How to Make a Flowchart in PowerPoint (and Animate It)

To make a flowchart in PowerPoint, use Insert → SmartArt → Process for a quick linear chart. For branching processes, draw Flowchart shapes from Insert → Shapes and join them with elbow connectors that stay attached. Align everything with Shape Format → Align, set colors once in the Slide Master, then reveal the chart step by step with the Wipe animation.

Quick steps

Menu paths are for PowerPoint in Microsoft 365 on Windows.

1. Type your steps as a bulleted list, select it and choose Home → Convert to SmartArt, then pick a Process layout.
2. For decisions, select the SmartArt and choose SmartArt Design → Convert → Convert to Shapes.
3. Add or swap in shapes from Insert → Shapes: Terminator, Process and Decision.
4. Join shapes with Connector: Elbow Arrow, dragging from one connection dot to another.
5. Select rows or columns and use Shape Format → Align to align and distribute them.
6. Label decision exits with "Yes" and "No" text boxes.
7. Animate each shape and arrow from the Animations tab, then set everything after the first item to After Previous.

SmartArt or shapes: which should you use?

In PowerPoint you don't have to choose. SmartArt builds a clean linear chart from a list. Convert to Shapes then turns it into ordinary shapes that you can branch, rearrange and reconnect.

Start with SmartArt when most of the process is a straight sequence. Start with shapes when it has several decisions or loops, because you'd replace most of the SmartArt anyway.

How do I make a flowchart with SmartArt?

1. Choose Insert → SmartArt and click Process in the left column.
2. Pick a layout. Basic Process runs left to right, and Vertical Process runs top to bottom. Basic Chevron Process suits short, phase-style sequences, while Basic Bending Process wraps long ones onto several rows.
3. Type steps in the text pane. Enter adds a step, and Tab turns a line into a detail bullet.
4. Restyle it with Change Colors and the style gallery on the SmartArt Design tab.

If the steps already exist as bullets on a slide, select the text box and choose Home → Convert to SmartArt. Click More SmartArt Graphics at the bottom of the menu to see every Process layout.

How do I turn SmartArt into a flowchart with decisions?

The conversion is one-way, so duplicate the slide first: right-click its thumbnail and choose Duplicate Slide. Then:

1. Select the SmartArt and choose SmartArt Design → Convert → Convert to Shapes.
2. If the shapes still move as one unit, ungroup them with Ctrl+Shift+G.
3. Select the step that should be a decision and choose Shape Format → Edit Shape → Change Shape → Flowchart: Decision.
4. Delete SmartArt's block arrows and redraw the links as connectors, so they follow the shapes.

How do I build a flowchart from shapes and elbow connectors?

Set up guides first

Tick View → Guides to show center lines you can snap to. Smart Guides, the dashed lines that appear while you drag, show when shapes line up. For a snapping grid, right-click an empty part of the slide, choose Grid and Guides and tick Snap objects to grid.

Draw and style the shapes

Choose Insert → Shapes and use the Flowchart group. Drag to draw each shape, holding Shift to keep proportions. Style the first shape, then right-click it and choose Set as Default Shape. Press Ctrl+D to duplicate a shape, or hold Ctrl and drag to copy it into place.

Add connectors

1. In Insert → Shapes, choose Connector: Elbow Arrow from the Lines group. Use Line Arrow for short straight links.
2. Hover over a shape until connection dots appear, then drag from one dot to a dot on the next shape.
3. Move a shape to test. Attached connectors reroute themselves.

To draw many connectors in a row, right-click the connector in the Shapes gallery and choose Lock Drawing Mode. Press Esc to stop. The yellow handle on an elbow connector moves its bend. If a connector joins the wrong side of a shape, drag its end to another dot.

Label and align

Connectors can't hold text, so add "Yes" and "No" with Insert → Text Box. Place each label beside its arrow, close to the diamond.

Select a column of shapes and choose Shape Format → Align → Align Center, or Align Middle for a row. Distribute Vertically and Distribute Horizontally even out the gaps. Check that Align Selected Objects is ticked rather than Align to Slide. Group finished sections with Ctrl+G.

How do I keep flowchart styling consistent across slides?

Long processes often span several slides. The Slide Master keeps them consistent:

1. Choose View → Slide Master and click the top, largest thumbnail.
2. In the Background group, set Colors and Fonts for the whole presentation. Customize Colors, at the bottom of the Colors menu, accepts your brand colors.
3. Choose Insert Layout, then Rename it, for example "Process flow". Add a small legend that explains your shapes and colors.
4. Click Close Master View. Apply the layout to any slide with Home → Layout.

When you color shapes, pick from the Theme Colors row rather than a custom color. Theme-colored shapes update automatically if you change the palette later.

How do I animate a flowchart step by step?

Build the whole chart first, then animate it in reading order.

1. Select the start shape and choose Animations → Fade or Appear.
2. Select the first arrow and choose Wipe. Open Effect Options and match the flow: From Top for a downward arrow, From Left for a left-to-right one. Wipe starts From Bottom by default, so check each arrow.
3. Open Animations → Animation Pane to see the sequence.
4. Set the first item's Start to On Click and later items to After Previous. Use With Previous for a label that should appear with its arrow.
5. Keep each Duration short, around 0.3–0.5 seconds, so the reveal doesn't drag.

Animation Painter, in the Advanced Animation group, copies an animation from one object to another. To reorder, drag items in the Animation Pane or use Move Earlier and Move Later. Preview with Play From at the top of the pane.

Elbow connectors bend, so a one-direction Wipe can look odd on them; Fade works better. When presenting live, set each decision to On Click so you can explain the branch before revealing it.

For a SmartArt chart, apply one animation to the whole graphic, then choose One by One under Effect Options → Sequence.

How do I export the animated flowchart as a video or GIF?

Choose File → Export → Create a Video for an MP4, or File → Export → Create an Animated GIF for a looping GIF. The GIF option needs a subscription version of PowerPoint; the 2016 and 2019 perpetual versions don't have it.

This works, but every animation is hand-built. Change a step and you'll re-time and re-export.

Flowchart symbols you'll need

• Terminator: start and end points.
• Process: one action per box.
• Decision: a question with labeled exits.
• Data: an input or output.
• Predefined Process: a sub-process detailed on another slide.

See the flowchart symbols guide for every symbol and when to use it.

Faster option: generate the flowchart with AI

The Animation Pane is where most PowerPoint flowcharts eat time. Infogiph's AI flowchart maker generates flowcharts that are already animated:

1. Describe the process in plain English, including each decision and what happens on each branch. You can also upload a photo of a whiteboard sketch.
2. Infogiph generates an animated, fully editable flowchart, usually in about 5–15 seconds.
3. Refine it by chatting ("add an escalation branch after tier 1"), or edit labels, icons, colors and layout on the canvas.
4. Pick the 16:9 landscape preset, which matches a standard widescreen slide, and export.

Then insert it:

• Animated GIF: use Insert → Pictures → This Device. It plays during the slideshow.
• MP4: use Insert → Video → This Device, then set Playback → Start to Automatically and tick Loop until Stopped.
• Static PNG or SVG: insert it like a GIF. SVG stays sharp at any size.

The inserted file isn't editable as PowerPoint shapes. Make changes in Infogiph, export again, and swap an image in place with right-click → Change Picture.

The free plan includes 5 AI generations in total (a one-time allowance that doesn't reset) and the full editor. Exports are unlimited in GIF, MP4, PNG and SVG at standard resolution, with a small Infogiph watermark. Pro ($12/month, or $9/month billed yearly) removes it and adds HD exports.

FAQ

How do I connect shapes in PowerPoint so the arrows move with them?

Pick a line from the Lines group, then start and end it on the connection dots that appear when you hover over a shape. A line released anywhere else won't attach. Test it by dragging a shape; an attached line follows.

Can I edit a SmartArt flowchart after converting it to shapes?

Yes. Every part becomes an ordinary shape you can move, restyle or delete. You can't convert it back to SmartArt, so duplicate the slide before converting.

How do I make a flowchart appear one step at a time?

Give each shape and arrow an entrance animation, such as Fade or Wipe. In the Animation Pane, set the first to On Click and the rest to After Previous. Use On Click for any step you want to talk through.

Can PowerPoint export a flowchart animation as a GIF?

Yes, in subscription versions, with File → Export → Create an Animated GIF. Older perpetual versions such as PowerPoint 2016 and 2019 can export video but not GIF.

Keep going

• 15 flow chart examples you can copy, each with a ready-to-use prompt.
• How to make a flowchart in Canva, if your slides live in Canva.
• Editable starting points: the customer support flow template and the CI/CD pipeline template.