How to Make a Flowchart in 6 Steps (With Symbols)

A process lives in people's heads until someone draws it. Approving expenses, onboarding a hire, handling a refund, triaging a bug: each has an order, a few decisions and a few dead ends, and a flowchart puts all of that on one page. This guide shows how to make a flowchart in six steps, which flowchart symbols to use, how to do it in Word, PowerPoint or Google Docs, and how to generate an editable chart straight from a list of steps or Mermaid code.

Direct answer. To make a flowchart, pick one process and decide where it starts and ends, list every step in order, mark the points where a yes/no decision splits the path, then draw each step with standard symbols: ovals for start and end, rectangles for actions, diamonds for decisions, joined by arrows. Finally, walk through every path to check that each one reaches an end.

What a Flowchart Is

A flowchart is a diagram of a process: each step is a shape, and arrows show the order in which the steps happen. Decisions appear as diamonds with one arrow per answer, so a reader can follow exactly what happens in each case.

Flowcharts are older than computers. According to Wikipedia's history of the flowchart, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth presented the first structured method for documenting process flow, the "flow process chart", to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1921. Herman Goldstine and John von Neumann later used flowcharts to plan computer programs in the 1940s, which is why both business teams and programmers still use them.

The most common business version is the process flowchart: a top-to-bottom chart of one workflow, such as purchase approval or order fulfillment. A process map documents the same workflow with extra layers, typically swimlanes for each team, inputs and outputs, and handoff times.

How to Make a Flowchart in 6 Steps

Whether you make a flowchart on a whiteboard, in Word, or in a diagram tool, the method is the same. These six steps show how to create a flowchart from a blank page, using a common example: an employee expense claim.

Step 1: Pick one process and set its boundaries

Name the process and write down its first and last event. "Employee submits an expense" starts the expense flowchart; "Employee is reimbursed" ends it. Clear boundaries stop a flowchart from swelling into a map of the entire finance department.

Step 2: List every step in order

Write the steps as a plain numbered list before touching any shapes. Talk to the person who actually does the work, because the real process usually has a step or two missing from the official version. Start each step with a verb: "Check receipt", "Approve claim", "Run payment".

Step 3: Find the decisions

Mark every step that is really a question: "Is a receipt attached?", "Is the amount over $500?". Each question becomes a diamond with at least two labeled exits, usually Yes and No. Most processes have two to four decisions; if yours has none, a numbered list may serve the reader better than a flowchart.

Step 4: Draw the shapes and connect them

Place the start oval at the top, then one shape per step going down, with branches to the side. Connect everything with arrows that point in the direction of the work. Keep the main "happy path" in a straight vertical line so the normal case reads at a glance.

Step 5: Label every branch

Write Yes or No on each arrow leaving a diamond. Unlabeled branches are the single most common reason a flowchart gets misread.

Step 6: Test every path

Trace each route with your finger, including loops. Every path should reach an end oval, and every loop should have a way out. Then hand the chart to someone who does the task and ask where it differs from reality. Their corrections are the last step in learning how to make a flowchart that people actually use.

The finished expense chart has two decisions and one loop: a claim without a receipt goes back to the employee, and only claims over $500 need a finance manager. While drawing the ten charts in our flowchart examples post, this pattern of a straight main path with side branches stayed readable at every size, from a phone screen to a printed page.

Flowchart Symbols and What They Mean

Four flowchart symbols cover almost every business chart: the terminator, process, decision and flow line. The rest appear in technical or document-heavy flows.

Symbol	Shape	Use it for	Mermaid syntax
Terminator	Oval or pill	Start and end points	A([Start])
Process	Rectangle	One action or task	B[Check receipt]
Decision	Diamond	A yes/no question that splits the path	C{Approved?}
Input / Output	Parallelogram	Data entered or produced	D[/Enter order/]
Document	Rectangle with a wavy bottom	A report, form or printed output	Shape library
Predefined process	Rectangle with double sides	A subprocess documented in another chart	E[[Run payroll]]
Database	Cylinder	Stored data, such as a CRM or spreadsheet	F[(Customer DB)]
Connector	Small circle	Jump to a matching point elsewhere	G((A))
Flow line	Arrow	The order of steps	A --> B

Flowchart symbols are standardized internationally. ANSI set the first symbol standards in the 1960s, and ISO 5807, published in 1985, is the current international standard for flowchart symbols and conventions. Business charts usually need only the terminator, process, decision and arrow, so a reader who has never seen the standard can still follow them.

Make an Editable Flowchart From Text or Mermaid With Playyy

Playyy's AI flowchart generator turns a plain-text description of a process, or Mermaid flowchart code, into an editable flowchart made of real shapes, text and connectors. Connectors stay bound to their shapes, so dragging a box keeps every arrow attached, and every label can be retyped on the canvas.

There are two ways in. Describe the process in a sentence or a numbered list ("Employee submits expense; if no receipt, return it; claims over $500 need a finance manager…") and Playyy draws the chart. Or paste Mermaid code, a text format for diagrams that ChatGPT, Claude and most developer tools can write. Here is the expense flowchart above in Mermaid:

flowchart TD
  A([Employee submits expense]) --> B{Receipt attached?}
  B -- No --> R[Return to employee to add receipt]
  R --> B
  B -- Yes --> C{Amount over $500?}
  C -- Yes --> M[Finance manager approves]
  C -- No --> P[[Run payment process]]
  M --> P
  P --> E([Employee reimbursed])

Playyy converts Mermaid flowchart and graph code. Other Mermaid diagram types, such as sequence diagrams and Gantt charts, belong in Mermaid's own renderer. The Mermaid flowchart syntax reference lists every shape; TD lays the chart out top-down and LR left-to-right.

Existing charts can come along too. Playyy imports draw.io (.drawio) files, Excalidraw files and Excalidraw share links, so a chart started elsewhere can be restyled and extended, then exported back to Excalidraw. Imports keep standard rectangles, diamonds, ovals, labels and straight or right-angled connectors; swimlanes and custom shapes arrive as rectangles, and curved lines become straight ones. For a full process library, from flowcharts to the SOPs that go with them, see how teams build process flowcharts in Playyy.

How to Make a Flowchart in Word, PowerPoint and Google Docs

Office apps work well for a small flowchart that lives inside a document.

• Word. Go to Insert, Shapes, and pick shapes from the Flowchart group. Use elbow connectors from the Lines group so arrows stay attached. For a quick linear chart, Insert, SmartArt, Process gives ready-made step layouts.
• PowerPoint. Same Insert, Shapes menu. Turn on View, Guides to keep shapes aligned, which matters on a slide audience members will read from a distance.
• Google Docs. Use Insert, Drawing, New, then the shape and line tools. Google Drawings and Google Slides offer the same tools as standalone files.

The catch is time. Every shape is placed and aligned by hand, and adding a step in the middle means nudging everything below it. For a chart with more than about ten steps, writing the steps as text and generating the chart is faster, and the result still opens in Word or a slide as an exported image.

How to Make a Process Map

A process map follows the same six steps with two additions. First, note who performs each step; on a map, each person or team gets its own lane. Second, record what goes in and comes out of each step: a form, an approval, an email. Start with the plain process flowchart, confirm it with the people who do the work, then add lanes and inputs once the sequence is right. A written procedure usually accompanies the map; our SOP template shows how a flowchart and a step list fit in one document.

Common Flowchart Mistakes

Most charts that confuse readers break one of these six rules, especially the first time a team tries to create a flowchart together.

• Too much on one chart. Past about 20 shapes, split the chart and link the parts with a predefined process box or a connector.
• Unlabeled decision branches. Every arrow out of a diamond needs a label.
• Arrows that cross. Rearrange shapes so lines run around each other; crossing lines are where readers lose their place.
• Mixed levels of detail. "Process order" and "Click the blue button" don't belong in the same chart. Pick one level.
• Paths with no end. Each branch should finish at a terminator or loop back to an earlier step.
• Inconsistent direction. Keep the main flow top-to-bottom or left-to-right and stick to it.

Conclusion

Learning how to make a flowchart comes down to three moves: list the steps in order, turn every question into a labeled diamond, and test each path before sharing the chart. Use the four core symbols for most business processes and add the others only when the chart needs them. To go from a written list or Mermaid code to an editable chart in one step, paste it into Playyy's AI flowchart generator and start free.