Multiple pie charts in 1 printout?

[Al]

I have 4 pie charts in 1 worksheet. These plot "hours", "cost", "profit",
"sell" of a distribution of employee types (e.g. engineer type 1, type 2,
etc.)
I'd love to "combine" these into 1 print-out (1 legend?) rather than the 4
separate printouts I currently have.
Any ideas?
Al
P.S. THe boss does not like doughnut charts!

 

[Jon Peltier]

The boss should also put the kibosh on pie charts as well as donut charts,
because they aren't very good graphical tools, either.

But anyway, you asked a question. How about putting the legend on only a
single chart and removing it from the others. Arrange the charts so the
legend is between the top two or the bottom two, and it won't look real bad.
Or you could make a fifth chart in which the values aren't plotted, and
you've hidden all features except for the legend.

Another option is to find a solution outside your pie-shaped box. If you
need to show % of total, take all of the values and divide by the total of
the respective category, so your data looks like this:

[blank] Engr1 Engr2 etc.
Hours (a) (b)
Cost (c) (d)
Profit etc.
Sell
etc.

(a) Percentage of total hours for Engr1
(b) Percentage of total hours for Engr2
(c) Percentage of total cost for Engr1
(d) Percentage of total cost for Engr2
etc.

Now make a clustered column chart with series in columns. You will have
Hours, Cost, etc., across the X axis (under each cluster), and each employee
type will have a column in each cluster.

- Jon

 

[Al]

Jom, I like where you are going with the cluster columns idea, but just
coming back to the pie charts for a moment....how do I arrange the charts
such thay they are on the same page? (How do I get 4 pie charts, say, in a
row?) Each one is currently a separate object in the spreasheet.

The boss should also put the kibosh on pie charts as well as donut charts,
because they aren't very good graphical tools, either.

But anyway, you asked a question. How about putting the legend on only a
single chart and removing it from the others. Arrange the charts so the
legend is between the top two or the bottom two, and it won't look real bad.
Or you could make a fifth chart in which the values aren't plotted, and
you've hidden all features except for the legend.

Another option is to find a solution outside your pie-shaped box. If you
need to show % of total, take all of the values and divide by the total of
the respective category, so your data looks like this:

[blank] Engr1 Engr2 etc.
Hours (a) (b)
Cost (c) (d)
Profit etc.
Sell
etc.

(a) Percentage of total hours for Engr1
(b) Percentage of total hours for Engr2
(c) Percentage of total cost for Engr1
(d) Percentage of total cost for Engr2
etc.

Now make a clustered column chart with series in columns. You will have
Hours, Cost, etc., across the X axis (under each cluster), and each employee
type will have a column in each cluster.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
Peltier Technical Services, Inc. - http://PeltierTech.com
_______

I have 4 pie charts in 1 worksheet. These plot "hours", "cost", "profit",
"sell" of a distribution of employee types (e.g. engineer type 1, type 2,
etc.)
I'd love to "combine" these into 1 print-out (1 legend?) rather than the 4
separate printouts I currently have.
Any ideas?
Al
P.S. THe boss does not like doughnut charts!

 

[Jon Peltier]

These are embedded charts, right? If not, right click a chart, choose
location, then pick the As Object In option, and choose the sheet you want
to place it on. When the charts are on the same worksheet, you can drag them
around, resize them, whatever. If one will obscure another, change the chart
area fill to none.

By the way, I found the topic interesting, so I blogged about it:

http://peltiertech.com/WordPress/2008/05/02/column-chart-to-replace-multiple-pie-charts/

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
Peltier Technical Services, Inc. - http://PeltierTech.com
_______

Jom, I like where you are going with the cluster columns idea, but just
coming back to the pie charts for a moment....how do I arrange the charts
such thay they are on the same page? (How do I get 4 pie charts, say, in a
row?) Each one is currently a separate object in the spreasheet.

The boss should also put the kibosh on pie charts as well as donut
charts,
because they aren't very good graphical tools, either.

But anyway, you asked a question. How about putting the legend on only a
single chart and removing it from the others. Arrange the charts so the
legend is between the top two or the bottom two, and it won't look real
bad.
Or you could make a fifth chart in which the values aren't plotted, and
you've hidden all features except for the legend.

Another option is to find a solution outside your pie-shaped box. If you
need to show % of total, take all of the values and divide by the total
of
the respective category, so your data looks like this:

[blank] Engr1 Engr2 etc.
Hours (a) (b)
Cost (c) (d)
Profit etc.
Sell
etc.

(a) Percentage of total hours for Engr1
(b) Percentage of total hours for Engr2
(c) Percentage of total cost for Engr1
(d) Percentage of total cost for Engr2
etc.

Now make a clustered column chart with series in columns. You will have
Hours, Cost, etc., across the X axis (under each cluster), and each
employee
type will have a column in each cluster.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
Peltier Technical Services, Inc. - http://PeltierTech.com
_______

I have 4 pie charts in 1 worksheet. These plot "hours", "cost",
"profit",
"sell" of a distribution of employee types (e.g. engineer type 1, type
2,
etc.)
I'd love to "combine" these into 1 print-out (1 legend?) rather than
the 4
separate printouts I currently have.
Any ideas?
Al
P.S. THe boss does not like doughnut charts!

 

[Gklass]

The problem with this is getting the charts all the same size.
Here's my instructions:
http://lilt.ilstu.edu/jpda/charts/chart tips/Chartstip 2.htm#Side

But I agree the pie charts are a poor choice and two pie charts are
three times as bad as just one.

As for when to use cone, donut and other fancy charts, see tip three
on this page:

http://lilt.ilstu.edu/jpda/charts/chart tips/Chartstips.htm