How to make a genogram in Excel in eight steps
Learning how to make a genogram in Excel starts with a plan on paper. Write the family as rows, one for each generation with the oldest at the top, and note which children belong to which couple. The commands below are named as Microsoft names them for Excel on Windows.
- Draw the first person
On the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, choose Shapes. Pick a rectangle and hold Shift while you drag for a square, or an oval with Shift for a circle.
- Turn on Snap to Grid
With the shape selected, choose Shape Format, Align, Snap to Grid. Grey highlighting shows that it is on.
- Copy the symbol
Copy and paste the first shape for each person, so every symbol has the same size, and drag each copy into its row.
- Add the names
Put each name and year of birth in a text box under its symbol, so the symbol stays clear for the marks of the notation.
- Join each couple
Choose Shapes again and pick the elbow connector under Lines. Start on a dot on the outline of one partner and end on a dot on the other.
- Hang the children
Draw a line down from the middle of the couple line, a sibling line across, and a line to each child, with the oldest on the left.
- Align and group
Select one generation and choose Shape Format, Align, Align Middle. Then select the whole chart and choose Shape Format, Group, Group.
- Set the print area
Select the cells under the chart and choose Page Layout, Print Area, Set Print Area.
Genogram Builder
Draw the genogram here, then place it on the sheet
The editor lays out the symbols, the couple lines and the key, and a free account exports the chart as a picture for your worksheet.
- Opens without an account
- Symbols, lines and key drawn for you
- PNG and PDF with a free account, watermarked
The worksheet grid keeps each generation in a straight row
A genogram is read in rows, and a worksheet is already ruled into rows. Microsoft says that with Snap to Grid on, a shape snaps to the nearest intersection of the grid as you draw, resize or move it, even when the grid is hidden. Snap to Shape lines a shape up with the edges of the shapes around it instead. Choose either one again to turn it off.
Give each generation the same band of rows and leave an empty band between them for the couple lines and the lines to the children. Keep the gridlines on while you draw. They do not print by default, and they only appear on paper if you choose Page Layout, Sheet Options, Gridlines, Print.
Connectors stay attached until you drag one of their ends
Microsoft offers straight, elbow and curved connectors under Lines. When you choose one, dots appear on the outline of a shape to show where a connector can attach. Once both ends sit on dots, the connector stays attached and moves with the shapes, so a couple line follows a partner who is moved to make room for a child.
Moving either end of a connector detaches that end. Curve, Freeform Shape and Scribble are not connectors, so a line drawn with them stays where it was drawn. To draw many lines in a row, right-click a line or connector under Lines and choose Lock Drawing Mode, then press Esc when you are done.
A print area fits the whole family onto one page
A print area is the range of cells that prints when you do not want the whole worksheet. Excel saves it with the workbook. A worksheet can hold more than one print area, and each one prints on its own page, so set a single area that covers the chart and its key. Choose View, Page Break Preview to see what will print.
If the family is wider than the page, open the Page Setup dialog from the Page Layout tab, choose the Page tab, and under Scaling choose Fit to 1 page wide by 1 tall. Microsoft notes that this scaling is not available in Excel for the web.
Excel suits a genogram that sits beside a table of facts
A worksheet can hold the chart and the facts behind it on one sheet. Keep a table of names, years, places and sources beside the drawing, and the reader can check each symbol against a row. Excel does not draw the chart from that table, so every change to the family is made to the shapes by hand.
For a chart shown to a room, the PowerPoint guide covers slides. For a program made for diagrams, see the guide to drawing a genogram in Visio.
The editor draws the genogram and Excel receives a picture
In Genogram Builder each new person is placed in free space on the right row, Arrange tidies the rows when you ask it to, and the key is written for you. The chart leaves the editor as a picture, not as Excel shapes. Drawing needs no account. Exporting needs a free account, and the picture carries the Genogram Builder watermark unless you have Pro or Max.
Open the blank three generation chart and select a person. Type the name at the top of the panel that opens, then set the status and the year of birth.
Open Export and choose PNG image, which the menu describes as a picture to paste into a document, a slide or a message.
Paste the picture on the worksheet beside the table of facts, and set the print area around both.
Common questions
Whether Excel can draw a genogram from a list of names
Not on its own. In a Microsoft Q&A thread from 2014, the accepted answer says the diagram has to be drawn by hand and that Excel has no built-in feature for it. If the sheet has one row per person, with columns for the father, the mother and the partner, save it as a CSV file, and the import of Genogram Builder reads the family from it and draws the chart for you.
Whether this site exports an Excel file
No. The editor exports PNG, PDF, SVG and a JSON project. A picture pasted on a worksheet stays a picture, so a change to the family is made in the editor and the picture replaced.
Which symbols to draw
A square for a man, a circle for a woman, an X through the symbol of a person who has died and two slashes across the couple line of a divorced couple. The genogram symbols guide shows the rest.
Sources and methodology
We make Genogram Builder. We used the references below for this guide. Last checked on 5 November 2026.
- Microsoft Support, add shapes
- Microsoft Support, draw or delete a line or connector
- Microsoft Support, turn the snap to grid and snap to object options on or off in Excel
- Microsoft Support, align or arrange objects
- Microsoft Support, group or ungroup shapes, pictures or other objects
- Microsoft Support, set or clear a print area on a worksheet
- Microsoft Support, fit to one page in Excel
- Microsoft Support, show or hide gridlines on a worksheet
- Microsoft Q&A, create a genogram in Excel
Type the names into the blank three generation template, then export the chart as a picture for your worksheet with a free account.
Start from the blank template