_Evil at 11:58 AM on September 30 [7 favorites]
posted by Jon_Evil at 11:58 AM on September 30 [7 favorites]
Response by poster: OH MY GOD LUCID CHART LOOKS PERFECT
Especially the fact that it can let me UPLOAD data from a spreadsheet, that is my DREAM right now!
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:12 PM on September 30 [1 favorite]
Especially the fact that it can let me UPLOAD data from a spreadsheet, that is my DREAM right now!
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:12 PM on September 30 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Oh god DAMMIT the uploading data is only for paid users AAAAAAUGH
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:17 PM on September 30
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:17 PM on September 30
I've used Airtable a few times to create business-type things on the free level and it is shockingly easy. Looks like it can do org charts, but I've never tried it.
posted by erst at 12:27 PM on September 30
posted by erst at 12:27 PM on September 30
I've just started using Draw.io for this kind of thing. It's browser-based, free, and pretty easy to use. It integrates with Google Workspace which is handy if your org is on that.
posted by hovey at 12:36 PM on September 30 [4 favorites]
posted by hovey at 12:36 PM on September 30 [4 favorites]
If you have an M365 license through work, you have access to Visio with viewing and basic editing capabilities. It's pretty limited, but it may do what you want. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/visio/microsoft-visio-plans-and-pricing-compare-visio-options
posted by Apoch at 1:14 PM on September 30 [1 favorite]
posted by Apoch at 1:14 PM on September 30 [1 favorite]
Lucid Chart used to do a month-to-month deal. Can you get your boss to pay for one month?
Draw.io does get good reviews, too, though I have not used it myself.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:16 PM on September 30
Draw.io does get good reviews, too, though I have not used it myself.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:16 PM on September 30
GitMind might work? I only use it as a glorified to-do list, but it can do a lot more, including make org charts (and the AI features are easily ignored, if that's important to you).
posted by yaj at 1:18 PM on September 30
posted by yaj at 1:18 PM on September 30
I just took a peek at Canva and it has at least 100 org chart templates available at the free account level.
posted by oxisos at 2:21 PM on September 30
posted by oxisos at 2:21 PM on September 30
another happy user of Draw.io. FWIW despite my work providing me with a Visio licence, I still use Draw.io
posted by Dr. Twist at 3:13 PM on September 30 [1 favorite]
posted by Dr. Twist at 3:13 PM on September 30 [1 favorite]
Visio does this well, with lots of space to create exactly what you want, albeit it can suck up a lot of time. I've used Lucid Chart several times and found it to be the 'best of the worst' because I've never found anything to actually be great. Yes, functions like data uploading are paid only, but I found I could do all I needed without paying.
posted by dg at 5:14 PM on September 30
posted by dg at 5:14 PM on September 30
Response by poster: To redirect and expand a bit:
I just took a peek at Canva and it has at least 100 org chart templates available at the free account level.
The problem I've had with Canva is that it's difficult to edit the appearance of those templates, especially when you add a new branch somewhere - you have to reshuffle and re-organize the placement for everything else. Also, a lot of those templates have set sizing on the boxes, and so if I wanted to (for instance) make a box smaller to create more room, it's not possible to do that.
I'm trying to work with Airtable now - it's got the general gist of what I want (I upload the data in a spreadsheet and it takes that information and spits out a chart), but it doesn't seem to want to let me enter the "X reports to Y" information without entering Y's email address and I don't know why.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:52 AM on October 1
I just took a peek at Canva and it has at least 100 org chart templates available at the free account level.
The problem I've had with Canva is that it's difficult to edit the appearance of those templates, especially when you add a new branch somewhere - you have to reshuffle and re-organize the placement for everything else. Also, a lot of those templates have set sizing on the boxes, and so if I wanted to (for instance) make a box smaller to create more room, it's not possible to do that.
I'm trying to work with Airtable now - it's got the general gist of what I want (I upload the data in a spreadsheet and it takes that information and spits out a chart), but it doesn't seem to want to let me enter the "X reports to Y" information without entering Y's email address and I don't know why.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:52 AM on October 1
Response by poster: Coming in with an answer - apparently, the trick is to use the SmartArt feature in Excel instead of Word. It had the exact kind of functionality I was looking for, where I could just type names into a text panel and click a few things and it would take care of arranging them in the most efficient way. Who knew?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:26 PM on October 2
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:26 PM on October 2
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posted by ourobouros at 11:55 AM on September 30 [5 favorites]