Excel 2010 Bible

Chapter 18: Getting Started Making Charts

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Doughnut

A doughnut chart is similar to a pie chart, with two differences: It has a hole in the middle, and it

can display more than one series of data. Doughnut charts are listed in the Other Charts category.

Figure 18.27 shows an example of a doughnut chart with two series (1st Half Sales and 2nd Half

Sales). The legend identifies the data points. Because a doughnut chart doesn’t provide a direct way

to identify the series, I added arrows and series descriptions manually.

On the CD
A workbook that contains the charts in this section is available on the companion CD-ROM. The file is named
doughnut charts.xlsx.

FIGURE 18.27

A doughnut chart with two data series.

Notice that Excel displays the data series as concentric rings. As you can see, a doughnut chart

with more than one series can be very difficult to interpret. For example, the relatively larger sizes

of the slices toward the outer part of the doughnut can be deceiving. Consequently, you should

use doughnut charts sparingly. Perhaps the best use for a doughnut chart is to plot a single series

as a visual alternative to a pie chart.

In many cases, a stacked column chart for such comparisons expresses your meaning better than

does a doughnut chart (see Figure 18.28).