Buzz
In this article, Mytour will guide you on how to create visually appealing data illustrations in Microsoft Excel using pie charts.
Steps
Add Data
Launch the Microsoft Excel application. The program features a white "E" icon on a green background.
- If you wish to create a chart from existing data, double-click the Excel document containing the data to open it and proceed to the next step.
Click on Blank workbook – Blank spreadsheet (for PC) or Excel Workbook (for Mac). This button is located at the top-left corner of the "Template" window.
Add a title to the chart. To include a title, click on cell B1, then enter the name of the chart.
- For instance, if you're creating a budget chart, cell B1 might have a title like "2017 Budget".
- You can also input a label for clarity in cell A1 – for example, "Budget Allocation".
Input data into the chart. Start by entering the labels for the pie chart segments in column A and their corresponding values in column B.
- Using the budget example, you could write "Car Expenses" in cell A2 and then input "$1000" in cell B2.
- The pie chart template will automatically calculate the percentages for you.
Complete the data entry process. Once finished, you're ready to generate the chart for your data.
Create Chart
Select all data. To do this, click on cell A1, hold down the ⇧ Shift key, and then click on the bottom value in column B. This will select all your data.
- If your data is in columns labeled with letters, numbers, etc., click on the top-left cell of the data group and then click on the bottom-right cell while holding the ⇧ Shift key.
Click on the Insert tab. This tab is located at the top of the Excel window, just to the right of the Home tab.
Click on the "Pie Chart" icon. This icon is a circular button in the "Charts" group, located below and to the right of the Insert tab. You will then see several options appear in a dropdown menu:
- 2-D Pie - Creates a simple pie chart displaying color-coded data segments.
- 3-D Pie - Uses a three-dimensional pie chart to display color-coded data.
Click on an option. This will generate a pie chart based on your data; you will see color-coded labels at the bottom of the chart corresponding to the colored segments.
- You can preview options by hovering over different chart templates.
Customize the chart's appearance. To customize, click on the Design tab near the top of the "Excel" window, then select an option from the "Chart Styles" group. This will alter the chart's appearance, including colors, text placement, and whether percentages are displayed.
- To view the Design tab, you must select the chart by clicking on it.
Tips
- You can copy the chart and paste it into other Microsoft Office products (such as Word or PowerPoint).
- If you want to create charts for multiple data sets, repeat this process for each set. Once the chart is displayed, click and drag it away from the central area of the Excel document to prevent the new chart from overlapping the previous one.
