How to Make a Genogram in PowerPoint
A step-by-step tutorial for building genograms in PowerPoint for presentations, case conferences, and class projects. Plus the faster workflow: build in GenogramAI, export PNG, embed in PPT.
When You Need a Genogram in a Presentation
PowerPoint is the standard tool for clinical case presentations, classroom lectures, therapy supervision sessions, and social work case conferences. When you need to present a family system visually, you need a genogram on a slide.
The question is whether to build the genogram in PowerPoint or embed a genogram image into PowerPoint. Building in PPT gives you native editing but takes hours and lacks clinical symbols. Embedding an exported PNG from a dedicated tool gives you professional quality in minutes. We cover both approaches below.
Recommended: The Fast Workflow
Before we walk through the manual PowerPoint tutorial, here is the approach that professionals and students increasingly use:
Create in GenogramAI
Use AI text-to-genogram or the visual editor. Add all clinical details: emotional relationships, medical quadrants, cultural patterns. Takes 5-15 minutes.
Export as PNG
Click the export button to download a high-resolution PNG with transparent or white background. The image is presentation-ready.
Embed in PowerPoint
Insert > Pictures > This Device. Place the PNG on your slide, resize as needed, and add any annotations or titles in PowerPoint.
How to Make a Genogram in PowerPoint: 8 Steps
If you prefer to build the genogram directly in PowerPoint, follow these steps.
Create a Blank PowerPoint Slide
Open PowerPoint and set up a blank slide with maximum canvas space for your genogram.
- Open PowerPoint and select File > New > Blank Presentation
- Right-click the slide and choose Layout > Blank (removes all text boxes)
- Consider using a widescreen 16:9 layout for more horizontal space
- For very large genograms, use Slide Size > Custom and increase dimensions
- Use View > Gridlines and View > Guides to help with alignment
Tip: PowerPoint slides are naturally landscape, which works well for genograms. The blank layout gives you the most usable canvas space.
Insert Shapes for Family Members
Use PowerPoint's shape tools to draw the standard genogram symbols: squares for males, circles for females.
- Go to Insert > Shapes and select Rectangle for males
- Select Oval and hold Shift to draw perfect circles for females
- Size each shape to approximately 0.8" x 0.8" (use Size fields in Format tab)
- For deceased persons, overlay two diagonal lines forming an X
- For the index person, increase Shape Outline weight to 3pt
- Use a diamond shape for unknown gender or pets
Tip: After creating your first male and female shape, use Ctrl+D (Cmd+D on Mac) to duplicate them. This ensures all shapes are exactly the same size throughout your genogram.
Position Shapes by Generation
Arrange family members in horizontal rows. Each row represents one generation, with the oldest generation at the top.
- Place grandparents in the top third of the slide
- Place parents in the middle third
- Place the index person, siblings, and their generation in the bottom third
- Center couples horizontally and space them evenly
- Select multiple shapes and use Format > Align > Align Middle to straighten rows
- Use Format > Align > Distribute Horizontally for even spacing
Tip: PowerPoint has excellent alignment tools. Select all shapes in a row (hold Shift and click each), then use Align > Align Middle and Distribute Horizontally for a professional layout.
Connect Family Members with Lines
Draw lines to represent relationships between partners and between parents and children.
- Go to Insert > Shapes > Lines and select the straight Line tool
- Draw a horizontal line between married or partnered pairs
- Draw a vertical line from the center of the partnership line down
- Draw a horizontal line connecting siblings before vertical drops to each child
- Hold Shift while drawing to snap lines to horizontal or vertical
- Use the Connector tool (elbow or straight) to auto-attach lines to shapes
Tip: PowerPoint connectors automatically attach to the orange dots on shape edges. When you move a shape, the connector follows. Use Insert > Shapes > Connectors (not Lines) for this behavior.
Add Text Labels
Add names, dates, and other identifying information to each family member.
- Click a shape and start typing to add text directly inside it
- Use a small font (8-9pt Calibri or Arial) to fit names and dates
- For longer labels, insert a text box (Insert > Text Box) below the shape
- Include: name, birth year, death year (if applicable), key conditions
- Center-align text and use a contrasting color for readability
- Avoid overcrowding shapes; use annotations sparingly
Tip: If you plan to present this genogram, use at least 10pt font for readability. The audience needs to read it from a distance. Add details in speaker notes instead.
Add Relationship Type Indicators
Modify lines to show marriage, divorce, separation, and other relationship statuses.
- Solid line = marriage (default)
- Two short diagonal lines crossing the marriage line = divorce
- One diagonal line = separation
- Dashed line = cohabitation (Format > Shape Outline > Dashes > Dash)
- Dotted line = dating (use the Dot dash pattern)
- PowerPoint has limited line styles; emotional relationship lines require workarounds
Tip: To create divorce slashes, draw two short diagonal lines and position them over the marriage line. Group them (select all three, right-click > Group) so they move together.
Group and Organize Your Genogram
Group related elements, add a title, and prepare the slide for presentation or export.
- Select all elements (Ctrl+A) and group them (right-click > Group > Group)
- Add a title text box at the top: "Family Genogram: [Last Name]"
- Add a legend explaining your symbols if presenting to an audience
- Include a date and your name for academic submissions
- Use Format > Arrange > Send to Back/Bring to Front to fix overlapping elements
Tip: Grouping is essential. Without it, moving or resizing one element will break your entire layout. Group nuclear family units first, then group everything into one master group.
Export or Present Your Genogram
Save your genogram for presentation, sharing, or embedding in other documents.
- Present directly: F5 or Slideshow > From Beginning
- Save as image: File > Save As > PNG or JPEG (saves the full slide)
- Save as PDF: File > Save As > PDF
- To embed in Word: copy the grouped genogram, paste into Word as an image
- For higher resolution PNG: right-click the grouped genogram > Save as Picture
Tip: For the cleanest image export, right-click your grouped genogram and select "Save as Picture" rather than saving the entire slide. This crops to just your genogram without extra white space.
Limitations of Building Genograms in PowerPoint
PowerPoint is designed for presentations, not clinical diagrams. Here is what it cannot do for genograms.
No Standard Genogram Symbols
PowerPoint has rectangles and circles but no McGoldrick-standard genogram symbols. You cannot create proper miscarriage triangles, stillbirth symbols, pregnancy indicators, or twin connectors without extensive manual workarounds.
No Emotional Relationship Lines
Clinical genograms use 24 types of emotional relationship lines: zigzag for conflict, wavy for distant, double for close, triple for enmeshed. PowerPoint supports only basic solid, dashed, and dotted lines.
No Medical Quadrants
Genograms track medical conditions using 4 quadrants inside each person symbol. PowerPoint shapes cannot be divided into independently colored quadrants. Workarounds using overlapping shapes are fragile and time-consuming.
Single Slide Constraint
Complex genograms with 3+ generations and extended family often exceed a single slide. You either shrink everything to unreadable sizes or split the family across multiple slides, breaking the visual continuity that makes genograms useful.
Fragile Layout
Moving one shape often misaligns connected lines and text labels. Despite connectors, PowerPoint layouts are fragile. Adding a new family member can require repositioning dozens of elements and redrawing connections.
Hours of Manual Work
A 3-generation genogram with 15-20 family members takes 1.5-3 hours in PowerPoint. Every shape, line, text label, and relationship indicator must be individually placed, sized, aligned, and formatted.
The Better Way: GenogramAI + PowerPoint
Use the right tool for each job. GenogramAI for creating. PowerPoint for presenting.
Build in GenogramAI, Present in PPT
The ideal workflow: create your genogram in GenogramAI with AI assistance, export as a high-res PNG, and embed it in your PowerPoint slide. Professional quality in minutes.
AI Understands Family Descriptions
Describe the family you need to present and GenogramAI builds the genogram automatically. No shape dragging, no manual connections, no alignment headaches.
Presentation-Ready PNG Export
GenogramAI exports high-resolution PNG images that look sharp on any screen size. Perfect for classroom presentations, clinical case conferences, and therapy supervision slides.
For case presentations: A GenogramAI-exported PNG on a PowerPoint slide looks cleaner, includes proper clinical notation, and took 10 minutes instead of 3 hours. Your audience sees the clinical detail. You save the time.
Try GenogramAI freePowerPoint vs. GenogramAI: Feature Comparison
Building genograms natively in PPT vs. the GenogramAI + PPT workflow
Case Presentation in Minutes, Not Hours
Describe the family system for your case presentation. GenogramAI builds the genogram. Export the PNG. Drop it into your slide. Done before your coffee gets cold.
Example for a supervision presentation:
"The identified patient is Sarah, age 34. Her parents Mark and Linda divorced in 2008. Mark remarried to Janet. Sarah has a conflicted relationship with her stepmother. Her brother Michael is enmeshed with their mother Linda. Sarah's paternal grandfather had alcoholism. Her maternal grandmother has depression."
When You Need a Genogram in a Presentation
Clinical Case Conferences
Present complex family systems to your clinical team. Genograms help colleagues quickly understand intergenerational patterns, medical history, and relationship dynamics.
Therapy Supervision
Show your supervisor the family dynamics of your caseload. A visual genogram communicates in seconds what would take minutes to explain verbally.
Classroom Presentations
Social work, psychology, and nursing students frequently present genograms as part of coursework. A clean, properly formatted genogram earns better grades.
Family Therapy Workshops
Workshop facilitators use genograms to demonstrate family systems concepts. Presentation-ready genograms with proper notation enhance credibility and teaching effectiveness.
Genogram in PowerPoint: FAQs
Can you make a genogram in PowerPoint?
Yes, you can make a basic genogram in PowerPoint using Insert > Shapes to draw squares (males), circles (females), and lines (relationships). PowerPoint offers better alignment and grouping tools than Word, making it somewhat easier for genograms. However, it still lacks genogram-specific symbols, emotional relationship lines, and medical quadrants. For professional results, create the genogram in GenogramAI and embed the exported PNG into your PowerPoint slide.
Is there a free genogram template for PowerPoint?
There are limited free genogram templates for PowerPoint available online, but most are basic family tree layouts, not clinical genograms. They lack proper McGoldrick notation, emotional relationships, and medical tracking. GenogramAI offers a free plan with 2 professional genograms that include all clinical symbols and can be exported as PNG images to embed in PowerPoint.
How do I present a genogram in PowerPoint?
The best workflow for presenting genograms in PowerPoint is: (1) Create the genogram in a dedicated tool like GenogramAI, (2) Export it as a high-resolution PNG image, (3) Insert the PNG into a PowerPoint slide using Insert > Pictures, (4) Add annotations, titles, and speaker notes in PowerPoint. This produces a much cleaner result than building the genogram directly in PowerPoint.
How do I export a genogram from PowerPoint as an image?
To export a genogram from PowerPoint as an image: (1) Select and group all genogram elements (Ctrl+A, then right-click > Group), (2) Right-click the grouped object and select "Save as Picture", (3) Choose PNG format for the best quality. Alternatively, File > Save As and change the file type to PNG to save the entire slide as an image.
What is better for genograms: PowerPoint or a dedicated genogram tool?
A dedicated genogram tool like GenogramAI is significantly better for creating genograms. It includes all McGoldrick-standard symbols, 48 relationship types, medical quadrants, AI generation, and proper clinical notation. PowerPoint is better for presenting genograms. The ideal workflow combines both: create in GenogramAI, present in PowerPoint.
How long does it take to make a genogram in PowerPoint?
A basic 3-generation genogram takes 1.5-3 hours in PowerPoint, depending on complexity. This includes inserting shapes, positioning them, adding text, drawing connections, and formatting relationship indicators. The same genogram takes 5-15 minutes in GenogramAI using the visual editor, or under 2 minutes with the AI text-to-genogram feature.
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