Skip to main content
D
DeniseCarmenPinto
Participant
March 15, 2013
Answered

How do you ungroup or expand a pie chart in Adobe Illustrator CS6?

  • March 15, 2013
  • 16 replies
  • 117994 views

How do you ungroup or expand a pie chart in Adobe Illustrator CS6? This functionality seems to have been removed. Say I'd like to remove the legend: before, I could ungroup the chart, release its link to the data, and then delete the legend with my white mouse. Object > Expand no longer works either. This is supremely frustrating.

    Correct answer ujangpacul

    • add a style anything you want

    • Effect-Stylize-Drop Shadow-OK
    • Hide Drop Shadow on Appearance

    • Object-Expand Appearance

    • Done!

    Easy?

    16 replies

    Show previous replies
    Steve Fairbairn
    Steve Fairbairn
    Inspiring
    March 29, 2016

    As you seem to have discovered, you must close the Graph Data dialogue before you can ungroup.

    The Graph Data dialogue is an oddball in that it looks like a panel and can hang open.

    But its functionality corresponds to other dialogue boxes in that you must close it before you can continue working.

    It has been like that for as long as we can remember but still seems to catch out new users.

      mateuszm90868670
      mateuszm90868670
      Participant
      March 29, 2016

      i solved this problem by export my pie chart as SVG and import again to the project.

      D
      downstream_tm
      Participant
      April 11, 2014

      I tried using the menu command Object -- Expand... but it did not make a grouped object with paths and lines.

      So I tried using Object -- Flatten Transparency... and it did work. The default settings generated a grouped oject with all the fills and lines sepparate.

      Please give this a try and let me know how it works out for you.

      --Cheers

        F
        farthingsx2
        Participating Frequently
        April 1, 2013

        I am having the same problem. Select a graph and ALL the items under the OBJECT menu are greyed out. I don't see anywhere in my preference options that would seem to relate to this? Denise - wondering if you came up with a solution? THANKS - Jane

          F
          farthingsx2
          Participating Frequently
          April 1, 2013

          Never mind - Good old quit and relaunch took care of the problem! Haha - You'd think I would learn to do that VERY FIRST THING!?

            D
            DeniseCarmenPintoAuthor
            Participant
            April 1, 2013

            In the end, I closed the dialogue box that shows the data, and was able to choose Object > Ungroup. Then it prompted me saying: "The selection contains a graph. After a graph is ungrouped you will no longer be able to access its graph style, its data or change its graph designs." - Which is what I was looking for. So in short, when the data is open, everything under Object will be greyed out. Additionally, Object > Expand no longer works in CS6.

            As a note, before I figured all this out, I resorted to a quick clipping mask to get rid of the legend, since selecting with the direct selection tool (A) and deleting was met with a 'you can't do that' prompt. That worked nicely, and kept the data.

              Jacob Bugge
              Community Expert
              Jacob BuggeCommunity Expert
              Community Expert
              March 15, 2013

              Denise,

              It may be time to see whether your preferences have gone astray.

              If you like your settings, you can do it reversibly if you Move the folder (the most suitable tool to ungroup/expand a pie chart would seem to be the Knife Tool, sorry, it was stronger than I).

              _scott__
              _scott__
              Legend
              March 15, 2013

              Expand seems to work the same as it should here.

              Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
              Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices