diff --git a/oox/source/drawingml/diagram/diagramlayoutatoms.cxx b/oox/source/drawingml/diagram/diagramlayoutatoms.cxx
index 89fc12546165..e4980991795a 100644
--- a/oox/source/drawingml/diagram/diagramlayoutatoms.cxx
+++ b/oox/source/drawingml/diagram/diagramlayoutatoms.cxx
@@ -1146,6 +1146,28 @@ void AlgAtom::layoutShape(const ShapePtr& rShape, const std::vector<Constraint>&
                 if (aCurrShape->getSubType() == XML_conn)
                     aCurrShape->setRotation(nConnectorAngle * PER_DEGREE);
             }
+
+            // Newer shapes are behind older ones by default. Reverse this if requested.
+            sal_Int32 nChildOrder = XML_b;
+            const LayoutNode* pParentLayoutNode = nullptr;
+            for (LayoutAtomPtr pAtom = getParent(); pAtom; pAtom = pAtom->getParent())
+            {
+                auto pLayoutNode = dynamic_cast<LayoutNode*>(pAtom.get());
+                if (pLayoutNode)
+                {
+                    pParentLayoutNode = pLayoutNode;
+                    break;
+                }
+            }
+            if (pParentLayoutNode)
+            {
+                nChildOrder = pParentLayoutNode->getChildOrder();
+            }
+            if (nChildOrder == XML_t)
+            {
+                std::reverse(rShape->getChildren().begin(), rShape->getChildren().end());
+            }
+
             break;
         }
 
diff --git a/oox/source/drawingml/diagram/diagramlayoutatoms.hxx b/oox/source/drawingml/diagram/diagramlayoutatoms.hxx
index cb34f7a005f1..f36224f0f882 100644
--- a/oox/source/drawingml/diagram/diagramlayoutatoms.hxx
+++ b/oox/source/drawingml/diagram/diagramlayoutatoms.hxx
@@ -271,6 +271,7 @@ public:
         { msStyleLabel = sLabel; }
     void setChildOrder( sal_Int32 nOrder )
         { mnChildOrder = nOrder; }
+    sal_Int32 getChildOrder() const { return mnChildOrder; }
     void setExistingShape( const ShapePtr& pShape )
         { mpExistingShape = pShape; }
     const ShapePtr& getExistingShape() const
diff --git a/oox/source/drawingml/diagram/layoutnodecontext.cxx b/oox/source/drawingml/diagram/layoutnodecontext.cxx
index 80ae1d5bb6a9..93f927531cf6 100644
--- a/oox/source/drawingml/diagram/layoutnodecontext.cxx
+++ b/oox/source/drawingml/diagram/layoutnodecontext.cxx
@@ -198,7 +198,24 @@ LayoutNodeContext::onCreateContext( ::sal_Int32 aElement,
     {
         LayoutNodePtr pNode = std::make_shared<LayoutNode>(mpNode->getLayoutNode().getDiagram());
         LayoutAtom::connect(mpNode, pNode);
-        pNode->setChildOrder( rAttribs.getToken( XML_chOrder, XML_b ) );
+
+        if (rAttribs.hasAttribute(XML_chOrder))
+        {
+            pNode->setChildOrder(rAttribs.getToken(XML_chOrder, XML_b));
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            for (LayoutAtomPtr pAtom = mpNode; pAtom; pAtom = pAtom->getParent())
+            {
+                auto pLayoutNode = dynamic_cast<LayoutNode*>(pAtom.get());
+                if (pLayoutNode)
+                {
+                    pNode->setChildOrder(pLayoutNode->getChildOrder());
+                    break;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
         pNode->setMoveWith( rAttribs.getString( XML_moveWith ).get() );
         pNode->setStyleLabel( rAttribs.getString( XML_styleLbl ).get() );
         return new LayoutNodeContext( *this, rAttribs, pNode );
diff --git a/sd/qa/unit/import-tests-smartart.cxx b/sd/qa/unit/import-tests-smartart.cxx
index 6fc195ccd101..bdf320ce831f 100644
--- a/sd/qa/unit/import-tests-smartart.cxx
+++ b/sd/qa/unit/import-tests-smartart.cxx
@@ -1532,8 +1532,9 @@ void SdImportTestSmartArt::testLinearRule()
     sd::DrawDocShellRef xDocShRef = loadURL(m_directories.getURLFromSrc("/sd/qa/unit/data/pptx/smartart-linear-rule.pptx"), PPTX);
 
     uno::Reference<drawing::XShape> xGroup(getShapeFromPage(0, 0, xDocShRef), uno::UNO_QUERY);
-    // Last child, then again last child.
-    uno::Reference<drawing::XShape> xShape = getChildShape(getChildShape(xGroup, 1), 3);
+    // Last child, then first child inside that.
+    // It is first as backgroundArrow is last, but chOrder="t" is set to reverse the order.
+    uno::Reference<drawing::XShape> xShape = getChildShape(getChildShape(xGroup, 1), 0);
 
     // Without the accompanying fix in place, this test would have failed with:
     // - Expected greater than: 17500 (19867)