Plot Defaults Window

Each time you open the Plot Setup window, the changes that you make will apply only to the current plot unless you specify otherwise. To specify settings to be used as defaults for all subsequent plots or to re-apply default settings to the current plot, click the Defaults button to open the Plot Defaults window.

The Plot Defaults window gives you the flexibility to set the default settings for the three main areas of a plot: the plot titles, the plot item settings and the general display areas. You can choose to separately save, load or restore the default settings of each main area or you can set the default settings for all areas at once.

The Plot Defaults window consists of nine pages:

  • All Defaults page. This page controls the settings for all the other plot setup pages. When you click a button on this page, the effects apply to all pages. This allows you to quickly make changes without having to individually change each of the other pages.
  • Titles Text page. This page allows you to customize default plot titles for each plot type without having to view a plot of that type. For example, you can display a Failure Rate vs. Time plot while changing the titles for a System Failures plot.
  • Plot Items Display page. This page allows you to customize the details of the default appearance of the lines, points, bars and/or slices of every plot type without having to individually change each plot.
  • General page. This page controls the settings for the five section pages below it. When you click a button on this page, the effects apply to the Titles Display, Labels, Legend, Canvas and Grid and Offsets pages.
  • The Titles Display, Labels, Legend, Canvas and Grid and Offsets pages control the settings of their individual sections. When you click a button on one of these pages, the effects apply only to that specific section.

Three Defaults buttons appear on every page of the Plot Defaults window. The scope of their effects differs slightly depending on the page you are working with.

  • Save Defaults saves settings for use as the default settings for all subsequent plots. This will overwrite the previous default settings.
  • Load Defaults enters the saved default values for the settings. You can then click OK in the Plot Setup window to apply the default settings to the current plot. This is an easy way to undo changes you have made in the Plot Setup window and re-apply default settings.
  • Restore Defaults clears the saved default settings and restores the default values that are shipped with the application.

The scope of the Defaults buttons' effects changes as follows:

  • For the Titles and Plot Item Display pages, these buttons save/load/restore the settings specified on the current page.
  • For the Titles Display, Labels, Legend, Canvas and Grid and Offsets pages, these buttons save/load/restore all current settings on the corresponding page(s) of the Plot Setup window (e.g., clicking Save Defaults on the Canvas and grid page of the Plot Defaults window will save the settings from the Canvas, Grid, Bars and Slices pages).

Note: The settings affected by the Defaults buttons on the Titles Display, Labels, Legend, Canvas and Grid and Offsets pages include all settings relevant to the section, regardless of whether they are currently available or not. For example, if you have previously specified settings for a pie chart and are now specifying settings for a bar chart, the settings that you created for the pie chart will be saved as defaults when you click Save Defaults and will be applied to subsequent pie charts.

  • For the All Defaults and General pages, clicking these buttons is equivalent to clicking them on all of the subordinate pages.

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