For example, it makes sense to use a pie chart to compare the profitability of different divisions inside a larger enterprise. Using a bar chart will make the differences more obvious.ĭon't use a pie chart if what you're comparing are not parts of a whole. For example, 32%, 33% and 35% will look pretty even at a glance when illustrated on a pie chart. Start Now Tips for Creating Better Pie Graphsĭon't use more than 5 slices in any pie chart otherwise it becomes too hard to read.ĭon't use a pie chart if the values of the wedges are close to each other and it's important to see the differences. Once imported, you can easily change the title, legend placement and even the quickly change the graph type using the Edit Graph options or just double-click on your imported chart. In the Insert tab in SmartDraw, click on Graph and choose Pie Chart.Ĭhoose your data file to import and SmartDraw will automatically generate your graph. Step one is making sure you have data formatted the correct way for a pie chart. This would not be true of two bars on a bar chart. Pie charts imply that if one wedge gets bigger, the other has to be smaller. The only thing bar charts lack is the whole-part relationship that makes pie charts unique. Some critics of pie charts point out that the portions are hard to compare across other pie charts and if a pie chart has too many wedges, even wedges in a single pie chart are hard to visually contrast against each other compared to the height of bars in a bar graph for example.īar charts are easier to read when you're comparing categories or looking at change over time. They're widely used in business presentations and education to show the proportions among a large variety of categories including expenses, segments of a population, or answers to a survey. Pie charts can make the size of portions easy to understand at a glance. Each wedge represents a proportionate part of the whole, and the total value of the pie is always 100 percent. A pie chart is a circular chart divided into wedge-like sectors, illustrating proportion.