When to use a pie chart
- Composition of a whole — showing shares of a metric across a small set of categories.
- A quick visual read — pie charts communicate a “biggest slice / smallest slice” idea faster than a table.
- Small category sets — 4 to 8 slices is ideal. Beyond that, the chart gets crowded and shares get hard to distinguish.
Configure a pie chart
Mandatory fields
1
Pick a data source
In the Data sources section, select the data source to include. Pie charts support both ad and non-ad data sources and can pull from a blended source.
2
Pick a Metric
Click Edit on the Metric field to open the picker panel. Pick up to 20 metrics to make available in the widget’s dropdown, reorder them if needed, and set the active one shown by default. The active metric renders as the values sizing each pie slice — for example, Spend, Impressions, or Conversions.New custom metrics can be created directly from the picker panel without leaving the chart widget.
3
Set the Group by
Click Edit on the Group by field to open the picker panel. Pick up to 20 breakdowns to make available in the widget’s dropdown, reorder them if needed, and set the active one shown by default. The active breakdown determines how the metric is split into slices — for example, Campaign name produces one slice per campaign. Pie charts don’t render time-series, so date values (Day, Week, Month, and so on) aren’t valid Group by choices.To show a single full circle representing the metric total without splitting, select the No grouping option (though a pie chart with no grouping is a single unbroken circle, so most configurations use a real Group by).New custom breakdowns can be created directly from the picker panel without leaving the chart widget.
Optional fields
- Widget filter — narrow the data feeding the widget. See Filters.
- Period — override the dashboard’s date range. See Date ranges.
- Hide metric value — hide slices whose Ad Spend, Impressions, or Link Clicks meet a threshold. Two blocks are available: a preset “Value = 0” checkbox per metric, and a custom threshold block with an operator (default
≤) and value. Both can be combined. - Display settings — controls Number of items (All, 5, 10, 15, 20; default 10), Sort order, and a Hide “others” toggle for the aggregate residual slice.
- Data labels — show the value or percentage on each slice. On by default for pie charts.
- Chart controls — toggle whether Chart controls render on this widget. On by default.
Chart controls
Chart controls are toggled on or off per widget from the Chart controls switch in the widget settings panel. When off, Chart controls don’t render on the widget; when on, the dropdowns configured below appear on the widget. Some key settings can be updated directly from the widget header without opening the settings panel. The Chart controls on a pie chart expose:- Chart type — a switcher on the left of the widget header to change to another chart type.
- Sort order — change slice ordering inline.
- Metric — swap the plotted metric inline.
- Group by — change how the metric is split into slices inline.
Comparison mode
Pie charts do not render comparison values. Even when the Compare toggle is on, the pie chart draws only the primary window. For a chart with comparison support, use a column chart, horizontal column chart, or line chart.Widget styling
Global widget style settings — font, border, background, and color themes — apply to every widget through the Dashboard style settings. On top of those, Pie chart widgets have style options unique to this widget type:- Metric name font — weight, size, and HEX color for the metric name label.
- Metric value font — weight, size, and HEX color for the aggregated value shown on the widget.
- Color type — toggle between Solid and Gradient for the slice fill.
- Data text — when data labels are enabled, the label color (HEX) and stroke color (HEX + opacity) are configurable.
Troubleshooting
The pie chart is one big circle with no slices
The pie chart is one big circle with no slices
The Group by is set to No grouping — the metric is shown as its total without segmentation. Set a Group by to a field like Channel to split the total into slices.
Slices are hard to distinguish
Slices are hard to distinguish
Too many small slices. Reduce Number of items in Display settings, apply a widget filter, or pick a coarser Group by to consolidate small categories into fewer larger slices.
Others slice dominates the chart
Others slice dominates the chart
A long-tail category set — most categories are small enough to fall into others. Increase Number of items, narrow with a widget filter, or turn off Hide “others” to see the aggregate residual.
Related
Donut chart
Same idea with a hollow center that shows the metric total.
Column chart
Precise comparisons across categories.
Single metric
Show the total without slices.
