Sample CSV
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How to Create a Pie Chart
A step by step walkthrough for turning a spreadsheet into a published pie chart in PlotSet, from shaping the sheet and rolling up the long tail to exporting or embedding the finished chart.
About 6 minutesSwap in your own numbers instead of the sample data the template loads with, and here's how to create a pie chart in PlotSet from a label column, a value column, and a total the slices actually add up to. You will upload the sheet, roll any long tail of small categories into a named group, order the slices so the biggest lands first, and publish something you can embed or hand off as an image.
With a clean two column sheet of five or six categories, this takes about six minutes end to end. Add a few more if your source is a wider report you need to trim down first, or if you are deciding what to do with a dozen tiny categories that do not deserve their own slice.
The data you need
Two columns, one row per category: the label first, the number second. The numbers should sum to one meaningful total, and there should be no more than six or seven rows by the time you upload.
The value column needs to be a plain number, not a pre-formatted percentage string like "38%". PlotSet calculates the percentage from the raw values, so let it do that math.
If your source report has fifteen or twenty rows, decide the cutoff in the spreadsheet first. Sum everything below it into one row labelled "Other" rather than uploading all of it and grouping later.
One header row only. A totals row at the bottom gets read as its own slice, usually the largest one, and it will swallow the rest of the circle.
Negative numbers and zeros do not have a sensible angle in a pie. Filter zero rows out and rethink the chart type if any value is negative.
The steps
The exact click path in PlotSet, from a blank template to a finished chart.
- 01
Choose the Pie Chart template
From the PlotSet dashboard, start a new project and choose the Pie Chart template. It loads with sample data already bound to it, so you can see the two column shape it expects before you bring in your own file.
Every guide starts here. Pick the category, then the template: it is the same grid whichever chart type you are after. - 02
Shape your sheet into a label and a value column
Put the category name in the first column and its number in the second, one row per category. If the source is a pivot table or a finance export, strip out subtotal rows before you get near PlotSet.
- 03
Roll the long tail into Other, before uploading
If you are looking at more than six or seven categories, sum the smallest ones into a single row labelled "Other" in the spreadsheet itself. Doing this before upload keeps your source file honest about what the chart is actually showing.
- 04
Upload your file or connect a sheet
Use the data panel to import a CSV or .xlsx file, paste rows straight from a spreadsheet, or connect a Google Sheet if the underlying numbers change on a schedule and you want the chart to pick that up.
The data view, shown here on a bar chart project. Upload a CSV, lift the numbers out of an image with Magic Import, or sync a Google Sheet. The panel is identical for every chart type. - 05
Map the label and value columns
Confirm which column feeds the slice labels and which feeds the angles. PlotSet usually gets this right when your headers are clear, but check it manually if the sheet has extra columns it might have guessed at.
Bindings decide which column becomes the label, which supplies the values and which drives the colour. Auto Binding guesses them from your headers, so check it rather than assume it. - 06
Sort the slices and turn on percentage labels
Order slices largest to smallest starting at twelve o'clock, unless the categories carry their own order (age bands, survey scale). Then switch on percentage labels for every slice: angles alone are not precise enough for a reader to compare, the numbers are.
- 07
Set a colour per slice and drop the legend if you can
Give each slice its own distinct colour rather than shades of one hue, which read as ranked when they are not. With five slices or fewer, label each one directly on the chart and remove the legend entirely: it saves the reader a lookup.
The Preview tab for a Pie Chart. Every styling control lives in the outlined panel, each on its own tab: appearance, header, footer and the options specific to this chart type. - 08
Publish, embed or export the finished chart
Publish for a live, interactive chart with hover tooltips and a shareable link, grab the embed code for a page, or export a PNG, SVG or PDF if you need a static image for a deck.
Start from the Pie Chart template with sample data already loaded, then swap in your own.
Open the templatePublish, embed or export it
The last stretch is the same for every chart type: Share turns the chart into a live public link and an embed code, Export writes it out as a static file.
Share: public link and embed code
Activating the embed code and public link publishes the chart. The link is safe to send to anyone, and the embed code drops into any page as an iframe that keeps the hover tooltips and the interactivity. Edit the chart later and hit Recreate to push those changes out to both.
Export: SVG, PNG or JPG
Export writes a static copy at whatever size you need. SVG stays sharp at any scale and can still be edited in a design tool; PNG and JPG are the safe choices for slides and documents. The scale multiplier is what gets you a crisp image on a retina screen.
Styling tips for a Pie Chart
Label slices directly, skip the legend under six categories
A legend forces the reader to look away from the circle, find a colour, then look back. Direct labels on or beside each slice remove that round trip entirely, and PlotSet fits them cleanly up to about five or six slices.
Start at twelve o'clock, go clockwise, biggest first
This is the reading convention people already know, so use it rather than fighting it. The moment the largest slice starts anywhere else, readers spend a second just orienting themselves before they get to the data.
Name the Other slice in the title or a caption
"Other" on its own tells the reader nothing about what got grouped. A short caption, "Other includes eleven regions under 2% each", turns a vague catch-all into an honest summary.
Keep the palette flat, no gradients or 3D shading
A gradient or a tilted 3D slice implies an extra dimension of meaning that is not there, and it distorts the angle a flat pie relies on to be read correctly. One flat colour per slice is the whole job.
Common mistakes when making a Pie Chart
The slices do not add up to a sensible whole
This usually means a filter or a date range excluded some rows before upload, so the circle claims completeness it does not have. Check the raw row count in PlotSet's data table against your source sheet and reconcile the difference before publishing.
Colours jump around every time you resort
If colour is assigned by row position rather than by category name, resorting the slices reshuffles the palette too. Assign colours to the category labels themselves in the style panel, not to whatever sits in row three at the time.
Too many thin, unlabeled slivers around the edge
A raw export with twenty countries or product SKUs produces a dozen slices too thin to carry a label. Go back to the spreadsheet, not the chart settings, and collapse everything under your cutoff into one Other row.
Learn more about the Pie Chart
Not sure the Pie Chart is the right choice? See what it is, when to use it and when not to.
Pie Chart: common questions
Two columns and one header row: a category label in the first column, one plain number per category in the second. CSV and .xlsx both work, and the numbers should be raw values, not pre-formatted percentages, since PlotSet calculates the share itself.
Make your Pie Chart now
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