Pie chart

Pie charts show categories as a proportion or a percentage of the whole. Use pie charts to show the composition of categorical data with each segment proportional to the quantity it represents.

When do you use it?

Pie charts are effective when comparing parts of a whole for a static period. They do not show change over time.

Consider using a pie chart if you are working with:

one data set pie charts are effective for categorizing and comparing one data set
positive values pie charts cannot display zeros and can be confusing when working with negative values
seven or fewer categories it becomes increasingly difficult to perceive the relative size of each segment when working with more than seven categories

Examples

Standard pie chart

You need to determine which shipping methods represent the greatest total proportion of the total amount your company pays in shipping costs. Using a pie chart, you demonstrate the percentage of total cost that each method represents:

Donut chart

You need to determine if there is a relationship between customer type and profit. Using the pie chart, you display the sum of profit for each category of customer to show which customer types represent the most important segment of your sales:

Data configuration settings

On the Configure panel, click Data and configure the following settings:

Setting	Supported data types	Description
Categories displayed	character numeric datetime	The field represented by pie chart sections. One section is created for each unique value in the field.
Value	numeric	The aggregate value that serves as the basis for the chart's values. The total of all values in the field for each category determines the size of the pie chart sections. Tip You can control decimals and rounding on numeric data by changing the format of this field in the table view. For help doing this, see Data formatting options.
Format options	numeric	Select an option in this field to apply formatting such as decimals and rounding to the Y-axis values in the chart. For help doing this, see Data formatting options. Format options is available only for the Average aggregate option. For all other aggregate options, format options set in Table View is applied.

Setting

Supported data types

Description

Categories displayed

character
numeric
datetime

The field represented by pie chart sections. One section is created for each unique value in the field.

Value

numeric

The aggregate value that serves as the basis for the chart's values. The total of all values in the field for each category determines the size of the pie chart sections.

Tip

You can control decimals and rounding on numeric data by changing the format of this field in the table view. For help doing this, see Data formatting options.

Format options

numeric

Select an option in this field to apply formatting such as decimals and rounding to the Y-axis values in the chart. For help doing this, see Data formatting options.

Format options is available only for the Average aggregate option. For all other aggregate options, format options set in Table View is applied.

Chart display settings

On the Configure panel, click Display and configure the following settings:

Setting	Description
Options
Show Legend	Show or hide the legend at the top of the chart.
Show Values	Show or hide the data point values.
Show Percentages	Show or hide the percentage that each proportion represents of the whole.
Donut	Display the pie chart as a donut chart rather than a traditional pie chart.
Ratio	Controls the size of the donut hole in relation to the chart as a whole. Specify a larger value to increase the size of the hole. The maximum value is 0.7.
Other settings
Colors	The colors assigned to each category.