How to Create a Pie of Pie Chart in Excel for Categories and Subcategories
Question details
The user wants to visualize major categories and their subcategories using a Pie of Pie chart.
- Product
- Microsoft Excel
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Visualizing hierarchical data, such as sales by region and specific countries within a region, in a single chart.
- Observed behavior
- The goal is to display major categories in a primary pie chart and expand one category into a secondary pie chart to show its subcategory components.
Ensure your data is organized in two columns, with the category names in the first column and the corresponding numerical values in the second column. Group the subcategories you want to appear in the secondary pie chart at the bottom of your data list.
Create a Pie of Pie Chart in Excel
Use Excel's built-in Pie of Pie chart to break down a main category into its sub-components.
A Pie of Pie chart extracts specific data points from the main pie chart and combines them into a second pie chart to make small percentages more readable or to highlight a specific subcategory breakdown.
Highlight the range of cells containing both your categories and their corresponding values. Make sure to include the subcategories you want to break out into the second pie.
Go to the 'Insert' tab on the Excel ribbon, click on the 'Insert Pie or Doughnut Chart' icon in the Charts group, and select 'Pie of Pie' from the 2-D Pie section.
Right-click any slice of the newly created chart and choose 'Format Data Series'. This opens a formatting pane on the right side of your screen.
In the formatting pane under 'Series Options', use the 'Split Series By' dropdown to control which data points are moved to the secondary pie. You can split by Position (e.g., the last 3 values), Value, Percentage value, or Custom assignment.
In the same pane, adjust the 'Size of Second Plot' slider or percentage box to make the subcategory pie larger or smaller relative to the main pie.
Create Stunning Pie of Pie Charts in WPS Spreadsheet
WPS Spreadsheet provides a free, intuitive way to create Pie of Pie charts. It is highly compatible with Microsoft Excel files, allowing you to seamlessly analyze and visualize complex category and subcategory data without missing a beat.
- 1. Open your dataset: Launch WPS Spreadsheet and open your file containing the hierarchical categories and values.
- 2. Select the data: Highlight the cell range you wish to include in your Pie of Pie chart.
- 3. Insert Pie of Pie Chart: Navigate to the 'Insert' tab, click on 'Chart', select 'Pie' from the left menu, and choose the 'Pie of Pie' layout.
- 4. Customize the secondary pie: Double-click any chart slice to open the Chart settings pane, where you can modify how the data series is split between the two pies under Series Options.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I manually choose which items go into the second pie?
Right-click the chart series and select 'Format Data Series'. Under 'Series Options', change the 'Split Series By' dropdown to 'Custom'. Then, click on an individual slice in the chart, and in the formatting pane, choose whether that specific point belongs to the 'First Plot' or 'Second Plot'.
Can I use a Bar of Pie instead of a Pie of Pie?
Yes, the process is identical. When selecting the chart type from the 'Insert' menu, choose 'Bar of Pie' instead. This displays the subcategories in a stacked bar rather than a secondary pie circle, which is sometimes easier to read for comparing values.
Why are my data labels only showing values and not category names?
By default, Excel might only display values. To fix this, click on any data label in your chart, right-click, and select 'Format Data Labels'. In the pane that appears on the right, check the box for 'Category Name' so that both the name and the value (or percentage) are displayed on the chart slices.
