Pie charts display your data in a circular visualization, with sections (slices of the pie) representing your data series. The sizes of the slices are proportional to the quantity or relative value of the metric you are plotting. In general, pie charts are most useful when comparing a few data points with relatively large differences in proportion between the values. Pie charts that display large numbers of series with minor variations in the data can be confusing to viewers of the chart.
Pie charts in Looker Studio
Pie charts in Looker Studio visualize the relative values for a single dimension and metric combination. The dimension determines the number and names of the slices, while the metric determines the proportion of each slice. Pie charts in Looker Studio support as few as 1 slice to as many as 10 slices. Looker Studio automatically aggregates any superfluous data points into a slice labeled Others. The pie can be solid, or it can be donut (ring) shaped.
Pie chart examples
The following pie charts visualize the same data: the percentage of the Pageviews metric by Source dimension. Each colored pie slice represents a traffic source, identified in the legend at the right of the chart. The slice colors are assigned according to the metric value. For example: the highest is blue; the second highest is red. (You can change these colors in the Style tab in the Properties panel.) The percentage of Pageviews for each traffic Source appears as text labels on the larger slices. (You can see the percentages for the smaller slices by hovering your cursor over them.)
The first chart is configured to show 10 slices. The second chart shows just 2 slices, and is also using the donut style option. In the first chart, Looker Studio uses the tenth slice to aggregate any remaining traffic sources into the Others category. The second chart compares the largest traffic source ("google" in this case) to all the other sources combined.
Add the chart
Add a new chart or select an existing chart. Then, use the Properties panel to configure the chart's Setup tab and Style tab properties to set up the chart data and style the chart, respectively.
Set up the chart data
The options in the Setup tab of the Properties panel determine how the chart's data is organized and displayed.
Data source
A data source provides the connection between the component and the underlying dataset.
- To change the chart's data source, click the current data source name.
- To view or edit the data source, click the
Edit data source icon. (You must have at least Viewer permission to see this icon.) - Click Blend data to see data from multiple data sources in the same chart. Learn more about data blending.
Dimension
Dimensions are data categories. Dimension values (the data that is contained by the dimension) are names, descriptions, or other characteristics of a category.
Pie charts can have one dimension.
Drill down
This option appears on charts that support it.
Drilling down gives viewers a way to reveal additional levels of detail within a chart. When you turn on the Drill down switch, each dimension that you add becomes another level of detail that you can drill into. Learn more about chart drill down.
Metric
Metrics measure the things that are contained in dimensions and provide the numeric scale and data series for the chart.
Metrics are aggregations that come from the underlying dataset or that are the result of implicitly or explicitly applying an aggregation function, such as COUNT(), SUM(), or AVG(). The metric itself has no defined set of values, so you can't group by a metric as you can with a dimension.
Pie charts can have one metric.
Optional metrics
You can add optional metrics by turning on the Optional metrics switch and selecting metrics from the Add metric field selector. You can also click metrics from the fields list on the Data panel and place them in the Optional metrics selector.
Metric sliders
Turn on the Metric sliders switch to add a metric slider to your chart.
Filter
Filters restrict the data that is displayed in the component by including or excluding the values that you specify. Learn more about the filter property.
Filter options include the following:
- Filter name: Click an existing filter to edit it. Mouse over the filter name and click X to delete it.
- Add filter: Click this option to create a new filter for the chart.
Date range dimension
This option appears if your data source has a valid date dimension.
The date range dimension is used as the basis for limiting the date range of the chart. For example, this is the dimension that is used if you set a date range property for the chart or if a viewer of the report uses a date range control to limit the timeframe.
Default date range filter
The default date range filter lets you set a timeframe for an individual chart.
Default date range filter options include the following:
- Auto: Uses the default date range, which is determined by the chart's data source.
- Custom: Lets you use the calendar widget to select a custom date range for the chart.
Learn more about working with dates and time.
Sort
The Sort option in the chart's setup panel controls the default sorting behavior. You can select any metric in the chart's data source, or any dimension that is displayed in the chart, to use as the primary sorting field.
Chart interactions
When the Cross-filtering option is enabled on a chart, that chart acts like a filter control. You can filter the report by clicking or brushing your mouse across the chart. Learn more about cross-filtering.
The Change sorting option lets report viewers change how a chart is sorted.
Style the chart
The options in the Style tab control the overall presentation and appearance of the chart.
Chart title
Turn on the Show title switch to add a title to your chart. Looker Studio can automatically generate a title, or you can create a custom title for the chart. You can also customize the title's styling and placement.
Autogenerate
This option is enabled by default. When Autogenerate is enabled, Looker Studio generates a title that is based on the chart type and the fields that are used in the chart. The autogenerated title will be updated if you change the chart type or make changes to the fields that are used in the chart.
To add a custom title to your chart, enter it into the Title field. This will turn off the Autogenerate setting.
Title options
When the Show title setting is enabled, you can use the following title options:
- Title: Provides a text field where report editors can enter a custom title for the chart.
- Font family: Sets the font type for the title text.
- Font size: Sets the font size for the title text.
- Font color: Sets the font color for the title text.
- Font styling options: Applies bold, italic, or underline styling to the title text.
- Top: Positions the chart title at the top of the chart.
- Bottom: Positions the chart title at the bottom of the chart.
- Left: Aligns the chart title to the left side of the chart.
- Center: Centers the chart title above or below the chart.
- Right: Aligns the chart title to the right side of the chart.
Pie chart
This section controls the overall appearance and layout of your chart.
Slices
Determines the number of slices to display. If your selected dimension contains more values than the number of slices, additional values will be aggregated into an Others category by default.
Group others
Turn on the Group others switch to aggregate the results that are outside of the specified Slices limit into one slice that will have the label Others. When enabled, this setting lets you compare the individual branches against the context of the remaining results.
Group others is enabled by default.
Slice padding
Determines the size of the spacing in between the slices of the chart. Slide the control from the left to the right to increase the size of the space in between the slices. Decrease the size of the spaces in between the slices by sliding the control from the right to the left.
Inner radius
Determines the size of the hole in the center of the chart. Slide the control from the left to the right to increase the size of the hole. Decrease the size of the hole by sliding the control from the right to the left.
Border radius
Determines the curve radius of the pie slices. Setting the Border radius to 100 creates a petal shape.
Color by
These options control how your data is colored:
- Single color: When this option is selected, the data series is displayed in shades of a single color. Otherwise, the chart is displayed in multiple colors, according to your report theme. You can set specific colors by using the color picker.
- Slice order: Use the current theme to color the data according to its position in the chart. This option emphasizes the ranking of the data over the identity of the data. You can set specific colors by using each data series' color picker.
- Dimension values: This option colors each dimension value in the chart with the color that is specified in the dimension value color map. This option ensures that your data uses color consistently, regardless of the position of that data in the chart.
Learn more about coloring your data.
Label
These options control the appearance of the data labels:
- Pie slice font color: Sets the color of the data labels inside the pie slices.
- Font size: Sets the size of the data labels inside the pie slices.
- Pie slice font: Sets the font family of the data labels inside the pie slices.
- Slice label: Determines the style of the slice labels. The options include the following:
- None: No label appears.
- Percentage (default): Displays the percentage value of each slice.
- Label: Displays the dimension value. (You may need to increase the chart size to accommodate longer values.)
- Value: Displays the metric value.
- Text contrast: Sets the font color automatically to provide better readability of your data labels. Choose from four levels of contrast: none, low, medium, or high.
Legend
These options determine the placement and appearance of the chart legend:
- Position: Sets the position of the legend.
- Alignment: Sets the alignment of the legend relative to the selected position.
Max lines: Sets the number of lines that are used by the legend. If the number of series requires more lines, overflow items can be displayed by clicking the < and > arrows.
Font family: Sets the font type of the legend font.
Font size: Sets the size of the legend font.
Font color: Sets the color of the legend font.
Background and border
These options control the appearance of the chart background container:
- Background: Sets the chart background color.
- Opacity: Sets the chart opacity. 100% opacity completely hides objects behind the chart. 0% opacity makes the chart invisible.
- Border color: Sets the chart border color.
- Border radius: Adds rounded borders to the chart background. When the radius is 0, the background shape has 90° corners. A border radius of 100° produces a circular shape.
- Border weight: Sets the chart border line thickness.
- Border style: Sets the chart border line style.
- Add border shadow: Adds a shadow to the chart's lower and right borders.
Chart header
The chart header lets viewers perform various actions on the chart, such as exporting the data, drilling up or down, or sorting the chart. Chart header options include the following:
- Chart header: Controls where the chart header appears on the chart. The Chart header options include the following:
- Do not show: The header options never appear. Note that report viewers can always access the options by right-clicking the chart.
- Always show: The header options always appear.
- Show on hover (default): Three vertical dots appear when you hold the pointer over the chart header. Click these to access the header options.
- Header font color: Sets the color of the chart header options.
Reset to report theme
Click Reset to report theme to reset the chart settings to the report theme settings.