Graphed LogoGraphed
Login

How to Make a Circle Chart in Power BI with AI

Cody Schneider•

Creating a circle chart in Power BI doesn’t have to involve clicking through menus and dragging fields around. Thanks to built-in AI features, you can now build visualizations like pie charts and donut charts simply by describing what you want to see. This article will guide you through using natural language to create circle charts in Power BI, turning a multi-step process into a single sentence.

What Are Circle Charts Anyway?

In Power BI and data visualization in general, "circle charts" typically refer to two popular types of charts: pie charts and donut charts. Both are designed to do one thing very well: show parts of a whole.

  • Pie Chart: A classic circular chart divided into slices, where each slice represents a category and its size is proportional to the value it represents in the total.

  • Donut Chart: Essentially a pie chart with the center cut out. It serves the same purpose but is often considered a more modern and effective design. The open center can be used to display a summary value or title, making it more space-efficient.

These charts are perfect when you need to answer questions like, "What percentage of our sales comes from each region?" or "What is the breakdown of our marketing budget by channel?" They provide a quick, intuitive snapshot of how a total amount is distributed across a small number of categories.

When to Use (and Not Use) Circle Charts

While easy to create, circle charts have limitations. Use them effectively by following a few simple rules:

  • Do use them for composition. They excel at showing proportions and percentages. If your categories add up to 100%, a circle chart is a solid choice.

  • Don't use them for precise comparison. It's difficult for the human eye to accurately compare the sizes of different slices, especially when they are similar. A bar chart is almost always better for comparing values between categories.

  • Do keep the categories limited. Circle charts become cluttered and hard to read with more than five or six slices. If you have many categories, consider grouping smaller ones into an "Other" category or using a bar chart instead.

The Traditional Way: Manually Building a Donut Chart

Before we jump into the AI methods, it's helpful to see the manual process. This gives you an appreciation for how much time and effort AI can save. Let’s say we have sales data and want to see the breakdown by product category.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Load Your Data

First, ensure your data is loaded into Power BI Desktop. For this example, we’ll assume you have a table with a 'Product Category' column and a 'Sales' column.

2. Select the Donut Chart Visual

In the Visualizations pane on the right side of the screen, find and click the donut chart icon. An empty chart placeholder will appear on your report canvas.

3. Add Your Data Fields

With the new blank chart selected, you’ll see fields below the Visualizations pane labeled 'Legend' and 'Values'.

  • Drag your categorical field (e.g., 'Product Category') into the Legend box. This determines the slices of the donut.

  • Drag your numerical field (e.g., 'Sales') into the Values box. This determines the size of each slice.

4. Format and Customize

Your donut chart is now created. From here, you can use the Format your visual tab (the paintbrush icon) in the Visualizations pane to customize its appearance. You can change colors for each slice, adjust the data labels to show percentages, add a title, and modify the legend.

This process is straightforward but requires a series of clicks and drags. It assumes you know exactly which fields to use and where they need to go. Now, let’s see an easier way.

The AI Way: Creating Circle Charts with Natural Language

Power BI has integrated AI capabilities that let you build visuals just by typing what you need. The two primary features for this are the Q&A visual and the more advanced Copilot.

Using the Q&A Visual

The Q&A (Question & Answer) feature interprets your plain-English questions and automatically generates the best visual to answer them. It's the fastest way to get a single chart onto your canvas.

1. Add a Q&A Visual to Your Report

You have two simple options:

  • Double-click on any empty space on your report canvas.

  • Select the Q&A icon from the Visualizations pane.

A Q&A input box will appear, ready for you to type your question.

2. Ask Your Question in Plain English

Now, just type what you want to see. To create a circle chart, it helps to specify the chart type in your prompt. For our sales data example, you could type any of the following:

Show total sales by product category as a donut chart

Or, more conversationally:

what is our sales breakdown by category as a pie chart

As you type, Power BI's AI will understand the intent behind your words, identify the 'Sales' and 'Product Category' fields in your data model, and instantly generate the requested circle chart.

3. Convert to a Standard Visual

The chart created by Q&A is dynamic. To make it a permanent, standard visual in your report, simply click the small icon in the top-right corner of the visual that says Turn this Q&A result into a standard visual.

Once converted, you can resize, move, and format it just like any chart you created manually, but you got there in a fraction of the time.

Leveraging Power BI Copilot

Copilot represents the next step in AI-powered report building. If your organization has it enabled, you can have a more sophisticated, chat-based conversation to build and refine visuals and even entire report pages.

With Copilot, you can not only create a chart but also iterate on it. Here’s how you might use it:

  1. Open the Copilot pane: Click the Copilot button in the Power BI ribbon to open the chat window.

  2. Start with a broad request: "Create a report page summarizing our sales performance by product category." Copilot might add several visuals, including a bar chart or a table.

  3. Refine with specific instructions: Now you can follow up. Type, "Change the bar chart to a donut chart showing the percentage of sales for each category." Copilot will make the change for you.

  4. Continue to iterate: You can keep refining. Prompts like "Make the 'Electronics' slice blue" or "Add the total sales amount to the center of the donut chart" allow for advanced customization without touching the formatting menus.

Copilot makes the process conversational, allowing you to build and tweak visuals through a series of simple requests instead of a single prompt. It feels less like using software and more like collaborating with a data analyst.

Tips for Better Results

Whether you're using Q&A or Copilot, the quality of your prompt matters. Here are some tips for perfect results every time, plus some design best practices.

Crafting Effective Prompts

  • Be Specific: Instead of asking for "sales data," ask for "total sales by country as a pie chart." The more detail you provide, the better the result.

  • Use Known Field Names: Power BI’s AI is smart, but using the actual names of your data columns (like 'SalesAmount' or 'CustomerSegment') will improve accuracy.

  • Specify the Chart Type: If you want a circle chart, explicitly say "as a donut chart" or "as a pie chart." Otherwise, the AI might choose what it thinks is the best visual, which is often a bar chart.

  • Ask Follow-Up Questions: Don't be afraid to refine your request. Ask the Q&A visual to filter results ("for last year"), change the metric ("by number of orders instead of sales"), or modify the visual.

Circle Chart Design Best Practices

  • Sort Your Slices: Arrange the slices in a logical order - typically clockwise from largest to smallest. In Power BI, this can be done in the 'More options' (...) menu of the visual.

  • Use Clear Labels: Ensure your data labels clearly show the value or, more importantly, the percentage for each slice. Avoid forcing your audience to guess the proportions.

  • Don't Forget the "Donut hole": If you choose a donut chart, use the space in the middle! It’s a great place for a KPI card showing the total value, strengthening the part-to-whole message.

  • Choose Colors Mindfully: Use distinct colors that are easy to tell apart. Avoid using too many similar shades, which can make the chart hard to read.

Final Thoughts

Creating circle charts in Power BI is simpler than ever. AI tools like Q&A and Copilot let you sidestep the manual drag-and-drop process, allowing you to generate insightful visuals just by describing them. This not only saves time but also makes data analysis more accessible for everyone on the team, regardless of their technical expertise.

At our core, we believe interacting with data shouldn't require you to learn specialized software or arrange formatting panes. With Graphed, connect sources like Google Analytics, Shopify, and Salesforce, and then build entire dashboards using simple natural language. This similar conversational AI allows you to create real-time marketing and sales reports in seconds, enabling your team to get insights faster and focus on making better decisions, not learning new tools.