Simple flowchart template

Standard flowchart notation uses a small set of shapes, and this template contains the four you need most:

• Rounded rectangle (terminator): the start or the end of the process.
• Rectangle (process): an action or a step someone performs.
• Diamond (decision): a question with two or more exits.
• Arrow (connector): the direction the process moves.

Beyond these, common additions include a parallelogram for input or output, a wavy-bottomed rectangle for a document, and a rectangle with double side bars for a step defined in detail elsewhere. You rarely need more than that.

Start with the sequence and add the branches afterwards. We recommend following this process:

1. Write the steps as a plain list, in order, before drawing anything.
2. Mark where the process ends, and whether there is more than one ending.
3. Find the point where the path genuinely forks and make that a decision node.
4. Draw the main path first, then add the branch. A diagram built branch-first becomes unreadable quickly.
5. Use a free template so the shapes and connectors already exist.

Fewer than you think. A diagram on one slide can carry three or four before it becomes hard to follow, and most processes people map have one genuine fork with several rare exceptions attached.

If you need more, that is usually a sign the process should be split into two diagrams rather than compressed into one. A flowchart nobody can read at a glance has lost the advantage it had over a written procedure.

In everyday use they mean the same thing. Where people distinguish them, a flowchart is the diagram itself — shapes, connectors, decisions — while process mapping is the wider exercise of working out what the process is before drawing it.

The practical version: process mapping is the conversation, and the flowchart is what you leave behind.

Use a plain flowchart when the sequence matters and the ownership is obvious. Use a swimlane diagram when more than one team is involved, and you need to show who does what.

The test is simple: if the answer to "who does this step" changes as you move down the diagram, and that change matters, you want lanes.

Both are valid and they mean different things. Looping back to the decision means the work is re-checked before continuing. Rejoining the main flow further on, as this template does, means the revision is enough on its own and no second check is needed.

Pick deliberately rather than by accident, because a reader will take the diagram literally. If revised work should be re-approved, draw the connector back to the diamond.

Use a verb and an object, and keep it to a few words: approve invoice, send confirmation, check stock. Names that are only nouns leave the reader guessing what actually happens, and names that run to a sentence stop fitting in the shape.

Phrase decision nodes as questions with a clear answer, and label every exit. An unlabelled branch is the most common defect in a hand-drawn flowchart.

PowerPoint can do it with SmartArt and the Shapes gallery, but the work is manual: you place each shape yourself, align it by eye, and reattach connectors every time something moves. That friction is the reason most PowerPoint flowcharts are drawn once and never updated.

A faster route is the Lucen Flowchart tab, which snaps connectors to shape anchors and reflows the diagram with Auto Layout when you add a step. Either way, the result stays a set of native PowerPoint objects on your slide.

The download is a free .pptx made of native PowerPoint shapes, so anyone can open, read, and edit it, and you can share it as you would any deck; recipients need nothing installed.

The smart connectors, Auto Layout, and Lucen AI come from the Lucen Flowchart add-in, which adds a Lucen Flowchart tab to the ribbon and runs on Windows with PowerPoint 2016 or later and with PowerPoint for Microsoft 365. PowerPoint for the web, Mac, and mobile are not supported. Setup and troubleshooting steps are in Lucen Support.