Pie Chart
Last updated
Last updated
A Pie Chart shows the relative sizes or weights of categories in a data field. It helps you understand how values of the field are distributed. Learn about each Pie Chart feature below:
2D or 3D: display as 2D or 3D chart.
This changes how the chart is displayed. In 3D mode, the chart can be further rotated and zoomed/panned using standard keyboard shortcuts, or with the mouse, or Pie Chart buttons.
Note that the keyboard "Home" key puts the 3D Pie Chart at the standard angle, while the "End" key puts it face up, like a 2D Pie Chart but a little nicer looking.
You can also use the mouse to adjust the position and angle of the 3D Pie Chart; change the zoom factor if the labels aren't fully visible.
From: Chart Toolbar "Configure Data" (); Advanced Property "Display In 3D"; Keyboard; Mouse.
Aggregation: choose what pie slice size represents.
The aggregation operation determines how the angle of a slice is computed. Slice angle may be proportional to the number of rows with that category value; this is the default. It may also be proportional to the sum of values in another field (a Measure, or weight field). No other aggregation operations (e.g., average) are available with the Pie Chart.
From: Data Configuration dialog.
Color Stacking: show contributions from another field.
If the Pie Chart's table is colored by a different field than the Pie Chart's category field, each slice is shown with "stacked" colors. This lets you see the correlation between the two fields.
Stacking can also be turned off; then colors are shown only if all selected rows in a slice have the same color; otherwise, the generic "Selected" color is used.
From: "Color Field" in "Analyze" ribbon; Advanced Property "Stack Colors".
Slice order: what order are my slices in?
You can choose how the slices for categories are ordered: in original order (the order they were encountered in the input file), by label, by size, by selected amount, or by percent selected. If bars are ordered by selected amount or percent selected, doing a selection can cause the bar order to change. The reverse of each ordering is also available.
Original ordering is rarely useful; use it only if your data is in some order that cannot be achieved by one of these options.
From: Chart Toolbar "Set Display Order"; Advanced Property "Display Order".
Text and labeling: how is the chart labeled?
You can control which slices are labeled. By default, a "Best Fit" strategy is used: all slices are labeled unless the labels would overlap.
Alternatively, the Advanced Property "Label Mode" may be set to label all slices, no slices, Selected slices, or individually chosen slices ("Label Custom").
In "Label Custom" mode, the label on a particular slice can be toggled by clicking in the chart to focus on it and by putting the mouse over the slice and hitting the keyboard "L" key.
The chart may have a title; by default an automatically-generated title is shown. This title may be changed via the "Chart Titles" dialog or the "Title" property, the font may be changed, or the title may be hidden (from the "Chart Titles" dialog or the "Display Title" property).
From: Chart Toolbar; Advanced Properties pane; Mouse & Keyboard.
Customizable Focus: what is this item?
You focus on an item by pointing at it for a second, or by pressing the SHIFT or CTRL key, or by setting the "Label By Hover" Advanced Property. Detailed information about the slice is then displayed in a box.
From: Advanced Properties "Label By Hover", "Focus Format String".
Weighting Strategy: how are negatives handled?
A Pie Chart can be weighted by a count or by the sum of a numeric field, which sums the values in the weight field for each unique category (slice) of the pie. But what happens when the weight field contains negative values?
The strategy for representing negative weights in a Pie Chart is to "Include ALL Weights", which means to compute the relative slice sizes based on the absolute values of their net visible (Selected or Unselected) weight value. Slices with negative net weights are drawn with a stippled pattern and dark outline (or reduced height in 3D mode).
A partially-Selected slice can have an absolute value net weight greater than the total net category weight, so slices can be represented as wedges that extend beyond the radius of the whole pie:
Show Unselected: are Unselected slices shown?
By default, Unselected slices are displayed in the current Unselected color. Optionally, fully Unselected slices may be omitted, causing the angles of the remaining slices to be recalculated.
From: Chart Toolbar "Display Unselected Data".
Drill down/up: category hierarchy level
See also:
The font used for labels can be set from the "Chart Titles" dialog (from in the toolbar) or from the "Label Font" property in the Advanced Properties pane.
You can customize the focus information by changing a format string with the property. Clearing this string suppresses focus labeling.
If a hierarchy is , move up or down that hierarchy.
From: Chart Toolbar "Drill Up", "Drill Down" (,).
