<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThere is a controversy whether or not rotate a pie chart in Excel. Many people think that the first slice should always start at 12 o’clock, and other slices should appear in a clockwise direction. However, a good method, especially when you’re dealing with lots of tiny parts is to start displaying them, not at 12 o’clock, but at 3 o’clock, starting with the smallest slices. Thanks to this method you have a lot of space on the data labels so they won’t overlap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Look at the following example. It shows mass and diameter of all planets in the Solar System.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To create a chart, first, select the names and masses of the planets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nAfter you insert a Pie Chart<\/strong>, click it, then in Chart Elements<\/strong> select Data Labels<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nAs you can see the planets with the lowest mass get the smallest slices. It’s a good decision to turn the chart by 90 degrees clockwise so you can have more space for data labels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Right-click the pie chart to select it and choose Format Data Series\u2026<\/strong>. Set the angle of the first slice to 90 degrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nIf some of the labels overlap, grab them and move to the proper position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nNote that, in this case, the masses of the Earth, Venus, Mars, and Mercury are smaller than the spaces between the slices. You can change it by selecting different chart style in CHART TOOLS >> DESIGN >> Chart Styles<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nNow you can barely see slices for Earth and Venus. But still cannot see for Mercury and Mars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you have a group of small, barely visible pie slices and you want to show relations between them, a good idea may be to use one of two types of charts: Pie of Pie<\/strong> or Bar of Pie<\/strong>. Both charts display a slice of a pie chart inside another chart.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn the previous example, planets such as Earth, Venus, Mars, and Mercury occupied only a small part of the pie. Therefore, in the following example, these planets will be shown in a separate chart in order to see exactly the relationship between their masses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To display them in the separate chart, right-click the chart and select Change Series Chart Type…<\/strong>. or go to CHART TOOLS >> DESIGN >> Types >> Change Chart Type<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThis will result in the following chart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nThis is surely not what we expected. The second chart consists of 3 gas giants (Uranus, Saturn, Neptune) instead of the rocky planets (Mercury, Mars, Venus, Earth).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let’s make some fixes. First, right-click one of the charts and select Format Data Series\u2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nA new menu will appear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Change Split Series By<\/strong> to Value<\/strong> and set the Values less than<\/strong> to 1.01.<\/strong> We need to change it to this value because Earth mass = 1 and we want also have Earth in the chart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nAfter the changes, our charts will look like in the picture below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nIf some of the labels aren’t visible they are probably under the chart. Just drag them out and place outside the chart. If you don’t want to see a pie chart as the second chart you can use the Bar of Pie Chart<\/strong> instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nTo change a 2-D pie chart to 3-D pie chart in Excel, go to CHARTS TOOLS >> DESIGN >> Type >> Change Chart Type<\/strong> and select 3-D Pie Chart<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\n3-D pie charts have the advantage over 2-D pie charts because you can set options there that are not available in 2-D charts. One of them is Y Rotation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn order to use this option, right-click the chart and choose 3-D Rotation<\/strong>. Y Rotation is set, by default, to 30 degrees. You can set it between 0 and 90 degrees, where 90 degrees is the view from the top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nYou can also use perspective in 3-D charts<\/a>, but I don’t recommend this because it will be hard to distinguish between sizes of individual slices.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn order to distinguish a slice of the pie chart, you may want to pull it outside of the chart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Click the chart (don’t release the button) in order to select all the slices. If you move the mouse cursor outward, all of those slices will start moving apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nIf you want to pull out only one element of the chart, click it, wait a while and then start dragging it outside of the chart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nIf you want to have more control over the distance between the slices, click the chart or a single slice. Right-click to open the contextual menu, then select Format Data Series…<\/strong>. Here, you can set precisely the percentage of the pie explosion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nYou can use values between 0% and 400%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A good way to use a pie chart in Excel is when you want to show relative proportions to a whole. A pie…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[190],"yoast_head":"\n
Pie Chart<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n