The Pie Chart is a primary chart type in Excel. Pie charts are meant to express a “part to whole” relationship, where all pieces together represent 100%. Pie charts work best to display data with a small number of categories (2-5). For example, survey questions in yes/no format, data split by gender (male/female), new and returning visitors to a website, etc.
Pie charts should be avoided when there are many categories, or when categories do not total 100%. The human eye has trouble comparing the relative size of slices in a pie chart, so pie charts should also be avoided when slices are similar, unless similarity is the point.
Pros
- Simple, compact presentation
- Can be read “at a glance” with limited categories
- Excel can calculate % values automatically
Cons
- Difficult to compare relative size of slices
- Become cluttered and dense as categories are added
- Limited to part-to-whole data
- Poor at showing change over time
Tips
- Limit categories
- Avoid all 3d variants
A line chart is a built-in Excel chart type, with each data series plotted as a separate line. Line charts are a good way to show change or trends over time. In contrast to column or bar charts, line charts can handle more categories and more data points without becoming too cluttered. Line charts can be customized to show or hide data markers of various shapes and sizes.
Pros
- Simple presentation; easy to read and create
- Clean presentation of multiple data series with many data points
- Good for showing trends over periods of time
- Can handle positive and negative values
Cons
- Harder to read when lines overlap frequently
- Line can imply more data than actually available (compared to bar or column chart)
