Make Pie Charts in Excel (Top 5 Types) | Step by Step Guide + Examples

Pie chart is a circular chart in excel which is an inbuilt chart which can be found in the insert chart section of excel, in this type of chart the data is represented in circular axis, comparison in this type of chart is also known as part to whole comparison where every data series is a part of the total data and all series together form the complete data.

Make an Excel Pie Chart

The pie chart is one of the charts available in Excel which is helpful in the visualization and analysis of data in a graphical representation. This chart is in a circular form and so it is also known as circle chart. It is named after the “Pie”, the baked dish, because of its appearance in circular form with slices. This chart will be used when the comparison is to be made between different categories as this chart makes the data easily readable. Each category will be presented as one slice of the pie. The proportion of all slices will give the total of the whole when summed up. In this article, we are going to provide you step by step instructions to make Pie Chart in Excel.

The disadvantage of the Pie chart is that it cannot be used where the data set is huge.

How to Make a pie chart in Excel?

You can download this Pie Chart Examples Excel Template here – Pie Chart Examples Excel Template

There are different kinds of Pie charts which can be used as per the requirement.

2D Pie Chart
3D Pie Chart
Pie of Pie
Bar of Pie
Doughnut Pie

Example #1 – Make a 2D Pie Chart in Excel

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

Here let’s take data of 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 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.

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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 “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 in Excel

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 remains 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 in Excel

The doughnut pie chart is one of the types in Pie chart which will be in a 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 outer most 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 in Excel

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 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 in Excel

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 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.