How to Make a Pie Chart in Excel? A Step-By-Step-Guide

Read This First

1. Organise your category names and values in Excel.

2. Select the data you want to visualise.

3. Go to Insert and choose a suitable pie chart.

4. Add titles, data labels, percentages and useful formatting.

5. Review the chart to ensure each proportion is easy to understand.

Ever stared at endless rows of numbers and felt your mind blur? When data looks like nothing more than a wall of figures, it’s easy to feel lost. That’s exactly where learning how to make a pie chart in Excel can step in, transforming confusion into clarity. With just a few clicks, you can turn raw data into colourful visuals that everyone instantly understands.

Much like turning simple ingredients into a delicious dish, this skill makes information easier to digest and helps you share insights that truly influence decisions. So, are you ready to captivate your audience and let your data shine? Let’s dive in and bring those numbers to life!

How to Make a Pie Chart in Excel?

Creating a pie chart is simple with the use of Excel. Here's a complete breakdown of the steps to follow if you are confused about how to make a pie chart in Excel:

1) Organising the Data for Your Pie Chart in Excel

To get started, you’ll have to organise the data in one row or column so that you can plot only a single data series in the pie chart. Your spreadsheet can also include a separate row or column representing category names.

The category names are included in the first row or column that needs to be selected. These category names are displayed as data labels in the pie chart, which you can create a chart in Excel by organising your data correctly. You should keep the following in mind when organising your data for an Excel pie chart:

1) Remember to plot only a single data series in your chart.

2) The data values should be more than zero.

3) Don't leave any column or row empty.

4) Keep the number of categories manageable. Microsoft recommends no more than seven categories because too many slices can make a pie chart difficult to read.

In our Excel pie chart tutorial, we are using the following data to create a pie chart:

2) Pie Chart in the Excel Worksheet

Once your source data is organised properly, you’ll have to select it. Select your data, go to Insert > Insert Pie or Doughnut Chart, and choose the required pie chart type. In our example, we will create a 2-D pie chart:

Tip: Include the relevant category labels in your data selection so Excel can identify each slice correctly. Add or edit the chart title separately after inserting the chart.

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3) Choose the Style of the Pie Chart You Want

Once the pie chart is included in the worksheet, select the chart, open the Chart Design tab, choose Change Chart Type, and select the pie chart style you want. You can click on different pie chart styles and select the one that best suits your data.

How to Read a Pie Chart?

Pie charts can be easy to interpret when they contain a small number of clearly labelled categories. However, there are a few tips that can enhance their clarity. A pie chart represents a whole as 100%, with each slice showing its share of that total. When data labels aren't visible, hovering the cursor over a segment (the technical term for a section or slice) will reveal the associated data.

In addition to being easy to understand, pie charts are efficient because they display a large amount of information in a compact space. They also provide an instant visual comparison of each category, highlighting its relationship to both the other segments and the entire dataset.

Quick Check: Is Your Data Ready?

Before inserting the chart, check:

□ Are the categories clearly labelled?

□ Are you plotting one data series?

□ Do the values represent meaningful parts of a whole?

□ Have you removed irrelevant or blank entries?

□ Is the number of slices manageable?

How to Edit a Pie Chart in Excel?

Pie charts are a great way to present data visually, and Excel provides many tools to refine them. By editing your chart, you can customise its look, improve readability, and make your data stand out clearly:

1) Quick Layouts, Styles, and Themes

Excel offers ready-made layouts and chart styles that instantly change the look of your pie chart. You can also apply themes to adjust fonts, colours, and effects consistently across your chart for a polished appearance.

2) Moving the Chart

You can reposition your pie chart anywhere on the worksheet by simply clicking and dragging it. This allows you to align it with your data tables or move it to a more prominent place for presentation purposes.

3) Resizing the Pie Chart

To make your chart larger or smaller, drag the sizing handles at its corners. Resizing ensures the chart fits well with your worksheet layout and highlights the data effectively, whether for reports or presentations.

4) Rotating the Pie Chart

Pie charts can be rotated to adjust how slices are displayed. By altering the angle of the first slice in the chart’s format options, you can bring attention to key data points or arrange slices for better readability.

5) Adding Chart Titles

Titles make your chart more informative by describing the data it represents. You can easily add or edit titles directly in the chart, ensuring your audience immediately understands what the chart is about.

6) Pie Chart Legends

Legends explain what each slice of the pie represents. You can adjust their position, font, and style to improve readability. Clear legends help your viewers connect data categories with their respective chart segments.

7) Colours, Fonts, and Backgrounds

Excel allows full customisation of slice colours, text fonts, and chart backgrounds. Using consistent and contrasting colours improves visual clarity, while well-chosen fonts and backgrounds enhance the overall professional look of your chart.

8) Creating Exploding Pies and Slices

To emphasise certain categories, you can “explode” the whole pie or pull out individual slices. This visual effect highlights specific data points and draws immediate attention to the most important parts of your chart.

9) Additional Pie Chart Formatting Options

Beyond the basics, Excel offers advanced formatting such as 3-D effects, shadow styles, and data labels. These tools allow you to refine the chart further, making it both more visually appealing and easier to interpret.

Trainer’s Insight

Good formatting should make the data easier to understand. Avoid adding visual effects simply because they are available. Every formatting choice should support the information being communicated.

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How to Create Different Pie Chart Types in Excel?

Pie charts are a great way to visualise parts of a whole. Excel offers various pie chart types to suit different data sets and presentation needs. Here's a quick guide to each type:

1) Excel 2-D Pie Charts

This is the simplest pie chart type in Excel. It displays values as flat slices of a circle, ideal for single-series data with clear category comparisons and minimal customisation needs.

2) Excel 3-D Pie Charts

A more visual version of the standard pie chart, it adds perspective and depth. Though attractive in presentations, it may slightly distort proportions and is harder to interpret accurately.

3) Pie of Pie and Bar of Pie Charts

Pie of Pie and Bar of Pie charts separate smaller values into a secondary pie or stacked bar. Excel can determine the split automatically, and users can also adjust which values appear in the secondary chart.

4) Choosing Data Categories for the Secondary Chart

Use Format Data Series options like Position, Value, or Custom to choose which slices go into the secondary chart and control how many appear there.

5) Doughnut Charts

A doughnut chart resembles a pie chart but with a center hole. It supports multiple data series, allowing for more complex comparisons while still showing how each segment relates to the whole.

6) Changing the Hole Size in a Doughnut Chart

Right-click the chart, choose Format Data Series, then adjust the Doughnut Hole Size to make the hole larger or smaller, depending on your visual preference or clarity needs.

Pro Tip

Prefer a 2-D pie chart when accurate visual comparison matters. 3-D perspective can make some slices appear larger or smaller than they really are.

Format a Pie Chart in Excel

When you want to create an Excel pie chart for presentation purposes or export it to a new application, you can format it to improve clarity, consistency and presentation. To use Excel’s formatting features, you can right-click on any slice of the Excel pie chart.

Right-click a pie slice and choose Format Data Series to open the formatting pane. You'll have to choose the Effects tab from the Format Data Series pane. Now, you can apply and check effects such as Soft Edges, Glow, or Shadow. It will help you select the best one out of them.

You can also browse through other options under the Format tab like:

a) Increase or decrease the width and height of the pie chart

b) Change the outline colours and shape fill

c) Use various shape effects

d) Use WordArt styles to modify the text elements

To use the formatting features mentioned above, you’ll have to choose the element in the pie chart that needs formatting. For example, Excel allows you to format features such as chart titles, slices, data labels, or legends. Select the chart element you want to change, then use the Format tab or the relevant formatting pane to adjust its appearance. This will activate the essential formatting features, often used in combination with Excel functions for enhanced data visualisation. On the other hand, the non-relevant features will be represented in grey.

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How Do You Show Percentages in a Pie Plot?

In most charting tools, enable data labels and select the option to show percentages. This helps represent each segment’s share visually. It’s a useful way to make pie plots more informative and easier to interpret. Here's how pie charts can make a difference: