Venn diagrams are incredibly useful for organizing and comparing information with an easy-to-understand visual element.
There may be times when working in Google Docs when you want to add a Venn diagram to your document.
In this tutorial, I will show you how to make a Venn Diagram in Google Docs.
Table of Contents
What is a Venn Diagram?
A Venn diagram is a kind of chart that has overlapping circles that show the relationship between two or more sets of items.
Overlapping circles in a Venn diagram indicate shared traits among items, whereas circles that do not overlap do not share those traits.
Venn diagrams are commonly used in math, statistics, teaching, business, science, and other fields.
Here is an example of a Venn diagram:
Making a Venn Diagram in Google Docs
Unfortunately, at this time there is not a built-in Venn diagram chart option in Google Docs.
But we can still create a Venn diagram with two methods.
The first method is using the Drawing feature to create a Venn diagram, and the second method is using an add-on to accomplish this.
I will show both methods below.
Using Drawing to Create a Venn Diagram
We can use the drawing feature in Google Docs to create our Venn diagram circles and then fill in the text to finish our chart.
Here are the steps:
1. Open up your Google Docs file and in the top menu select Insert>Drawing>New
2. In the toolbar of the drawing editor, select the Shape tool
3. From the list of options select the shape you want to use for your diagram. I have selected the Oval tool here that will be used to make a circle
4. To make a circle, click and hold down your mouse as you drag and release when your circle is the appropriate size
5. Copy this circle by right-clicking and selecting copy (or press Ctrl + C on your keyboard)
6. Paste the circle and position it so that it overlaps your original circle. If you want to have more than two circles in your Venn diagram, continue pasting circles until you have the appropriate amount
7. Next, I’m going to change the color of my second circle by selecting it and then selecting the fill color tool in the toolbar. I have selected a light red color here, but you can choose whichever color you want.
8. Next we need to change the transparency level on our second circle. Select the fill color tool again and then select Custom
9. Move the transparency level down to about 50% and then select OK
10. Now we can begin adding text to our diagram. Select the text box tool and click and hold while dragging your mouse to begin creating a text box. Release your mouse when the text box is the appropriate size. You can then reposition the text box inside one of your circles and begin adding the appropriate text. Repeat the steps until you have added all of your desired text
11. Now you Venn diagram is complete inside of the drawing editor, so we are ready to place it in our Google Doc
12. Select the Save and Close button in the top right corner of the drawing editor
13. Your Venn diagram should now be in your Google Doc. From here you can reposition it as needed within your file
Creating a Venn Diagram Using Add-Ons
You can also create Venn diagrams using Add-ons that allow this chart type.
First, you will have to install the add-on.
To do this:
1. In the top menu, select extensions>Add-ons>Get add-ons
2. Next you will have to search for the name of the add-on. There are a few different ones you can try that have Venn diagrams. One is called “Creately” another is “Lucidcharts”. Search the name of the one you want to install in the search box
3. Find the add-on and select Install
After you have installed your chosen chart-making add-on, you should be able to find a Venn diagram option within the add-on and start creating diagrams.
Since there are many different add-ons, I will not cover detailed instructions for using each add-on on this section.
Closing Thoughts
Creating a Venn diagram in Google Docs is pretty simple using the drawing feature.
You can also use an add-on, but if you are proficient with the drawing feature, then you shouldn’t really need anything additional to get this done.
More Google Docs Tutorials:
How to Make a Matrix
How to Circle Text