Power BI Pie Chart – Complete Tutorial

Do you want to work with Power BI Pie chart? This complete guide to get all the ideas as well as details about how to use Power BI Pie Chart. Let us try to understand, what is Power BI Pie chart, and how a pie chart works in Power BI with the below topics:

• Power BI Pie Chart
• Field requirements to create a Pie chart
• Create a pie chart on Power BI
• Power BI Pie Chart format and Customize
• Power BI Pie Chart filters
• Power BI Pie Chart drill down and drill up
• Power BI Pie Chart show percenatge
• Power BI Pie Chart show all labels
• Power BI Pie Chart multiple values
• Power BI Pie Chart show values
• Power BI Pie Chart conditional formatting
• Power BI Pie Chart group small values / Power BI Pie Chart other category
• Pros and cons Power BI Pie Chart

Power BI Pie Chart

In Microsoft Power BI, there are various types of visuals available. From them, one of the important visuals is Pie charts. It is used to show the relationship of parts to a whole where the whole is calculated as 100% of the Pie chart.

We can show the data in Percentages and degrees on Pie charts. For these, the formulas are:

To show data in degrees = (given data/total data)*360

To show data in Percentage = (Frequency/total frequency)*100

Among all visuals, this visual is very easy user friendly as well as beginner-friendly. It allows very responsibly, effective decision-making visuals to the insights they provide.

This chart is very useful to visualize high-level data in a circular visual such as sales by region, sales by country, profit by-products, etc.

Let’s have a look at the below example of Pie chart that showing us the total sales by regions separated by the whole.

Before creating a Pie chart, first, we have to know the rules. These are:

• We should use positive value to create a Pie chart as it does not take negative values.
• All the values should be zero values.
• We can use only data series.

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Field requirements to create a Pie chart

Now we discuss what are the fields requires to create a Pie chart in Power BI. These are:

• Title– It gives a litle description about our visual i.e. what is in our chart.
• Legends– It gives information about each slice or segment taht represent in Pie cahrt.
• value– Any numerical value, based on that segments will calculate on Pie chart.
• Details– It will specify the column name based on which we wat to split our chart.

Create a pie chart on Power BI

Now we will see how to create a Pie Chart on Power BI. For this, here we are providing you a sample data that will use to create a Pie chart also, implement all above the topics. Follow this step-by-step guide to creating a Power BI Pie chart.

Step-1:

First, we will load the sample data on Power BI Desktop. For this, On Power BI Desktop > go to Excel workbook( as our data in excel format ) > select the data > Open > Load.

Step-2:

Now, we can see the data is loaded in Power BI Desktop. To create a pie chart, click on Pie chart visual under the visualizations pane. It will create a dummy pie chart on the Report page.

Step-3:

Now, we will drag the fields from sample data fields to the chart fields to create a pie chart. For example, we are going to create a chart that will create a visual based on sales by product category. The fields we are going to use are:

• Legend– Product Category
• Value– Sales

This is how we can create and show our data in a Power BI Pie chart.

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Power BI Pie Chart format and Customize

In the Power BI Pie chart, there are few formats are available. By using these we can format and customize our Pie chart which makes the chart more attractive. Let’s have a look what are the formats available on the Power BI Pie chart.

To see these, Select the Pie chart visual > go to format pane.

Here we will discuss some important formats of the Power BI Pie chart.

• General – Here we can set the X & Y positions and Height and width of the Pie cahrt.
• Legend– It allow to show or hide the legends on Pie chart by toggoling it. It contains more options and we can see it when we expand this. We can customize the legends positions, it’s color, font size, font family, it’s name, show or hide the title of the legends etc.

For example, here we will change the position of the legend from Right center to bottom center. it’s color from gray to black, text size from 10pt to 12 pt, font family Segoe UI to Constantia. Now, we can see the results on legends:

• Data colors– Here we can customize the color of each segments. It allow us to select a color from colorchart(by clicking on down arrow). For example, we will change the color from blue to yellow in Furniture.

• Details label– Here we can show or hide the details label on Pie chart by using the toggle. In this section we can change the data label style, it’s color, display units, label position, font family, text size, etc.

For example, we will change the data label style to a data value, color to dark blue, text size to 13 pt, display unit to none. Then it will come like below:

• Title – Here we can show or hide the title of the chart by toggling it. Also, we can edit the title, title heading, font family, text size, title alignment, it’s background color, etc.

Let’s customize the title’s font color to Dark blue, its alignment to center, background color to light gray, text size to 17 pt, font style to comic sans MS, etc.

• Border- This option is used to give a border to the visual. Also, we can edit theboredr color and set the radius.
• Background– It is allow to show or hide the background color. We can set an appropriate background color on it and adjust its transparency.

For example, here we will add a color( light purple ) from the color chart and set its transparency to 32%.

We can see there is another option i.e. Revert to default. When we click on that it will remove the customization and return it to the back.

• Shadow– Similarly, here we can give a shadow effect to our visual.

Now we can see the differences clearly on before and after the format on the Power BI Pie chart.

This is all about the Formatting and customization on the Power BI Pie chart.

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Power BI Pie Chart filters

Before Doing the filter on Pie chart, first, we will know what is Filter? A filter is a powerful process that will extract the data based on some conditions. Using a filter we can discover only information that we need.

Now we will see how to do filter on the Power BI Pie chart. For this, you have to follow this step-by-step guide.

Step-1:

First, we will create a Pie chart on Power BI Report. For example, here we are going to create a Pie chart using our Sample data like below:

Step-2:

By default, there is a filter panel available on the Power BI Report page. We can see the filter option by expanding it. Also, we can see it allow us to do filter on a particular visual or a page, entire page.

It is showing the data fields that are used on Pie chart. Using these data fields we will do the filter on Pie chart.

Step-3:

First, we will filter the Pie chart based on the Product’s sub-category. As it is a textual field it contains another 3 types of filters, such as:

• Basic filtering
• Advance filtering
• Top N

Let’s see the examples, how these filter types are working on the Power BI Pie chart.

• Basic filtering on Pie chart: By using this filter we can dig out only the selected items. For example, from all of the Product’s sub-categories we want to show only Appliances,Computer peripherals, tables, bookcases, Papers, Envelops and office machines. Then the Pie chart will appear like below:

• Advance filtering: As we can do more advance level filter, so it is called as Advance filtering. It will show us only those item according to logical conditions we set. For example, we will show only those products that starts with B or O. It will filter and show all these product’s sub-category that starts with the letters B or O.

• Top N / Bottom N: Using this filter we can show the Top N or Bottom N products from the total products. Here N stands for any numerical number(1,2,3…). For example, lets filter the Top 5 product’s category based on Order qunatity.

Similarly, we can filter the Bottom 5 data according to Order quantity.

Step-4:

On this Pie chart, there is another data field i.e. Quantity Order data field which is a numerical data field.

Here we can able to show the data items when it contains some conditional value such as is less than, is greater than, is, is not, is blank, etc. Using these we can filter our data.

For example, we will filter the data whose value is greater than 1500 and less than 2500 based on Order quantity. Then it will come like this:

In these various ways, we can filter the Pie chart according to our requirement on power BI.

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Power BI Pie Chart drill down and drill up

In Power BI, a drill down or drill up is a powerful and important way to navigating data from one level down or up to a more detailed level. By clicking on a data element, It giving the user the to navigate to a different layer of data.

Here we will see how to do drill up and down on the Power BI Pie chart. For this, we are going to create a pie chart using our sample data.

We can see the drilling options on the chart. If we click on the Double Down arrow, then it will go to the next level in the hierarchy. Such as on the first click it will show the chart as profit by Quarter.

If we again click on that arrow, then it will show the data as Profit by Month. And, similarly Profit by Day. Let’s click on that arrow 2 times. It will show the data at its lowest level i.e. Profit by day. As there is no hierarchy after day.

If we click on the up arrow then it will show the drill up data i.e. it will navigate the data to the upper level of the hierarchy. For example, if we drill up the above chart, then it will show the data as Profit by month. As it is the upper level of the data(day) in the hierarchy.

Apart from this, there is another way to do a drill through on the Power BI Pie chart. For this, go to the Data / Drill tab > Drill action.

By clicking on these options we can perform drill operation on the Power BI Pie chart. By drilling, we can go to the depth of the data.

Also, we can do directly drilling on Pie chart. If we right-click on the Pie chart, then we will get the option to drill like below:

In these ways, we can do a Data drill through on Power BI Pie Chart.

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Power BI Pie Chart show percenatge

Now, we will see how to show the percentage value on the Power BI Pie chart. For example, we have created a Pie chart based on Sales by Product container.

We can see data are coming as value. Now we will convert the data value to a percentage. For this, go to format pane > Details labels > Label style > Percent of the total.

Now, it is showing the data in percentage. Also, we can change the position of the percentage on the pie chart. For this :

go to format pane > Details labels > Label position.

This is how to show percentage on Power BI Pie chart.

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Power BI Pie Chart show all labels

Now, we will see how to show all detailed labels on Power BI Pie Chart. Here we have to follow a similar process( show percentage ).

Go to format pane > Details labels > Label style > All details label.

The above chart, it is showing all detailed labels on each segment. As it is showing the product container’s name so we hide the legend from the chart. This is how to do Power BI Pie Chart show all labels.

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Power BI Pie Chart multiple values

In Pie chart, we can show multiple values on each segment at a time. For example, we will create a Pie chart visual that will show the profit and sales report on the Product’s category at the same time.

For this, we will drag sales and profit data on the value field. And on the legend field, we will use the Product category. Then it will show the data like this:

We can see there is a white line that separates each statement into Profit and sales value. When we mouse hover on each separated segment it will show the value of that particular part whether it is for Profit or sales.

This is how we can show multiple values on Power BI Pie Chart.

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Power BI Pie Chart show values

There is another feature is ‘show value‘ in the Power BI Pie chart using a tooltip. When we create a Pie chart it is not showing the actual value of the segment. For this we need formatting. But using a tooltip we can show values on it.

For example, we will create a pie chart based on sales by product category. When we hover on a segment it will display the actual value of that segment.

This is how we can show values on the Power BI Pie chart.

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Power BI Pie Chart conditional formatting

We can format a chart using the Conditions on them. Now, we will see how to do conditional format on the Power BI Pie chart.

As there is no option for conditional formatting on the Power BI Pie chart, so how to do conditional formatting on the Pie chart? Let’s check out this step-by-step guide:

Step-1:

First, we will create a column chart based on the sales report of the product’s sub-category using our sample data.

Step-2:

On the Format pane, expand the data color. Click on the conditional formatting function “fx“. It will open a conditional formatting page where we can put conditions to our chart. Then click on OK.

Here we formatted the data colors by Color scale i.e. we defined a particular color for the lowest value, middle value, the highest value. Based on the sum of sales each segment will change its color.

Step-3:

We can see the conditional formatting is applied on the Column chart.

Now we will convert this column chart to a pie chart. For this, select the column chart and then select the Pie chart visual under visualization.

We can see the Pie chart got formatted conditionally on Power BI. Apart from that, we can also format the chart by rules.

For this, similarly, go to the conditional formatting page of the column chart.

After clicking on OK, we can see the column chart got formatted. Similarly, convert this column chart to a pie chart.

Now we can see our pie chart got formatted conditionally. In these ways, we can do conditional formatting of the pie chart.

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Power BI Pie Chart group small values / Power BI Pie Chart other category

Now we will see how to group small values and how to use this value on Pie chart. Let’s take the example of Pie chart. Here we will create a pie chart based on order quantity by product container.

Now we will create a group. For example, from the Product container, we will group the small items such as Jumbo Drum, Jumbo box, Medium box, large box, small box.

For this, click on the product container and select the New group.

It will open a page where we can group the items.

Then click on Ok. Now we can see the pie chart got divide into 2 parts. One is for our grouping elements and another one is for Other that contains the rest elements.

This is how we can do Power BI Pie Chart group small values.

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Pros and cons Power BI Pie Chart

Pros of Power BI Pie chart:

• A simple, effective, easy to understand, and beginner friendly visual.
• Summerize a large data set in a single visual with a effective way.
• Requires minimal additional expalnation to represent the visual.
• Widely used in business and media, make it more understandable.

Cons of Power BI Pie chart:

• Pie chart becomes less effective, when it uses more pieces of segments.
• Does not reveal an exact value.
• It does not show changes over time.
• For negative value, Pie chart is a bad decision.

Related Posts:

• Get Month Name from Month Number in Power BI
• How to use Power BI sync slicers
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• Power bi conditional column example
• How to split column in Power bi

Conclusion

From this Power BI Tutorial, we learned all about the Power BI Pie chart. Also, we discussed all these below topics:

• What is Power BI Pie Chart?
• What are the field requirements to create a Pie chart?
• How to create a Pie chart on Power BI?
• How to do format and Customize on Power BI Pie Chart?
• How to do filters on Power BI Pie Chart?
• How to do drill down and drill up on Power BI Pie Chart?
• How to show percenatge on Pie chart?
• How to show all labels on Power BI Pie Chart?
• Show multiple values on Power BI Pie Chart?
• How to show values on Power BI Pie Chart?
• How to do conditional formatting on Power BI Pie Chart?
• How to group small values /How to show other category on Power BI Pie Chart?
• Discuss pros and cons of Power BI Pie Chart?