Exporting Plots

There are various ways to export the plots generated by PGOPHER for use by other programs, depending on the required result.

Text File with Numbers

This is produced by File, Export, Main Plot and choosing .txt or .dat as the file type, or Edit, Copy Main Plot and then pasting into another application. The produces a text file, with curves as a simple list of x,y points, one pair on each line. If there is more than one curve in the plot (a simulation and overlay for example) a blank line separates each curve. These files should be easily readable by spreadsheets or scientific plotting programs. Notes:

For multiple curves the x axis points are not necessarily the same, particularly if both a simulation or an overlay are involved.
Plotted points and measuring lines are also included in the export, and show as a separate "curve" with one or two points.
You may need to go via a spreadsheet or text file if you have multiple curves to select the required curves.

Plots

Key Tip: Shrink the main PGOPHER window to 1/4 - 1/8 of full screen before producing the plot. (This will give larger lettering and symbols in the plot produced, which is usually required for paper illustrations and PowerPoint slides.)

The easiest method is system dependent, though File, Export, Main Plot can also produce SVG or Xfig plot files on any system. For all these plot options note two settings in the Plot Menu under Plot Options:

Variable Char Size	Selected by default, allowing character size on printout, clipboard and export to reflect on screen proportions. The on-screen plots typically have rather small characters, but if the main window is reduced in size then the characters in the plot produced are increased in size in the resulting plot. If the option is not selected the character size remains fixed as the window size is changed.
Limit Line Segments	Select (default) to limit number of segments on a plotted curve. It can be helpful to unselect this option if you intend to edit exported plots. The only drawback is that the resulting plots can be too complicated for some programs to handle.

Windows

Use Edit, Copy Main Plot and the Edit, Paste Special in Microsoft Office or other applications. This will allow you to select "picture" as the type, which gives the plot directly. (If you use normal Edit, Paste you will normally see the list of numbers as described in "Text File with Numbers" above.) If using Microsoft Office you can edit the resulting picture by right clicking on it and selecting "edit picture" and then "ungroup" - this seems to work better in PowerPoint than Word. Other drawing programs will have something similar.

Linux

It is not currently possible to export plots via the clipboard; consider the vector graphics formats below. Alternatively, installation of the cups-pdf package (available on most Linux systems) provides a "fake" printer that produces pdf files. Simply use File, Print and select "Cups-PDF" as the printer.

Mac

It is not currently possible to export plots via the clipboard; consider the vector graphics formats below. Alternatively, a pdf or postscript file can be produced from File, Print and clicking on the "PDF" button.

Vector Graphics Files

File, Export, Main Plot allows the vector graphics formats to be produced:

A .svg file, which can be read and edited by various graphics programs, including Firefox for reading and Inkscape or Open Office.org Draw for editing.
xfig format, associated with T_EX.