Build a simple diagram with SmartArt and drawing tools in ONLYOFFICE

Quick answer

Use Insert > SmartArt and choose an existing Process layout for a short sequence. Enter labels into its existing boxes and check the reading order. If the available layout does not express your process, use ordinary shapes and arrows instead of assuming that Excel’s SmartArt commands exist in ONLYOFFICE.

Plan the meaning before drawing

This guide follows the English ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors 10.0.0 interface and official Spreadsheet Editor SmartArt help. Use an XLSX practice workbook and leave a clear drawing area away from report data. The example is a three-stage review process:

1. Receive: accept a submitted worksheet.
2. Check: inspect totals and required fields.
3. Approve: record that the review is complete.

Put the same three stages and descriptions in A1:B4, including headers. This provides a readable text counterpart to the visual diagram. It also makes it easier to check that a decorative layout has not reversed the order or omitted an important step.

Build the SmartArt version

Open Insert > SmartArt, hover over Process, and choose an available layout with three suitable stages. Use the visible layout preview rather than relying on a template name from another spreadsheet application. Enter Receive, Check and Approve into the existing boxes. The official organogram guidance documents entering labels directly into boxes; no separate Excel-style Text Pane or Add Shape workflow is assumed here.

Select the relevant object or component and use its right-side settings to adjust fill and line appearance. Choose a restrained, readable treatment, such as a solid fill with contrasting text, rather than a texture that obscures the labels. The documented settings can apply individually, so inspect every stage after making a change rather than assuming all nodes received it.

Resize the diagram and check all three labels for clipping. The graphic should read Receive → Check → Approve, with no implication that approval occurs before checking. A hierarchy layout would instead express reporting or parent-child relationships; it is not automatically the best choice for a sequence just because it looks tidy.

Try a manual alternative

Create a second version with Insert > Shape. Draw three rectangles and enter the stage labels; draw arrows from the available shape gallery between successive stages. The arrows are meaningful objects, not guaranteed automatic connectors that will reroute when you move a box.

Ctrl+click the three rectangle borders and use Layout > Align > Align Top. With three selected objects, Distribute Horizontally can equalize their spacing. Adjust the arrows after moving the nodes so their direction and endpoints remain unambiguous. Select the complete diagram and use Layout > Group to move it as a unit once the relationships are correct.

This manual version is useful for a small, stable process. If the workflow needs many branches, repeatedly squeezing extra text into the same three boxes is not a faithful model. Choose a more suitable existing layout or redesign the manual drawing.

Test a revision and save the editable original

Change the middle stage from Check to “Check totals” in both the text table and diagram. Confirm that the longer label fits at the intended viewing size and that the arrows still indicate the same sequence. Editing A3 alone does not establish live binding to the graphic; maintain the diagram text explicitly.

Save and reopen the XLSX, checking labels, position and meaning. SmartArt’s right-click Save as picture option can create a static image for another document, but retain the workbook when you need editable objects. A picture is not a replacement for the source labels or process descriptions.

If selecting an object changes only one component, inspect the current selection before applying colors or sizing. If the layout does not offer the required nodes, do not hunt for unsupported commands: the manual alternative is the documented drawing route. For layering and mixed report annotations, see arranging pictures and text boxes.

Sources and verification

Official documentation snapshots retrieved on 20 October 2026 support the procedures above. The worked checks are independently reasoned expectations, not a report of native application testing. Save/reopen, rendering and platform behavior remain checks for the stated installation.

• InsertSmartArt
• InsertAutoshapes
• ManipulateObjects
• how-to-make-an-organogram
• InsertTab