Think like this for a second, you are a business owner who runs an electronics shop selling mobile phones, computers, laptops, and tablets.
At the end of the month, you want to review your sales to understand which products are most popular and how your revenue is divided among these products. The total sales for a month are 2124 units. You can visualize the sales distribution using a pie chart.
A pie chart shows that mobile phones are the best-selling products, accounting for 48.7% of the total sales, followed by laptops at 25.4%, computers at 15.1%, and tablets at 10.8%.
This breakdown of product mix helps you to understand customer preferences and can guide decisions on inventory purchases and many other things.
What is a Pie Chart in Excel
A pie chart is a graph that looks like a circle cut into different slices (categories), where each slice represents a category. You can use pie charts to see how different parts of your data compare to the whole. Pie Chart are great for showing how big each category is compared to the whole. Use them when you don’t have too many different categories.
Types of Pie Charts in Google Sheets
There are a few types of pie chart which you create in Google Sheets:
- Standard Pie Chart – This basic pie chart looks like a circle cut into different slices. Each slice represents a type of data, such as the various types of electronics you sell and how much each type contributes to total sales.
- Exploded Pie Chart: One or more slices are pulled away from the rest of the pie in this chart. This highlights those slices, clarifying that they need attention.
- 3D- Pie Chart – It’s just like a standard pie chart, but it looks like it’s popping out towards you (that’s why it’s 3D). It doesn’t show data differently but is more about looks.
- Pie of Pie Chart/Bar of Pie Chart: This chart type is two charts in one. The main pie shows the main categories and a smaller pie or a bar chart next to it shows the smaller categories, which are too small to be seen well in the main pie.
Steps to Make a Pie Chart in Google Sheets
- Make sure your data is organized so that you can use it to create a pie chart. Typically, this involves having one column for the categories and another for the values. In the below data you have type of products as category and units sold as values.
- Once the data is ready, select the data and then go to the insert menu on the toolbar. Select “Chart” from the options. This will insert a default chart based on your selected data.
- When click on the “Chart” option the chart appears, Google Sheets might automatically select a pie chart type for you. But you can easily change it if it’s not a pie chart.
- From this, double-click on the chart to open the Chart Editor on the right side of the screen. Go to the Setup tab in the Chart Editor and find the Chart type dropdown. Select “Pie chart” from the list of chart types.
By following these steps, you’ll have a pie chart that effectively communicates your data, making it easier to understand the types of products being sold.
Make a 3D Pie Chart in Google Sheets
The steps to create a 3D pie chart is exactly same as creating a simple pie chart in Google Sheets. Once you insert a new pie chart, all you need to do is to convert it into a 3D pie chart.
When you insert a new pie chart, click on it to open the Chart Editor on the right. In the Chart Editor, go to the Setup tab. Then click on the Customized tab and the “3D” checkmark.
Change Chart Title of Pie Chart in Google Sheets
Once you insert a new chart you can change its title to make it clearer that what is the purpose of chart and data it presents.
In the Chart Editor, go to the Customize tab. After that, please scroll down to the section labeled Chart & axis titles (click on it to expand the section).
And in the field labeled Title Text, you will see the existing title as a placeholder if no title was previously set.
In the Title Text box, enter the new title you want for your chart.
Move a Pie Chart to a New Sheet
To move a pie chart to a new sheet within the same Google Sheets you need to use the copy and paste method. Google Sheets doesn’t directly allow you to move a chart to a new sheet, like Excel.
For this, you need to select a chart and the press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + C and then insert a new sheet and then go to the cell where you want to paste the chart. In the end, use the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl + V to paste the chart.
Customize Your Pie Chart in Google Sheets
Customizing a pie chart in Google Sheets allows you to change its appearance to better fit your presentation needs and make the data easier to understand. When you open the Chart editor, go to the “Customize” tab; there you will find all the options to customize the pie chart.
- Within the “Chart style” of the Chart Editor, you can modify the background color, change the border color to define the chart’s edges, and select a different font for all elements, including labels and titles, to improve readability.
- Pie chart option allows to make changes to the pie chart itself. You can convert a pie chart into doughnut chart, change label values, and change font properties for labels.
- And the “Pie Slice” option allows you to change the pie settings for each pie separately. You can change the color and make a slice exploded.
- From “Chart &axis title”, you can change the chart title and subtitle and all the font settings that comes with it.
- In the “Legend” you have all the options to change the legend settings like legend position, font style & color, and size.
Important Points to Take Care
When you are creating a pie chart in Google Sheets, there are a few key points to consider:
- Data Selection: Pie charts are best for displaying the proportions of different categories as parts of a whole. Ensure your data has categories and values.
- Limit the Number of Slices: As I mentioned earlier, too many slices can make your pie chart look cluttered and difficult to read. Pie charts should be used for data with around five to seven categories.
- Clear Labels: Make sure each slice is clearly labeled with the category name, the percentage of the whole, or both. This improves the readability of your chart.
- Avoid Using 3D Effects: While 3D pie charts can look nice, they may distort the perception of the data, making some slices appear larger or smaller than their actual proportions.
- Color Scheme: Use a consistent color scheme to differentiate between slices. This helps users distinguish the slices immediately.
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