SharePoint Organization Chart Web Part: How to Add It, Fix It and Build a Custom Org Chart

A client of mine had a simple problem: new employees kept asking who they should go to for approvals, and HR spent a surprising amount of time emailing out the same org chart diagram, which was always slightly out of date. We fixed it by adding SharePoint’s Organization chart web part to the intranet home page. Because it reads the reporting lines straight from Microsoft 365, it stays current without anyone having to maintain it.

Quick answer: Edit a modern SharePoint page, select the + where you want the chart, choose Organization chart, and type a person’s name or email address. The web part draws that person’s reporting line from the manager information in Microsoft Entra ID, and Edit properties lets you choose how many levels of managers to show above them. For a chart of the whole company, use Org Explorer in Teams or Outlook, a Visio org chart, or a custom SPFx web part.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to add and configure the web part, explain why it sometimes shows the wrong people, and walk through the options when you need a bigger or fully custom org chart.

What is the SharePoint Organization chart web part?

The Organization chart web part is one of the built-in web parts for modern SharePoint pages. You choose a person, and it shows them in the middle of their reporting line, with their managers above and their direct reports below (Microsoft Support). Names, job titles and reporting relationships all come from your Microsoft 365 directory, Microsoft Entra ID, so when HR updates someone’s manager or title, the chart follows automatically.

Before you add it, keep a few limits in mind. The web part only works on modern pages in SharePoint in Microsoft 365, not in SharePoint Server. You need permission to edit the page to add it, and it can’t show external (guest) users. It’s also designed around one person’s reporting line, so it won’t draw your entire company on one page.

How to add the Organization chart web part to a page

Open the page where you want the chart and select Edit at the top right. Hover over the area where the chart should go, select the + that appears, and choose Organization chart from the list. If you don’t see it straight away, select See all web parts and search for it.

The web part appears with the title Organization chart. Select the title and type something more helpful, such as HR reporting structure or Sales leadership, so visitors know what they’re looking at.

Next, choose the person the chart should be built around. In the Name or email address box, start typing a name, for example the head of the department, and select them from the suggestions. The web part immediately draws their reporting line, including the people who report to them:

When the chart looks right, republish the page. Visitors can now hover over or select any name to open that person’s profile card, which shows their job title and contact details:

How to show more levels of managers

By default, the chart stays close to the person you selected. If you want visitors to see the wider leadership structure above them, you can add more levels. Edit the page, select the web part, and select Edit properties, the pencil icon at the top left of the web part. In Number of reporting levels up, enter how many levels of managers you want to show, for example 2 or 3.

If there are fewer managers above the person than the number you enter, the chart simply shows the levels that exist. On a department page, I usually start the chart from the department head and show two levels up, so people can see both their own team and where it sits in the company.

Why the org chart shows the wrong people or missing levels

Because the web part reads everything from the directory, an incomplete chart almost always means incomplete data rather than a problem with SharePoint. These are the causes I see most often:

• A manager isn’t set. A person only appears in someone’s reporting line if their manager is filled in in Microsoft Entra ID. An admin can check and fix this in the Microsoft 365 admin center under Users > Active users, or in the user’s job information in the Microsoft Entra admin center.
• The manager changed recently. Directory changes take some time to reach SharePoint profiles and the web part, so give it a while before you troubleshoot further.
• Only a few levels appear. This is usually missing manager information higher up the chain, not a limit of the web part.
• Job titles are wrong. Titles come from the directory too, so they need to be corrected there.

It’s tempting to fix these details in the SharePoint user profile, but that won’t last. The manager field comes from Microsoft Entra ID and syncs into SharePoint, so the directory is the place to correct it.

How to create a full or custom org chart

The web part is great for showing one reporting line on a page, but some organizations need more: a chart of the whole company, people who aren’t in the directory, or a design that matches their brand. Here’s how the main options compare:

Option	Best for	What you need
Organization chart web part	One person’s reporting line on a SharePoint page	Manager information in Microsoft Entra ID
Org Explorer (Microsoft Learn)	Browsing the whole organization from Teams, Outlook or Microsoft 365	An Enterprise or Education plan; there’s nothing to set up
People web part	Showing key contacts with photos, without a hierarchy	Nothing extra
Visio org chart	A designed or printable chart, including people who aren’t in the directory	Visio, with the data in an Excel sheet that has a “reports to” column
Custom SPFx web part (PnP sample)	A company-wide tree with your own design or extra data	A developer; the PnP samples react-organization-chart and react-modern-organization-chart are good starting points
Power Apps	An interactive chart built from a SharePoint list	Someone comfortable building canvas apps

For most companies, Org Explorer is the easiest next step. It used to require a Viva license, but it’s now available to all Microsoft 365 Enterprise and Education customers at no extra cost. People open it from the Apps menu in Teams or from the navigation bar in Outlook, and admins can control access in the Microsoft 365 admin center under Settings > Integrated apps.

If your chart needs to include people who aren’t in your directory, such as contractors, volunteers or a board of directors, the directory-based tools can’t help. In that case, keep the details in a SharePoint list with columns for name, job title and “reports to”, and draw the chart from that list with Visio or a custom web part.

Tips for a useful org chart page

• Start each department page’s chart from the department head rather than the CEO, so the chart stays readable.
• Ask HR to keep managers and job titles up to date in the directory. The chart is only ever as good as that data.
• Add a People web part next to the chart for contacts outside the reporting line, such as the department’s HR partner.
• Link to Org Explorer for anyone who wants to browse the rest of the company.

For more ways to make your intranet pages useful, take a look at these web part guides:

• SharePoint People Web Part [With Examples]
• SharePoint Quick Links Web Part – How to Use
• SharePoint Online News Web Part [Display Engaging Content]
• SharePoint Highlighted Content Web Part
• Customize SharePoint Site Home Page [using Out of Box Web Parts]
• SharePoint Group Calendar Web Part – How to Use

Frequently Asked Questions