Process flowchart symbols, explained

Process flowcharts work because the shapes have fixed meanings. A reader who knows the symbol set can read any chart, from any team, without a legend. Here is the standard set: the four symbols that carry almost every business process flowchart, the handful of extras worth knowing, and the ones you can safely ignore.

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The four essential symbols

These four cover the overwhelming majority of real-world process flowcharts:

Terminator: a rounded rectangle (or oval). Marks where the process starts and where it ends. Every chart has exactly one start terminator; multiple end terminators are fine when a process can finish in different states.
Process: a rectangle. One action or task, named with a verb phrase: "Verify payment", "Assign technician", "Send welcome email".
Decision: a diamond. A question with two or more possible answers. Each answer gets its own labeled outgoing arrow; the flow follows the arrow matching what happened.
Flow line: the arrow connecting shapes. Direction matters: the arrowhead points at what happens next.

Useful extras

A few more symbols earn their place in specific situations:

Document: a rectangle with a wavy bottom edge. A step that produces or consumes a document: "Generate invoice (PDF)".
Data / input-output: a parallelogram. Information entering or leaving the process: "Customer submits form".
Predefined process / subroutine: a rectangle with doubled side bars. A named sub-process charted elsewhere: "Run credit check (see separate chart)". This is how big processes stay readable: one chart per level.
Connector: a small circle (on-page) or pentagon (off-page). Jump points that continue the flow elsewhere when a line would otherwise cross half the chart.

Symbols you can skip

The full ISO 5807 symbol set dates from the era of charting computer programs and batch data processing, and most of it has no business-process meaning worth memorizing: magnetic tape, punched card, manual operation trapezoids, collate and sort shapes. Using them today mostly signals that a template shipped with too many stencils.

The discipline that actually improves charts isn't more symbols; it's stricter use of the basic ones. Rectangles that start with verbs. Diamonds phrased as answerable questions. Branch labels on every decision arrow. A chart with four symbol types and clean labels beats a chart with fourteen symbol types every time.

Symbol conventions that keep charts readable

Beyond the shapes themselves, three conventions do most of the readability work. Keep the main path flowing in one direction (top-to-bottom or left-to-right) so exceptions visibly branch off it. Label every decision branch with its answer, not just the lucky ones. And when roles are involved, put the shapes in lanes so responsibility is part of the picture.

In ProcessFlowchart.app the symbol assignment is a column, not a stencil hunt: mark a row as Start, Process, Decision, or End and the right shape appears in the chart, already connected and laid out. Branch labels and colors are columns too.

Each symbol in detail

Every symbol above has its own glossary entry: what it means, how to label it, and the mistakes people make with it. The editor supports more than forty shapes in all, and QueryChart's documentation lists every one with its meaning.

Frequently asked questions

What do the shapes in a process flowchart mean?

Rounded shapes (terminators) mark the start and end. Rectangles are actions. Diamonds are decisions with labeled yes/no branches. Arrows show what happens next. Parallelograms mark data input/output and wavy-bottomed rectangles mark documents.

What does the diamond mean in a flowchart?

A decision. The diamond holds a question ("Approved?") and each outgoing arrow is labeled with an answer (Yes / No). The process follows the arrow that matches the actual outcome.

What is the oval or rounded rectangle in a flowchart?

The terminator: the start or end of the process. A chart has one start terminator; it can have several end terminators when the process can finish in different ways (completed, rejected, canceled).

How many flowchart symbols are there?

The ISO 5807 standard defines dozens, but business process flowcharts use four essentials (terminator, process, decision, flow line) plus occasional extras like document, data, subroutine, and connector symbols.

Do I have to use standard flowchart symbols?

You should: the standard meanings are why strangers can read your chart. If you deviate (colors, custom shapes), keep the core grammar intact: rounded = start/end, rectangle = action, diamond = decision.

How do I add flowchart symbols without drawing them?

In ProcessFlowchart.app each row has a Shape column: set it to Start, Process, Decision, or End and the symbol renders automatically, connected and laid out. No stencil library, no dragging.

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