How to make a genogram in PowerPoint

How to make a genogram in PowerPoint in seven steps

Learning how to make a genogram in PowerPoint 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 support names them for PowerPoint on Windows, including PowerPoint for Microsoft 365.

Connectors stay attached until you drag one of their ends

Microsoft offers straight, elbow and curved connectors under Lines. Dots on the outline of a shape show where a connector can attach, and Microsoft notes that the colour and style of these dots vary between versions of Office. 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. If a couple line stops following a person, drag its end back onto a dot of that person. Curve, Freeform Shape and Scribble are not connectors, so a line drawn with them stays where it was drawn. The line down to the children starts from the middle of a couple line, where there is no dot, so check it whenever a parent moves.

Align and Group keep each generation on one level

A genogram is read in rows, so the people of one generation should sit on one level. Align Middle aligns the selected objects horizontally through their middles. With three or more people selected, Distribute Horizontally spaces them evenly. Align Selected Objects lines the people up with each other, and Align to Slide lines them up with the edges of the slide.

When the chart is finished, group every shape and line, so the family moves and resizes as one object. On a Mac, hold ⌘ while you click to select more than one object. To resize the group without stretching the symbols, hold Shift while you drag a corner handle.

Microsoft pages disagree about duplicating a shape on a Mac. One says to hold Option and drag, and the keyboard shortcut page gives Control+D. Copy and paste works on both systems if neither shortcut does.

SmartArt Hierarchy draws a family tree rather than a genogram

Microsoft says the Hierarchy type of SmartArt is perhaps most commonly used for a company organisation chart, and that it can also show decision trees, family trees or a family of products. It suits a plain line of descent.

A hierarchy places each box under one box above it. In a genogram a child descends from a couple, the two partners stand side by side on a couple line, and the marks for a death or a divorce sit on the symbols and the lines. Shapes and connectors draw all of these, which is why the steps above use them.

A genogram on a slide has to read from the back of the room

A slide is read at a distance and for a short time. Show three generations at most, and leave out the relatives who do not bear on the point of the slide. Make the names as large as the body text of the rest of the presentation, with the years on one short line under each name.

Put a key on the same slide with only the symbols and lines that the chart uses. To show a pattern in stages, finish the family first, then copy the slide and add the relationship lines on the copy, so the audience sees who is in the family before they see how the people relate.

The editor exports a picture you can place on a slide

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 finished family leaves the editor as one picture, ready for the slide. Drawing needs no account. Exporting needs a free account, and the picture carries the Genogram Builder watermark unless you have Pro or Max.