Work Breakdown Structure Template Maker

How to use the Work Breakdown Structure Maker

1. Open the tool and either load a built-in example template or clear the editor and type your own outline.
2. Write one work item per line. Indent child items by two spaces for each level. The tool supports up to 8 levels below the top and 200 items.
3. Add days after a | mark, for example Plan | 5d | Ann. Put the owner after a second | mark.
4. Add parallel after a | mark on a parent whose items run side by side. It only affects the Pro Gantt chart.
5. If you paste text from a document, leave bullets and numbering such as 1. or 1.2 in place. The tool ignores them.
6. Read the chart. It numbers items automatically (1, 1.1, 1.2) and adds days up from the work packages to the top.
7. Choose a top-to-bottom or left-to-right layout.
8. Check the list under the chart, which shows number, item, owner and days.
9. Export the chart as PNG at 1x, 2x or 4x, as SVG, or as a picture PDF. Download the list as CSV if you need the figures in a spreadsheet.

Your work autosaves in this browser, and the Saved menu keeps named copies. To share a plan, create a share link. The document is held inside the link itself, so the person you send it to does not need an account.

How to write a work breakdown structure?

To write a work breakdown structure, start with the final deliverable at the top, split it into its major parts, and keep splitting until each lowest item is a work package that one person or team can estimate and finish. Then confirm that the children of every item add up to all of that item’s work. The steps below follow that order.

1. Name the final deliverable as the top item.
2. Split it into the major deliverables or phases that make it up.
3. Split each of those again. Stop when an item is a work package, the lowest item in the WBS.
4. Apply the 100% rule at every parent. Its children must cover all of its work, with nothing missing and nothing counted twice. The PMI Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures sets out this rule.
5. Number the items and total the days. In this tool, the outline you type becomes the numbered chart with the roll-up applied.

Name items as deliverables, such as “Wireframes”, rather than actions such as “Draw wireframes”. That keeps the structure focused on what the project produces.

How are work breakdown structure templates formatted?

A WBS template is usually laid out as an indented outline, a numbered tree chart, or a list of items with owners and durations. This tool produces all three from one outline: you type the outline, the chart shows the numbers and roll-up, and the list under it gives the details.

Here is a small website example. The outline is Website with Plan 5, Design (Wireframes 8, Visuals 7) and Build 20.

Design shows 15 days because it rolls up its two children. The project totals 40 days across 4 work packages. Days go on work packages, and days typed on a parent are not used. Weeks and hours also work: 2w counts as 10 days and 16h as 2. A plain number such as 2024 Budget stays in the name, and a note tells you when an outline goes past the limits.

Frequently asked questions

• 

  Gantt Chart Maker

  use it when you need to schedule the work packages on a timeline.
• 

  PERT Chart Maker

  use it when task order and dependencies matter more than the breakdown itself.
• 

  RACI Matrix Maker

  use it to assign who is responsible, accountable, consulted and informed for each work package.
• 

  Timeline Maker

  use it to place events or stages along a line of dates.
• 

  Org Chart Maker

  use it to show reporting lines between people and teams.
• 

  Mind Map Maker

  use it to brainstorm project ideas before you organise them into a breakdown.