Is Excel acting slow & taking ages? As part of our Speedy Spreadsheet Week, today lets talk about optimizing & speeding up Excel by formatting & charting better. Use these tips & ideas to super-charge your sluggish workbook.
No matter how much data you got, how many formulas you wrote, the end users seldom see them on your workbook. They see the finalized dashboard, they play with the model, they look at the report. And if you make poor choices, your end users will thing your workbook is slow.
7 Charting & Formatting Tips to Optimize & Speed up Excel
1. Use picture links / camera snapshots wisely
Picture links (known as camera snapshots in Excel 2003 or earlier) are a blessing in disguise. They can let you create stunning dashboards & reports, but they can also drastically slow-down your workbook. If you add one too many picture links or make they too dynamic, any time you change something on the dashboard, the picture links must be refreshed and that slows Excel down.
Remedy? Simple, use fewer picture links. Limit dynamic changes to minimum. Try using charts instead of picture links and measure the performance. If you have added any animation (thru VBA), get rid off it.
Note: In Excel 2010, the performance of picture links has been improved, but they still slow-down your workbook.
Resources to learn more about dynamic charts & picture links:
- Introduction to picture links – what are they and how to use them?
- Picture links in action – Cricket Worldcup Dashboard
- Excel Dynamic Charts – lots of examples, tutorials & downloads
2. Do not load too much data in to the charts
Any time you have a chart that depicts more than half-a-dozen series of data, stop and reject the idea. See if you can re-structure the chart so that it shows lesser information or becomes 2 charts. Some ground rules I follow,
- Never make charts with too many data points.
- Use form controls or user input to show a sub-set of data instead of everything.
- Do not customize the charts too much. Instead rely on other techniques like,
- Using drawing shapes & text-boxes.
- Using multiple charts
- Using a mix of charts & cell formatting
- Group the data and visualize at the group level (works for pivot tables)
Resources to learn about charting better:
- Which chart to use? a detailed guide
- Using form controls to make dynamic charts – examples
- Using text boxes in charts
- Panel charts – what are they and how to use them in Excel?
- Grouping data in pivot tables
3. Stay away from fancy formatting in the charts
Fancy chart formatting options like 3d, shadows, perspective, reflection or gradients are CPU intensive and eye-sore. Even if your chart is rendered in a split second, because of all the additional detail in it, user takes more time to read it and hence perceives your workbook as slow.
Solution? Just use simple formatting. Use these guidelines,
- Use fewer colors
- Use fewer fonts (maximum 2 for a chart for best results)
- Use 2d instead of 3d.
- Stay away from features like 3d, perspective, shadows, reflections in the chart formatting.
- If you must use these features, use them on a drawing shape and position it behind the chart.
Resource to learn about chart formatting:
- Chart formatting principles & best practices
- Using drawing shapes to enhance chart formatting
- 6 Excel charts you see in hell
- What colors to use in Excel charts?
4. Use conditional formatting, in-cell charts instead of charts
With Excel 2007 & 2010, you can create rich conditional formatting that communicates better. So use it instead of charts in some places. Some excellent uses of conditional formatting are,
- Use CF icons as alerts in dashboards
- Use in-cell charts – examples, tutorials & downloads
- Use CF to generate heat-maps – Example
5. Only format the cells you use
Often we format an entire column or row when we just use a bunch of cells. This used to be fine until Excel 2003 (where the maximum rows are 67k & max columns are 256). With Excel 2007 & 2010, the number of rows & columns in Excel worksheets has gone up significantly. So when you format an entire column you are asking for trouble. Follow below guidelines when formatting your worksheets to improve the performance.
- Use tables when you are dealing with structured data. This way all the formatting is done automatically and extends only up to the last row / last column.
- Never format an entire column or row. Just select the cells you use and format them.
- Use simple formats. This way, even if you have to apply them to additional rows, you can do so faster.
- Do not apply conditional formatting to very large ranges. This can significantly slowdown your workbook.
- Hide rows & columns you do not need. This way the temptation to mess with them is gone.
- Remove worksheets that are not required.
- Use minimal formatting for non-output worksheets. And hide them if possible.
- If you want to use very fancy formatting for a cell (multiple colors, multiple fonts etc.) use a text box instead. This way you can format it richer and the workbook remains lighter.
Related: 10 tips to create better & boss-proof Excel workbooks
6. Limit cell styles to a minimum
I have not tested this, but I heard that when you use a lot of cell styles, the workbook becomes slower. So rely on fewer cell styles and use only the built-in styles.
7. Use built-in features instead of 3rd party add-ins
I have nothing against add-ins and I personally use a few to do my work better. But when it comes to charting & formatting, you may want to use whatever is available if speed matters to you most. This is because built-in charts & features tend to be faster & bug-free. Plus they work on all computers.
If you must use 3rd party add-ins, use the ones made by a credible source & thoroughly test them. (Example: Jon’s charting add-ins, add-ins by other MVPs are usually better compared to a random macro code / add-in you found on internet).
More on Excel Optimization & Speeding up:
Read these articles too,
- Optimization & Speeding-up Tips for Excel Formulas
- Optimizing & Speeding-up VBA Macros
- Excel Optimization tips by Experts
- Excel Optimization tips submitted by our readers
What formatting & charting tips you suggest to speed up Excel?
Most of my work involves producing dashboards & worksheet models – where charts & formatting plays a big role. So I follow pretty much all these tips to make my workbooks responsive.
What about you? What tips you suggest to make Excel faster? How do you format your workbooks & charts so that they look good & act fast? Please share using comments.
37 Responses to “Pie of a Pie of a Pie chart [Good or Bad?]”
If I could have the same quality of graphics and illustration in Office Apps, I would certainly use it.
If I could have the same quality of graphics in Office Apps (Excel, PPT) I would certainly use it.
Chandoo,
First, let me say I love your blog. I like this post, and I think that technically (in terms of readability of data) your argument is correct. The bar of bars, and the table, are much better for readability and accuracy, and as you say would be much easier to produce.
But these points ignore the context of the chart. If the chart was part of a scientific paper, your solution would be a valid one. The context in this case is an illustrated atlas of wildlife. A companion graphic to go with written text. The importance of aesthetic goes up over readability and accuracy. Much of the data and points (I assume) will be covered in the text.
There's always a pure technical tufte-esque argument. But I sometimes think it ignores the value of aesthetics. (Which I admit are quite subjective)
Great post though. Thanks.
The Treemap makes the scope of the data much clearer! The 3D pie chart depiction is deceptive.
This reminds me of the videos ive seen on the internet where it compares the relative sizes of the earth with the larger planets, then the sun, then other stars in the galaxy. Eventually there is an image showing the largest star in the sky with a little pixel representing the sun.
My point is if you varied the size of the charts it would help convey the message. The first chart (salt vs fresh) would be the biggest and the rest would be arranged in descending order. I feel this would be more accurate.
It may be helpful to consider the advice of Steven Few and Edward Tufte regarding pie charts in general. To summarize, they are seldom the most useful way to present data. Here's Few's thoughtful piece on the subject.
http://www.perceptualedge.com/articles/08-21-07.pdf
Try putting the percentages on the bar charts instead of actual amounts. Lakewater would be .013 % instead of 52.
That is very good pie chart example.
Please send example file if it is possible.
It will work , even though colors may be confusing , it can be labeled well . Also it can be called as the drilled chart , as it drills in information further , like the first chart may show business in a region , second may drill into a particular region , thrid may further drill into wat products are there in that region . It works well for me , i would more vote for the 2 nd option .
Overall all this site is awesome ,
p.s : just like me
The risk with pie of a pie of a pie chart is that Jon may have a seizure by looking at it. Also, it isn't easy to read. 😉
I dunno. The only thing worse than a pie chart is a cascading series of pie charts. I don't even think they really lend themselves to this sort of thing. It just becomes a big hide-the-ball game with your viewer.
Those goofy connectors between the pies are pure chart junk. I can't really tell if the second chart has 2 series or 3 - because the connector is a different color than the 2 labeled slices. Despite that, even whereas the drill down kind of works, still the individual components suffer from the same old weaknesses that 3d pie charts have.
Use a large bar chart as your "cover story", and fill in the sub points with smaller bar charts - or even go grab the Fabrice SFE project for extra butter. Use page orientation, color, and some text styles to guide your audience through the drill downs.
FWIW, if you check out the guy's site, you can find several other truly mortifying charts:
http://www.andrewdavies.com.au/index.html
The methane emissions one is particularly heinous. Although, I'm kind of debating what I think about the 'Glacier Changes" chart. I'd kind of like to see the data on that to see how it would look in a more traditional horizon chart.
Thank you, that was scary. I don't understand the "Glacier changes" Chart at all...
Its a very nice way to represent the data, especially when we have sets and sub-sets within the data.
I like these!
Except for the fact that they aren't dynamic and hence must be setup manually each time
It would also be nice if they could be interrogated as in select a different segment and the new data falls out automagically, but then none of the standard Excel charts do that either.
I'd like it better if the bars were stacked. How about this idea (I hope I can convey it in words):
First bar is vertical and stacked.
Second bar is horizontal, stacked horizontally and the same proportion had it been on the first bar.
Third bar is vertical, stacked vertically and the same proportion had it been on the second bar.
Then it would really look like you are zooming on the chart, like the Powers of Ten video, or maybe like the golden ration spiral.
These looks shunting but setting up for each step makes kicks them out. However if these can be arranged automatically by native excel or by VBA, these will be the part of my "Archery"
I agree with Chandoo's Suggestion about the Bar Graph which represents data in a very appropriate manner. Even I prefer doing the same. I seldom use Pie Chart unless required.
That's a real nice example of a missleading infographic. But to be honest, I think chandoos suggestion is not much better!
Why are pie charts bad? I think because they don't show the real size-relations. The biggest pie in that example ist 300k big. The 2nd one has only the size of 10k, about 3% of the first one. Niether the pies nor the bars show the real sizes. I jnow, it's hard to show the sizes because the values of the second and the third pie are so small. But that's what visualization are about - showing relations to allow the reader to see the real sizes!
So how to show the real figures?
First possibility is o use a 1:1 scaling. Well then, you need a very big screen to show also after a 90° rotation, wihich I would prefer because it's a structural comparison and not a timeline. Maybe that solution is not the perfect way.
The other chance you have is to zoom in but to really show that you zoom in! http://www.pro-chart.de/images/Water_Fall.png maybe gives you a first impression what i mean. (i was a quick try, done in 10 minutes)
The next way is, maybe to fold the bars like in the financial report 2011 of the Post of Switzerland page 22. That chart is based on an excel chart. Maybe can explain you how to do it 😉
Financial Statement: http://www.post.ch/en/post-startseite/post-berichterstattung/post-berichterstattung-service/post-berichterstattung-downloads/post-gb-2011-finanzbericht.pdf
page 22: http://www.pro-chart.de/images/FS_Schweizer_Post.png
A way that is not so very common is to divide the bars in a lot of single datapoints. So maybe the 390k bar then consists of about 5,000 single datapoint. That's not possible - it is! Have a look:
http://www.pro-chart.de/images/Dotted_WF.png
It's pure excel!
Now one single point ist 0,2% of the whole (in the example above). Add more datapoints and you can visulize the very big and the very small numbers!
Wish you a lot of fun - visualizing with excel can be very powerful!
Joerg
...if you would like to know how these charts work, just send an email to J.Decker@pro-chart.de
Hey Joerg,
I don't dig so much the dotted waterfall thing. But this is kind of awesome:
http://www.pro-chart.de/images/FS_Schweizer_Post.png
Can you help me on the bar of bar graph? Would it be possible to create that from pivot table? Can you show me how to create the bar of bar graph?
do nothing but say "Awesome!"
You are a Rock star.....This seemed an answer as if someone was reading my mind and just had the solution to my questions on what I exactly was looking for .....What a Fab !!
can u explian me step by step
Can anyone please explain how to make this chart please.
Do you mean the pie of a pie chart or the folded bar chart?
Joery PIE OF PIE Chart please
Can someone please explain how to make PIE OF PIE Chart.
@Mandeep
The last line of the post is:
PS: If you want to know to create this pie of pie of pie chart in excel, see here.
Due to forum migration, link is now:
http://chandoo.org/forum/threads/multiple-pie-chart.7343/
Hi... i love these charts.... can any one show me how to draw these charts in excel 2010
@Vamshi
The very last line of the post refers you to:
PS: If you want to know to create this pie of pie of pie chart in excel, see here. http://chandoo.org/forums/topic/multiple-pie-cahrt
Where is the attachment....it used to be there...i have seen this before but now i am not able to find...
See this:
http://img.chandoo.org/playground/WaterDistribution-chandoo.xlsx
And this:
http://chandoo.org/forum/threads/how-do-you-create-this-chart.9743/
Normally I don't learn post on blogs, however I would like to
say that this write-up very compelled me to try and do so!
Your writing style has been amazed me. Thank you,
quite great article.
This is very impressive, I would like to learn how to build this for myself. I have tried for some time now, is there a step by step process on how to create these waterfall pie of pie charts?
I am novice to excel and use it very seldom. But your blog contains to the point information one needs to get going.
I was searching for a trick to do a Pie chart drill down - for example the first pie chart shows how the prices are distributed between perishable and non-perishable items.
Now if we want to know how the perishable items are distributed - one can click the segment and it will draw another pie chart with distribution of all different perishable items (milk,meat,fruit,veg etc)
So do you have any such trick?
Regards,
electrojit
I like the look of your pie of pie of pie chart, although I understand that the relative size of each pie does not represent the actual percentages.