How to Create a Donut Chart in Google Sheets with AI

Creating a good-looking donut chart in Google Sheets shouldn't be a complicated process. This visual is perfect for showing how different parts make up a whole, like where your website traffic comes from. This guide will walk you through creating one step-by-step, first using the classic method and then with Google's built-in AI assistant to speed things up.

What Exactly is a Donut Chart?

A donut chart is really just a pie chart with a hole in the middle. Like a pie chart, it's used to show the proportions of different categories that make up a total amount. Each "slice" represents a category, and the size of the slice corresponds to its percentage of the whole. For example, you could use a donut chart to show how much of your monthly sales come from different product categories: Books (40%), Electronics (30%), Clothing (20%), and Home Goods (10%).

So why use it over a standard pie chart? That hole in the middle isn't just for looks. It serves two practical purposes:

• Reduced Emphasis on Angles: Pie charts can sometimes be misleading because our brains are not great at accurately comparing the angles of different slices. The donut chart de-emphasizes the angle and focuses more on the arc length of each slice, making it slightly easier to compare proportions.

• Space for a Key Metric: The empty center is valuable real estate. You can use it to display a key performance indicator (KPI), like the total number of website sessions or the total revenue amount represented by the chart. This provides immediate context for the proportions shown in the ring.

When a Donut Chart is the Right Choice

Use a donut chart when you need to:

• Show a Part-to-Whole Relationship: This is its main job. You're trying to show the composition of something, like a budget, survey results, or market share.

• Compare Proportions for a Single Series: It works best when you have a single set of data broken down into a few distinct categories.

• Have Fewer Than 7 Categories: If you have too many slices, the chart becomes cluttered and impossible to read. If you have more than seven categories, it's better to use a bar chart or group smaller slices into an "Other" category.

Preparing Your Data in Google Sheets

Before you can make any chart, your data needs to be structured properly. Clean data is the foundation of clear visualization. For a donut chart in Google Sheets, you need a simple, two-column layout.

• Column A: The Labels. This column should contain the names of your categories. These will become the labels for each slice of your donut chart. Keep them short and descriptive (e.g., "Organic Search," "Direct," "Social Media").

• Column B: The Values. This column must contain the numerical data corresponding to each category. These values will determine the size of each slice. Ensure these are numbers, not text.

Here’s an example of a perfectly formatted data table for a donut chart showing website traffic sources:

With data organized like this, Google Sheets can easily understand what you're trying to visualize.

Method 1: The Traditional Way to Make a Donut Chart

The standard method gives you full control over the creation and customization process. It’s a straightforward path from your data table to a finished chart.

Step 1: Select Your Data

Click and drag your cursor to highlight the entire data range you want to include in your chart. In our example, you would select cells A1 through B6, including the headers.

Step 2: Insert the Chart

With your data highlighted, navigate to the menu bar at the top of the screen and click Insert > Chart. Google Sheets will automatically create a chart and open the Chart editor sidebar on the right.

Step 3: Choose the Donut Chart Type

Google Sheets often makes a good guess about the chart you want, but it might create a pie chart or bar chart by default. In the Chart editor sidebar, under the Setup tab, find the "Chart type" dropdown. Scroll down to the "Pie" section and select "Donut chart."

Step 4: Customize Your Chart

Now you can start making the chart look exactly how you want. Click over to the Customize tab in the Chart editor. Here are a few key settings to adjust:

• Chart style: Here you can change the background color, the font for all text on the chart, and add a border.

• Pie chart: This section is where you control the donut itself. "Donut hole" lets you adjust the size of the center opening - a value between 25% and 75% usually looks best. You can also add a border color to the chart and, most importantly, change the "Slice label" to show the percentage, the value, or both.

• Chart & axis titles: Give your chart a clear, descriptive title like "Website Traffic by Source - Q3". You can also change the font, size, and color of the title text.

• Legend: Adjust the position of the legend (the key that explains the colors). Placing it on the right or at the bottom usually works well.

• Series: This lets you override the default colors. You can select each slice of the donut individually and assign a specific color, which is great for matching brand colors.

After a few adjustments, you have a polished donut chart ready for your report or dashboard.

Method 2: Using the AI-Powered Explore Feature

If you want to move even faster or aren't sure which chart best represents your data, Google Sheets has a helpful AI tool called "Explore." It analyzes your selected data and suggests visualizations and insights automatically.

Step 1: Select Your Data and Open Explore

Just like before, start by highlighting your properly formatted data table. Then, look for the 'Explore' icon in the bottom-right corner of your screen. It looks like a square with a star or plus sign in it. Click it to open the Explore panel. Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut Alt + Shift + X (on Windows) or Option + Shift + X (on Mac).

Step 2: Review Suggested Charts

The Explore panel will instantly analyze the structure and content of your data. Under the "Charts" section, it will show several pre-built charts. Because our data is a simple list of categories and values, Google's AI will very likely suggest a pie chart or column chart.

Step 3: Ask For the Chart You Want

You can also use the text box at the top of the Explore panel to ask for what you want in plain English. For example, you could type:

• "donut chart of sessions by source"

• "create a pie chart for column B distributed by column A"

The AI will process your request and generate the appropriate visualization. This feels almost like chat-based reporting and removes the need to hunt through menus.

Step 4: Insert and Refine Your Chart

Once you see a chart you like in the Explore panel, you can simply click and drag it directly onto your spreadsheet. You can also hover over it and click the "Insert chart" icon that appears. Once it's in your sheet, it's a normal Google Sheets chart. You can double-click it to open the familiar Chart editor and use the "Customize" tab to fine-tune the colors, labels, and title just as you would with the traditional method.

Best Practices for Effective Donut Charts

Creating the chart is only half the battle. Making it effective and easy for your audience to understand is just as important. Follow these guidelines:

• Keep Slices to a Minimum: The human eye struggles to compare more than a few slices. Limit your chart to 5-6 slices at most. If you have many small categories, combine them into a single slice labeled "Other."

• Use Descriptive Labels: Ensure your labels are clear. Including percentages directly on the slices helps your audience grasp proportions quickly without having to consult a legend.

• Utilize the Center Space: Always place your most important, overarching metric in the center hole (e.g., "Total Sessions: 31,250"). In Google Sheets, you need a small workaround for this. The easiest way is to create a "Scorecard chart" (under Insert > Chart > Scorecard) with the total value and place it on top of the donut chart's hole.

• Order the Slices Logically: Arrange the data in your table from largest to smallest before creating your chart. This creates a more intuitive visual flow, with the largest slice starting at the 12 o'clock position and moving clockwise.

• Choose Meaningful Colors: Use color to enhance clarity, not distract. Use your brand's colors for consistency, or use a neutral palette with a single bright, contrasting color to highlight the most important slice.

Final Thoughts

Whether you prefer the manual control of the classic chart builder or the speed of the AI-powered Explore feature, Google Sheets has flexible tools to create compelling donut charts. With properly structured data and a few key design principles, you can easily showcase proportions and turn raw numbers into an easy-to-understand visual insight.

While the Explore feature is a great step forward, we believe getting insights shouldn't be a multi-step process at all. This is why we built Graphed. Instead of setting up data tables and clicking through menus, you just connect your actual data sources - like Google Analytics, Shopify, or your ads platforms - and ask a question. Prompting us with "show me a donut chart of sessions by source from GA last month" instantly returns a live, production-ready visualization that updates automatically. No manual data prep, no clicking around, just answers.