Pie Plume: 9 use cases for pie charts that speak

These recipes start from a Pie Plume already in place. If that is not the case, begin with getting started: the examples reuse its Sales table, with a Year column added. Features marked ★ are premium: they work without a license, with a watermark.

How do I show another measure in the center of the donut?

The total of the slices is not enough: you want the number of customers, or a rate, in the middle of the donut.

1. Create the measure with ALLSELECTED, so it gives the same value for every slice:

Customers (all) =
CALCULATE ( DISTINCTCOUNT ( Sales[Customer] ), ALLSELECTED () )   -- ignores the slice, keeps the page filters

2. Drop it into the Center value field.
3. Format › Donut center › Value = “Center value” field. The measure name is written under it; change it in Caption under the value.

Result: the number of customers in the center, whatever slice is hovered. ★ With Show the hovered or selected slice, hovering writes the slice in the center, then the center comes back to your measure.

How do I write a sentence in the center?

1. Format › Donut center › Value = Free text.
2. In Free text, type for instance {count} regions; in Caption under the value, Total {total}.

{total} is replaced by the formatted total, {count} by the number of slices, {measure} by the value of the "Center value" field. The text can also be driven by DAX with the fx button.

How do I force the order of the slices? ★

Channels must always appear in the same order, whatever their size.

1. Format › Sort › Slice order = Custom.
2. In Custom order (separated by ;), type Store; Web; Phone.

Slices follow the list; a category missing from the list comes next, in data order. Without a license, the custom order applies with the watermark. Free: Data order (Sort by column) follows the sort defined in the model (Column tools › Sort by column), and Name (A → Z) keeps the same order from one chart to the next.

How do I group small slices into "Others"? ★

1. Format › Sort › Group small slices into “Others” = Keep the N largest, then N = 5. Or choose Slices under a threshold (%) and a Threshold of 3.
2. Optional: rename the slice in “Others” label.

Result: a gray "Others" slice, always last; its tooltip gives the number of grouped categories, and a click selects them all.

How do I make a half donut? ★

1. Format › Layout › Rotation (start angle, °) = -90.
2. Opening (°, 180 = half circle) = 180.

The half circle stands on its base, uses the full width of the visual, and the total is written in the visible part of the hole. With 240° and a rotation of -120°, you get a gauge-like arc.

How do I give a product the same color in every slice? ★

Each region is split by category, and you want to spot lighting at a glance in every region.

1. Drop Sales[Category] into Details.
2. Format › Sub-categories (Details) › Sub-part colors = One color per sub-category (same in every slice).

The legend of categories shows by itself; clicking an entry selects that category in every region. Variants: Continuous gradient in the slice ★, or Cut = In layers, from the center outward ★ (the surface of each layer follows its share).

How do I detail a slice next to the donut (pie of pie, bar of pie)? ★

1. Keep Sales[Category] in Details (or use an "Others" slice).
2. Format › Slice breakdown › Show = Bar of pie (or Pie of pie, or Outer ring).
3. When = On click on a slice: click a region, its detail appears, linked to it by two lines; click an empty area to remove it. Or Always shown, with Detailed slice (always shown) = The largest, “Others” or By its name.

With Outer ring and All (outer ring only), every slice gets its detail ring: a two-level chart.

How do I compare with the previous year? ★

1. Create both measures:

Revenue 2025 = CALCULATE ( [Total revenue], Sales[Year] = 2025 )
Revenue 2024 = CALCULATE ( [Total revenue], Sales[Year] = 2024 )

2. Revenue 2025 in Values, Revenue 2024 in Previous period ★.

Result: a thin ring around the chart shows the 2024 shares; the center adds ▲ or ▼ and the change of the total; the tooltip gives the change of each slice in share points (or in % with Format › Comparison › Change in the tooltip).

How do I draw a Nightingale rose? ★

You want to compare regions by the length of their petal, or show two measures at once: the angle for one, the radius for the other.

1. Format › Layout › Shape = Nightingale rose: every region gets the same angle and the length of its petal shows its revenue. Guide circles (Rose guide circles) help read the lengths.
2. Keep Rose radius = Area proportional (Nightingale): a value twice as large covers twice the surface. Radius proportional exaggerates large values.
3. For a second measure, create it and drop it in the Radius (rose) ★ field:

Number of sales = COUNTROWS ( Sales )   -- one row of the table = one sale

Result: the angle of each petal follows revenue (Values field), its length follows the number of sales. Without the Radius field, choose Rose slice angles = By value so that the angle also follows the value.

How do I see the breakdown year by year?

1. Drop Sales[Year] into Small multiples: one donut per year, with the total in the title of each panel and a shared legend.
2. ★ Or drop Sales[Year] into Play axis ★: a play bar appears; press ▶ and the slices glide from one year to the next, the total counts up in the center.

★ With Format › Small multiples › Chart size = Proportional to the panel total, the surface of each donut follows its total: a stronger year also shows by its size.