Build Org Charts and Mind Maps Automatically from Data

You can now import a CSV file from Excel^® or other sources to automatically build an organization chart or mind map with SmartDraw online. Visualizing data has never been easier.

How to Import Data to Make an Org Chart

To build an org chart automatically, simply open the blank org chart template and select the "Import from File" button in the SmartPanel. It's that simple. A simple indented list of names and positions in your organization will turn into a perfectly formatted organizational chart.

You can edit and dress up the chart like any other once it's been imported. You can reorganize teams and departments, change titles, remove or add employees - all quick and easy with simple drag and drop.

Showing Reporting Relationships in the Data

Reporting relationships can be shown using a simple indented format. You can also define reporting relationships by putting the name of an employee's manager in the column preceding the employee's.

Additional Data Fields

You can have as many columns of data for each employee as you wish. In addition to name, an employee can have a title, phone number, email address, and more. Each field creates a new row in the shape in SmartDraw.

Column data can also be surrounded by quotes like this: "Paula Dahlberg","Creative Director". This allows you to put commas in the data for each column.

Note that any column headings are ignored during the import.

Exporting Data

You can export data from a SmartDraw organization chart too. Just click the "Export as Text File" button in the SmartPanel. The exported data is comma delimited and uses indentation to define reporting relationships.

Build Mind Maps from Data Automatically

You can also import data to build mind maps and export any existing mind maps as data to use elsewhere. It works in exactly the same way as the import for organizational charts except that import builds a mind map instead of an org chart.

Instead of defining people and reporting relationships, the data defines topics and sub-topics.

Building charts automatically from data. Just another way SmartDraw makes your life easier.