Make Pie Chart in Excel

How to Make a pie chart in Excel?

There are different kinds of Pie charts in excel which can be used as per the requirement. Below we have taken examples to learn how to make excel pie charts.

1. 2D Pie Chart
2. 3D Pie Chart
3. Pie of Pie
4. Bar of Pie
5. Doughnut Pie

Example #1 – Make a 2D Pie Chart

In this example let’s learn how to make the 2D Pie chart in excel

Here let’s take data of the Food industry to see which flavor beverage is more selling and has more demand.

• Enter the data in an excel sheet

• Select the range of data ie., A1: B8 then click on Insert tab in the Ribbon and click on the Pie Chart icon in the Charts section and select the first chart under 2-D Pie Option.

The Pie Chart looks like as given below:

This is how the 2D pie chart looks like.  In this chart, you can see the circle shaped chart representing the data and each slice of the pie represents the flavor.

By looking at this chart, one can easily compare the data and the Mango flavor has the highest Sales which means high demand followed by Strawberry flavor.

You can add data labels to the slices to get the values of each slice. (As shown in the figure)

• Right-click on the chart and select Add Data Labels > Add Data Labels Option.

Data Labels is added to the chart.

• Selecting Add Call Outs shows the data labels with name and % to total as a call-out outside the chart.

You can drag the slice out from the circle to visualize the data by highlighting the bigger slice or the smaller slice.  Just double click on the particular slice and drag it using a mouse.

In the below-given figure, I’ve taken out the slices having the highest Sales and least Sales.

These slices can be rejoined to the circle by selecting and dragging it back to its place.

The color of the slices can be customized using the Format Data Point option

• Double click on the slick and right-click and select the option “Format Data Point” in the options.

• Select the color under the “Fill” section.

The angle of the slices can be changed to make it show in the angle wherever you want.

• Click and select the chart and do right click then, select Format Data Series from the option.

• Adjust the Angle of first slice bar to change the direction of the slices under Series Options section
• Adjust the Pie Explosion bar to increase or decrease the gap between the slices.

The appearance of the chart can be changed using the chart styles option available at the right top corner of the chart.

The categories of the pie can be removed/applied by using the chart filter.

Example #2 – Make a 3D Pie Chart

To make the 3D Pie chart in excel, follow the same steps as given in the previous example.

• Enter the data in an excel sheet and click on the Pie Chart icon in the Charts section and select the chart under 3-D Pie Option.

Then the Chart looks like as given below:

In this example, we have two data sets. But the pie chart can show data on one column only. This type of chart is currently showing the data on Actual Sales. To see the chart for Target Sales, you need to switch the columns in Chart filter (as shown below).

Now you can see the Target Sales data.

All the other options and features of the 3D pie chart remain the same as 2D pie.  The features explained in the above 2D chart can be applied to this chart as well.

Example #3 – Make a Doughnut Pie Chart

The doughnut pie chart excel is one of the types in Pie chart which will be in the shape of Doughnut, which is only the outer circle and hollow inside. The advantage of using a doughnut chart is that you can show the multiple data sets in the chart, unlike other pie charts.

To make the doughnut pie chart in excel, please follow the same steps as given in the previous examples.

• Select the data in an excel sheet and click on the Pie Chart icon in the Charts section and select the Doughnut chart.

The Doughnut Chart would look like as given below:

In the above example, I’ve taken three data sets for three different months showing the Sales.  And, the chart has three circles representing the three sets of data.  The innermost circle represents the value of the first column and outermost represents the data of the last column.

The disadvantage of this chart is it makes the chart difficult to read.

All the other options and features are as same as a 2D pie chart which are explained in the previous examples.

Example #4 – Make a Pie of Pie Chart

Pie of Pie is one of the chart types in Pie chart where you can see two pie charts for the same data set. In this chart, the items in the data set can be grouped based on the positions in the data table, value, percentage or can be customized as per the requirement.

To make this chart, please follow the same steps as given in the previous examples.

• Select the data and click on the Pie Chart icon in the Charts section and select the Pie of Pie Chart.

In the above example, you can see the Pie of Pie.  There are 7 items in the data set and in the chart, the first pie has 5 slices and the second pie has 3 slices.  The bigger slice in the first pie with the connecting lines to the second pie is the total of the second pie. This chart combines the value of all the smaller portions in the first pie and shows separately in the second pie.

By default, the second pie will have the data of the last 3 items in the list (by position).  This can be changed as per the requirement.

• Select the chart and do right click then, select Format Data Series

• Select the option in the dropdown in Split Series by section if you want it by value, percentage or custom
• Increase or decrease the number of values in the second plot i.e. the no. of slices in the second chart based on position.

Example #5 – Make a Bar of Pie Chart

The bar of the pie chart is as same as Pie of pie but the second chart will have the bar chart instead of Pie. Below given is the example for Bar of Pie.

• Select the Data and click on the Pie chart option under that select Bar of Pie.

The Bar of Pie Chart looks like as given below.

All the options and features will be the same as shown in the previous examples.

Recommended Articles

This has been a guide to make Pie Chart in Excel. Here we discuss how to make the top 5 types of pie-charts including 2D, 3D, Pie of Pie, Bar of Pie & Doughnut Chart. You may learn more about excel from the following articles –

• Excel Rotate Pie Chart
• Create Control Charts in Excel
• Excel Stock Chart
• Create 3D Maps in Excel