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Excel 2007 Practice: Create a Quick & Easy Pie Chart

There will be other how-to articles that start with the chart made in these directions, so you might want to save this project to use with those articles. Like this article on Legends & Data Labels and Change Color and Explode a Pie Chart.

A chart is a visual representation of numbers. To make a chart, you need to start from the data or numbers you want to visually represent. What you want to emphasis about those numbers will determine what type of chart you want to use. For this example, we’ll create a pie chart.

The premise is that we are selling five different items, and the pie chart will help to identify item is bringing in the most money without having to see the actual sales numbers in the chart. Enter the Data into Excel Type in the “Refreshment Stand Sales” sample data into Excel.

Select the Data for the Chart Using the thick white plus mouse shape, click and drag to select from A3 through B7 (If you typed it in exactly like the example).

Create the Chart Click the Insert tab. In the Charts group, click Pie Charts, then the 2-D Pie. Your chart will appear on the worksheet.

Make Some Basic Changes to the Chart

• Everything you can change about a chart is in the Chart Tools, and in the Design, Layout and Format tabs. A chart must be selected for those to show. Single-click anywhere on the chart to select it.
• You can move and resize the chart. To move the chart: move the mouse over the white background of the chart, your mouse should change to an arrow with four-points. Click and hold to move the chart. If you move part of the chart, Undo (Ctrl + Z) and move the mouse over a different part of the chart. To resize: move the mouse over the little dots in the middle of the top, bottom, sides or corners; the mouse should become a two-headed arrow shape. Click and drag to resize. Hold Alt while dragging to make the chart snap-to the rows and columns.
• You can include the chart on the same page as the data, or have it on it’s own page in the workbook. To move it to it’s own page, select the chart by single clicking on it, then in the Chart Tools, Design tab, Location group click Move. Selecting New Sheet will put it on it’s own page.
• You can recolor the chart by choosing a different Theme for the worksheet. (Page Layout tab, Themes group, change through Themes or Theme colors)

Continue working with this chart by doing the next project Adding Data Labels to a Pie Chart.

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