Making a Pie Chart

See my previous presentation if you are not sure if
the pie chart is the right choice for your data

These instructions are for making a chart in
Microsoft Excel. If you don’t have that you
can try alternatives such as
Free Office
Open Office
WPS Office
Libre Office
There may be a slight difference in the way
these applications work.

Item Amount
Rent 10000
Groceries 4000
Travel 3000
Clothes 2000
Entertainment 4000
Savings 7000
From a total salary of 30,000
These are the expenses

Item Amount
Rent 10000
Groceries 4000
Travel 3000
Clothes 2000
Entertainment 4000
Savings 7000
From a total salary of 30,000
These are the expenses Make sure the amounts are all numbers.
Don’t include spaces or other characters.
You can use a comma or decimal point &
write 10,000 or 10,000.00
Maintain the same format

Select your data, then click
on insert and choose the
pie chart. Use the ordinary
one for now. We will look
at the options later.

Using the shortcut keys
will bring up the Insert
chart dialog. You can
choose the pie chart
from here by clicking on
it.
OR

Click on the insert
chart dialog.

BUT
Is this what you
really want?
Let’s see how to
customize this and
make it better.

If you want to work
extensively on the chart it is
better to move it off the
current work sheet and
insert it as a tab. Select the
chart, right click, and then
select Move Chart. This is a
matter of choice, you can
skip this and still do the same
formatting when the chart is
on the sheet.

Choose
New Sheet and
write a name
instead of
Chart 1.
Lets call it
EXPENSES.
Click OK

This how your
new tab will
look.
You can
experiment with
the styles on top
if you want.

These are some of
the style options that
you get. However
you will find that
some adjustment is
still needed.

Chart Title
Before proceeding make sure you know what the components of the chart are called.
Legend
Data Label
Leader Line Chart Area
Legend Entry
Legend key
Category name
Value

Chart Title
Before proceeding make sure you know what the components of the chart are called.
Legend
Data Label
Leader Line Chart Area
Legend Entry
Legend key
Category name
Value
Each of these elements can be
Formatted for colour and size
Moved around
Or
Deleted
to achieve the desired effect.
Right clicking on the element or
selecting it from the FORMAT menu
will bring up your choices

First we will format the
CHART TITLE
I have dragged the title to one side
Changed it from “Amount” to
“Expenses”
Selected the text and then changed the
font to Graphite Std Wide 28
Text Fill- Blue
Text Outline – Light green
Text Shadow- Black lighter 25%
This kind of formatting can be done
with any text in the chart.

The category name should either be in the
legend or in the data label.
Keeping it in both places may not be such
a good idea. See how ‘Savings’ is repeated
here.
Choose according to your vision of what
your final chart should look like.
You can change the placement of the
legend, and change the font too.
Legend
Data Label

The legend has been
pulled to one side, the
font changed, the text
box filled with a
standard gradient,
with a shadow added.
Only percentage share
has been retained and
other data not shown

In this example,
The legend has been
deleted, and category
name added to the
data label.

Leader lines
sometimes don’t
appear even if they are
selected. They only
appear when the data
label is pulled away
from the pie.

Double clicking on a
slice of the pie and
then pulling it away
can help you highlight
a particular value

Filling the slices with
gradients is the easiest
way to add interest to
your chart.
Select each slice and
once you have selected
the colour and
gradient you like,
change the angle of
the gradient to suit the
circle.

Filling the slices with
pictures can add a
great deal of meaning.
Select each slice and
Choose appropriate
images, select each
slice and in the fill
option select ‘picture,’
then select ‘file .’
Navigate to the folder
where you stored the
image and select it.

If you choose to use a 3D chart, be
aware that it may give a wrong visual
impression of the actual differences

If the values are small and
labels are bunched up they
need to be pulled apart
Try and keep the
format the same
for all labels, if the
category name and
value are on the
same line for other
labels try and get
this to match by
selecting it and
changing the size
of the text box.

You can edit all the fonts and text boxes in the chart. But
don’t get carried away and overdo the decorating!
Remember the purpose is to enhance the understanding
and the message of the chart, not to show off all the
formatting you know! If in doubt choose to be simple.
There are many more creative and elaborate ways of
displaying your data in pie charts… in the next
installment…
Thanks!!!
Images used from free
image sources:
www.clipartist.info/
www.clipartbest.com/
www.clipartpanda.com
www.clipartlord.com/

Making a Pie Chart

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