Functional
Groups by speciality: operations, sales, administration. Everyone reports to someone from their own discipline. The most common one, and the one preloaded in the generator.
When: a single line of business and a single market.
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Org chart generator
Type your company structure and take the chart away as a PNG or an SVG. No Word templates, no accounts, and none of your employees' names leave the browser.
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- Drawn as you type
- PNG and SVG download
Org chart generator
No sign-up Type your structure with indentation — every two spaces is one level — and the chart is drawn as you type.
One role or department per line. Indent with two spaces (or a tab) to hang it under the line above.
Type at least one line to see the chart.
It is drawn in your browser. What you type is never sent to a server and is never stored.
The four org charts that actually get used
Textbooks list eight or ten. In a company of under two hundred people it is almost always one of these four, and what tells them apart is the criterion used to group people.
Divisional
Groups by product, territory or customer type. Each division repeats its own functions internally and owns its profit and loss.
When: several lines or territories with different customers.
Matrix
Dual reporting: everyone answers to their functional manager and to the lead of whichever project they are on. The second line is drawn dashed.
When: you work by projects with teams that re-form.
Flat
Two levels: management and everyone else. It is not disorder, it is a decision — you give up middle management in exchange for speed of decision.
When: small teams or young companies.
How to draw one that is worth having
- 1
Start at the top and go down one level at a time
Management first, then the areas reporting to it, then the units inside each area. If you try to place individual roles before the areas are settled, the drawing will come out crooked.
- 2
Write functions, not personal names
A chart full of names goes stale with the first departure. Write the role and, at most, the name underneath. That way it survives turnover and still works for explaining the company to a new joiner.
- 3
Stop at the fourth level
Past that it stops being readable at a glance, which is the one job it has. When it will not fit, make one overall chart and one per area rather than cramming everything onto one page.
- 4
Date it and decide who maintains it
A chart nobody updates is lying within six months, which is worse than not having one. If your headcount already lives in an HR system, the chart should come from there and not from a loose file.
Frequently asked questions
What is a functional organisational chart?
It is the diagram that represents a company by grouping people according to the function they perform — operations, sales, administration — rather than by product, territory or project. Each box is a department or a role, and the lines show who reports to whom. It is the most common model in small and medium companies because every specialist sits under a manager from their own discipline.
How does a functional chart differ from a structural one?
The structural chart draws the units of the company and the reporting lines: who has authority over whom. The functional chart adds what each one does, grouping by speciality. In practice the structural answers «how are we organised» and the functional answers «who takes care of what». Many companies use a single drawing for both, writing the name of the function inside each box.
How many levels should an org chart have?
Stop at the fourth. Beyond that it can no longer be read at a glance, which is the only thing it has to do. When it does not fit, draw one overall chart plus one per area instead of squeezing everything onto the same page. Each level of indentation in the generator is one level of the tree, so the depth is easy to control.
Can I download the chart as an image?
Yes. The PNG button exports the chart at double resolution so it holds up in a slide deck or a printed document, and the SVG button gives you a vector file you can reopen in any vector editor to change colours, fonts or wording. Both downloads happen in the browser, with no account and no watermark.
Is anything I type saved anywhere?
No. The chart is computed and drawn in your own browser with JavaScript: neither the department names nor the people names leave your machine, nothing is sent to a server and nothing is stored. It disappears when you close the tab, so download the file before you leave.
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Related blog articles
An org chart that does not go stale
In LapsoWork the chart comes from your actual headcount: joiners, leavers and department moves show up on their own. It also runs time tracking, leave and payroll distribution for your company.