Build a SharePoint org chart from the Microsoft 365 Manager field (free)

Most Microsoft 365 tenants already have a fully-populated Manager attribute on every user — HR set it during onboarding, it powers approval flows in Power Automate, and it's what Outlook reads for the "reports to" line on a contact card.

What almost no tenant has is a way to see that hierarchy as a chart on a SharePoint page. The Microsoft Office org chart template is a static Visio file. The People web part is a flat list. Third-party SaaS wants $5–10/user/month for what is, fundamentally, one Microsoft Graph query.

This post walks the click-path to a live, M365-powered org chart on any modern SharePoint page using a free, open-source SPFx web part — Smart Org Chart.

Why the Manager field is the right source

• It's already populated for most employees.
• HR owns it — when someone changes teams, it updates within hours.
• It's exposed on the Microsoft Graph /users/{id}/manager and /users/{id}/directReports endpoints.
• It powers Outlook, Teams, Viva and Copilot — so anything you build on it stays in sync with the rest of M365.

What the web part renders

• An interactive tree with manager → direct-report edges.
• Profile photo, job title and department on every card (read from Entra ID).
• Click any person to redraw the chart with them as the new root.
• Optional Microsoft Teams presence dot on each card.
• PDF and PNG export for printable directory hand-offs.
• External users who have no Entra ID account — contractors, consultants, board members — added manually or imported from a CSV file, shown in both the directory and the chart.

What it costs to run

Nothing. The web part runs inside your tenant as an SPFx package and calls Microsoft Graph as the signed-in user — no service principal to license, no per-viewer charge, no data leaves your tenant.

When the Manager field isn't enough

If the gap is people who have no Entra ID account at all — contractors, consultants, board members — you don't need a paid tool. Smart Org Chart lets you add external users manually or import them from a CSV file, and they appear in both the directory and the chart. See add external users to a SharePoint org chart.

If your org has matrixed reporting (dotted lines), multiple legal entities with separate hierarchies, or you need approval workflows on top of the chart, the paid SaaS options earn their fees. See:

• Plumsail Org Chart alternative
• OrgChart Now alternative
• All SharePoint org chart tools compared

Related

• How to create an org chart in SharePoint (free)
• SharePoint Smart Org Chart & Directory
• More SharePoint Smart Solutions use cases