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.
In this article:Pie charts in Looker Studio
Pie charts in Looker Studio visualize the relative values for a single dimension/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 to as many as 10 slices. Looker Studio automatically aggregates any superfluous data points into an "others" slice. The pie can be solid, or it can be donut (ring) shaped.
Example:
Following are 2 pie charts, visualizing 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: highest is blue, 2nd highest is red, and so on. (You can change these colors in the STYLE properties tab.) 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 mousing over them.)
The chart on the left is configured to show 10 slices. The chart on the right shows just 2 slices, and is also using the donut style option. In the left hand chart, Looker Studio uses the 10th slice to aggregate any remaining traffic sources into the "others" category. The right-hand chart compares the largest traffic source ("google" in this case) to all the other sources combined.
Configure the chart
Select the chart. Then, on the right, use the property panel to configure the chart options.
Setup properties
The options in a chart's setup panel determine how the data is organized and displayed.
Data source
A data source provides the connection between the component and the underlying data set.
- To change the chart's data source, click the current data source name.
- To view or edit the data source, click
. (You must have at least view permission to see this icon.)
- Click +BLEND DATA to see data from multiple data sources in the same chart. Learn more about data blending.
. (You must have at least view permission to see this icon.)Dimension
Dimensions are data categories. Dimension values (the data contained by the dimension) are names, descriptions or other characteristics of a category.
Pie charts can have 1 dimension.
Date range dimension
This option appears if your data source has a valid date dimension. For Google Ads and Analytics data sources, this option is automatically set to the 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 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 time frame.
Metric
Metrics measure the things contained in dimensions and provide the numeric scale and data series for the chart.
Metrics are aggregations that come from the underlying data set, 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 it, as you can with a dimension.
Pie charts can have 1 metric.
Set the default sort
The Sort and Secondary sort options in the chart's setup panel control the default sorting behavior. You can select any metric in the chart's data source, or any dimension that is currently displayed in the chart, to use as the primary or secondary sorting field.
Default date range
The Default date range property lets you set a timeframe for an individual chart.
Default date range options
| Auto | Use 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. |
| Date compare type | Displays comparison data for the selected time period. |
Learn more about working with dates and time.
Google Analytics segment
This option appears for charts based on a Universal Analytics data source.
A segment is a subset of your Analytics data. You can apply segments to your Looker Studio charts to help ensure that your Looker Studio and Google Analytics reports show the same data. Learn more about Analytics segments in Looker Studio.
Filter
Filters restrict the data that is displayed in the component by including or excluding the values you specify. Learn more about the filter property.
Filter options
| Filter name | Click an existing filter to edit it. Mouse over the filter name and click X to delete it. |
| +Add a filter | Click this option to create a new filter for the chart. |
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.
Style properties
A chart's style properties control the overall presentation and appearance 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. |
| Single Color | When checked, the pie slices are displayed in shades of the same color. Otherwise, the chart displays in a veritable rainbow of happy colors (depending on your report theme).
You can change the series colors using the color pickers below. |
| 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 using each data series' color picker. |
| Dimension values |
Colors each dimension value in the chart with the color 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.
|
| Donut slider | Changes a solid pie to a donut. Slide the control to increase or decrease the diameter of the donut hole. |
Label
These options control the appearance of the data labels.
| Slice font color | Sets the color of the data labels inside the pie slices. |
| Slice font size | Sets the size of the data labels inside the pie slices. |
| Slice font family | Sets the font family of the data labels inside the pie slices. |
| Slice label | Determines the style of the slice labels. Options are:
|
| Text contrast | Sets the font color automatically to provide better readability of your data labels. Choose from 3 levels of contrast, low, medium, or high. |
Background and border
These options control the appearance of the chart background container.
| Background | Sets the chart background color. |
| Border Radius | Adds rounded borders to the chart background. When the radius is 0, the background shape has 90° corners. Border radius of 100° produces a circular shape. |
| Opacity | Sets the chart's opacity. 100% opacity completely hides objects behind the chart. 0% opacity makes the chart invisible. |
| Border Color | Sets the chart border color. |
| 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 lower and right borders. |
Legend
These options determine the placement of the chart legend.
| Legend font color | Sets the color of the legend labels. |
| Legend font size | Sets the size of the legend labels. |
| Legend font family | Sets the font family of the legend labels. |
| Legend placement options: | None - No legend appears |
| Right - Legend appears on the right. | |
| Bottom - Legend appears on the bottom. | |
| Top - Legend appears on the top. | |
| Alignment - Sets the alignment of the legend relative to the selected position. | |
| Max lines - Sets the number of lines used by the legend. If the number of series requires more lines, overflow items can be displayed by clicking the < and > arrows. |
Chart Header
The chart header lets viewers perform various actions on the chart, such as exporting the data, drilling up or down, and viewing the chart in the Explorer tool. Chart header options are:
| Show on hover (default) | Three vertical dots appear when you mouse over the chart header. Click these to access the header options. |
| Always show | The header options always appear. |
| Do not show | The header options never appear. Note that report viewers can always access the options by right clicking the chart. |
| Color | Set the color of the chart header options. |