How Can You Create A Donut Chart in Tableau?

Summary: A donut chart in Tableau enhances data visualisation by providing a clear, clutter-free representation of proportions. This guide explains building and customising a donut chart, ensuring better readability and impactful storytelling in business dashboards. Mastering this visualisation can help analysts create engaging, insightful reports for data-driven decision-making.

Introduction

Tableau simplifies data visualisation, making complex datasets easily interpreted through interactive charts and graphs. One such visualisation is the donut chart in Tableau. It enhances data storytelling by offering a clear, aesthetically pleasing representation of proportions.

This blog will guide you through step-by-step instructions on how to create a donut chart in Tableau. With the Tableau services market projected to grow at 13.50% from 2021 to 2028, mastering such visualisations is essential for professionals seeking to leverage data effectively.

Key Takeaways

• Donut charts enhance readability by reducing visual clutter compared to pie charts.
• Tableau makes donut chart creation easy using pie charts, dual-axis, and formatting adjustments.
• Customisation improves insights with colours, labels, and tooltips for better data storytelling.
• Donut charts help highlight proportions, making them ideal for business reports and dashboards.
• Mastering donut charts in Tableau can improve data-driven decision-making and enhance reporting efficiency.

Understanding Donut Charts

A donut chart is a circular chart that shows parts of a whole. It looks like a pie chart but has a hole in the centre, making it resemble a donut. The hole helps reduce clutter and makes the chart easier to read. Businesses and analysts use donut charts to display proportions, compare categories, and highlight key insights.

Why Use a Donut Chart?

Donut charts help make data more visually appealing and easy to understand. The space in the middle allows you to add extra information, such as totals or labels. They are often used in business reports, marketing analytics, and financial dashboards to show percentages of different categories.

How is a Donut Chart Different from a Pie Chart?

A pie chart and a donut chart serve the same purpose—showing how a whole is divided into parts. However, a donut chart has a hole in the middle, which makes it easier to compare sections and avoid visual overload.

Small sections can be challenging to read with pie charts, especially when there are many categories. The donut chart improves readability by focusing on relative differences rather than exact segment sizes. It also looks cleaner, especially in modern business reports and dashboards.

Why Donut Charts Matter in Tableau

Tableau is a powerful tool for data visualisation, and donut charts are a popular choice for presenting insights. The Tableau services market makes up about 7% of the overall business intelligence platform market. This shows how widely companies rely on Tableau to create easy-to-understand charts, including donut charts.

Using donut charts in Tableau, businesses can quickly highlight essential data, improve decision-making, and create visually engaging reports.

Building a Donut Chart in Tableau

In this section, we will guide you step-by-step on how to create a donut chart in Tableau. Whether you are a beginner or someone with no technical background, this guide will make it easy to follow.

Step 1: Laying the Foundation

Before building a donut chart, we must create a basic pie chart, which will act as our donut chart’s base. This step ensures we have a structured approach to our visualisation. 

A strong foundation allows for better accuracy and efficiency when modifying the chart into a donut representation. Following the right sequence will make the process seamless and easy to execute.

• Open Tableau and Load Your Data
  • Launch Tableau and connect to your dataset.
  • Ensure your dataset contains categorical values (such as product categories, regions, or departments) and numerical values (like sales, profits, or percentages).
• Drag the Required Fields to the Workspace
  • Drag the Dimension (e.g., Category) to the Columns shelf.
  • Drag the Measure (e.g., Sales) to the Rows shelf.
• Convert to Pie Chart
  • Click on the Marks dropdown menu and select Pie.
  • Drag the Measure Values to the Angle property in the Marks pane. This will define the size of each section in the pie chart.
• Enhance the Pie Chart
  • Drag the Dimension field (e.g., Category) to the Color property in the Marks pane. This will assign different colours to different sections of the pie chart.
  • Drag the Measure to the Label property to display numerical values inside each section.

At this stage, we have a simple pie chart. Now, let’s transform it into a donut chart.

Step 2: Configuring the Inner Circle

As I’ve stated above, a donut chart is a pie chart with a hole in the middle. We need to duplicate our pie chart and adjust its size to create this effect. This step helps in achieving the characteristic donut shape by ensuring that the right spacing and alignment are maintained. 

The goal is to make the chart visually appealing while maintaining the integrity of the data representation.

• Duplicate the Pie Chart
  • Hold the Ctrl key (Cmd key on Mac) and drag the existing pie chart onto the Rows shelf to create a duplicate copy.
  • This action generates two identical pie charts.
• Create a Dual-Axis Chart
  • Right-click on the second pie chart and select Dual-Axis. This will place one pie chart on top of the other.
  • Ensure that both charts are perfectly aligned.

Follow these steps to adjust size and formatting:

• Reduce the Size of the Inner Pie Chart
  • Click on the second pie chart in the Marks pane.
  • Reduce the size of the inner pie chart by dragging the Size slider to make it smaller than the outer chart.
• Change the Color of the Inner Pie Chart
  • Click on Color in the Marks pane and choose White (or match it to your dashboard background). This will create the hollow centre, making it look like a donut chart.

Now, we have successfully created the donut effect. The next step is to customise it for better readability.

Step 3: Customising Data Representation

Let’s add colours, labels, and tooltips to make your donut chart more meaningful and visually appealing. This step ensures that your chart is visually attractive and provides valuable insights. Proper customisation can enhance readability, making it easier for users to understand and interact with the chart without confusion.

• Apply Consistent Colors
  • Click on the Color property in the Marks pane.
  • Choose distinct colours for different categories to enhance readability.
  • Ensure the colours match your dashboard theme.
• Add Labels for Clarity
  • Drag the Measure (e.g., Sales) onto the Label property.
  • Adjust the formatting to display numbers clearly.
  • Align the labels properly within each section of the donut chart.

• Enable Tooltips
  • Click on the Tooltip property in the Marks pane.
  • Customise the text to include additional details such as percentage values, category names, and total sales.
• Test the Tooltip
  • Hover over different sections of the donut chart to ensure the tooltips display correctly.

At this stage, our donut chart is almost ready. The final step is to ensure everything is polished and functional.

Step 4: Finalising the Donut Chart

This last step will combine everything to ensure the donut chart looks professional and interactive. This step focuses on refining the chart, ensuring all elements are well-aligned, and making final tweaks to enhance user experience. Proper finalisation helps create a dashboard-ready chart that is easily interpretable and visually attractive.

• Check Alignment
  • Make sure the inner and outer circles are perfectly centred.
  • Adjust the size of the inner circle if needed.
• Format the Chart for a Clean Look
  • Remove unnecessary gridlines and axis labels.
  • Adjust font styles and sizes for better readability.
  • Ensure the legend is positioned correctly.

• Check Interactivity
  • Hover over different sections to test the tooltips.
  • Click on different categories to see if interactions (such as filtering) work as expected.
• Adjust Responsiveness
  • Resize the chart to see how it adapts to different screen sizes.
  • Ensure the chart remains readable on dashboards.

Once these steps are completed, your donut chart is ready to be used in your reports and dashboards.

In The End

Creating a donut chart in Tableau enhances data visualisation, making reports more engaging and insightful. By following a structured approach—building a pie chart, configuring the inner circle, customising labels, and refining formatting—you can create a professional-looking donut chart. 

These charts improve readability, highlight key insights, and enhance business dashboards. Their ability to represent proportions effectively makes them a preferred choice for analysts and business professionals. 

Mastering donut charts in Tableau can elevate your data storytelling skills, making your reports visually appealing and easier to interpret. Start using donut charts today to create impactful, data-driven visualisations in Tableau.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do I Create a Donut Chart in Tableau?

To create a donut chart in Tableau, build a pie chart, duplicate it, apply a dual-axis, resize the inner chart, and set its colour to white. This process ensures a clear, professional visual representation of data proportions, making reports more engaging and insightful.

Why Use a Donut Chart in Tableau Instead of a Pie Chart?

A donut chart in Tableau enhances readability by reducing clutter and emphasising relative differences. It features a hollow centre unlike pie charts, allowing additional insights like totals or labels. This design makes it easier to compare sections and improves data storytelling in business dashboards and reports.

Can I Customise Colours and Labels in a Tableau Donut Chart?

Yes, you can customise colours and labels in a Tableau donut chart. Assign distinct colours to categories, add labels for clarity, and format tooltips for better insights. Proper customisation enhances readability, aligns the chart with dashboard themes, and makes data interpretation more intuitive for users.