Plot Setup: Canvas Page

The Canvas page allows you to customize the color, style and thickness of the plot borders and title lines, along with the appearance of the rest of the plot sheet.

• Plot Canvas and Area
  • Canvas Back Color allows you to choose the color for the area outside the plot (i.e., the area containing the titles, labels, legend, etc.).
  • Canvas Border allows you to determine if the border around the plot field will be displayed and, if so, to set the color.
  • Plot Area Back Color allows you to choose the color for the plot background.
• Plot Area Border Lines allows you to hide or show each of the specified lines, as well as to choose a color, a thickness and a style for each. The borders referred to in this area are the borders of the plot area itself (i.e., the bottom border is the x-axis, etc.).
  • To show or hide a line, select or clear the associated check box.
  • To change the color of any of the lines, click the Color field. The drop-down list that appears allows you to choose from custom colors, web-safe colors or the colors used in the current Windows system settings. You can add colors to the Custom page by right-clicking one of the color boxes in the bottom two rows.
  • You can adjust the thickness of a line by entering a positive integer in the input box. A value of 1 will draw the thinnest possible line and other values such as 2, 3, etc. will draw thicker lines. Note that the size of the thinnest possible line is dependent upon your screen resolution.
  • In addition, you can change the style of each line by clicking the Line Style box to the right of the Thickness box. A list providing line style options (e.g., solid, dashed, etc.) will appear. Choose the line style you want and it will appear in the Line Style box.
• To highlight each object (i.e., point, line, bar or slice) on the plot as you point to it, select the Highlight Selected Plot Item check box. When an object is active, you can click it to open the Plot Setup window and edit the properties specific to that object. The remaining options in this area are available only if this option is selected.
  • Fill Color allows you to specify a foreground color to be used on the highlighted active object.
  • Back Color allows you to specify a background color to be used on the highlighted active object. This color is not used if the selected fill style does not use a background color (i.e., solid or transparent fill style).
  • Fill Style allows you to select a style of hatching to be used on the highlighted active object.