MINITAB Users Guide 1 26-1

26
Saving and
Printing Graphs
I Saving and Printing Graphs Overview, 26-2
I Saving, Opening, and Closing Graphs, 26-2
I Copying and Pasting Graphs, 26-5
I Printing Graphs, 26-6
To Table of Contents To Index
Chapter 26 Saving and Printing Graphs Overview
26-2 MINITAB Users Guide 1
Saving and Printing Graphs Overview
This chapter covers the ways in which you can publish your graphs and share them
with other applications.
If you want to view and edit that graph in other MINITAB projects, or if you want to view
the graph in earlier releases of MINITAB, save the graph in a MINITAB Graphics Format
(MGF) file. You can then re-open that graph in MINITAB. See Saving, Opening, and
Closing Graphs on page 26-2.
If you want to view the graph in another application, such as in Microsoft Word or on a
web page, you can save the graph in a file format such as bitmap (BMP) or JPEG
(JPG). See Saving, Opening, and Closing Graphs on page 26-2.
You can also use MINITAB graphs in another application by copying and pasting:
I If you want to view and edit that graph in other Windows applications, you can paste
the graph as an OLE (pronounced o lay) object. That object can be edited with
MINITAB graph editing tools within the other application.
I If the application is not set up to handle OLE objects, you can paste the graph as a
Windows Metafile drawing, or as a static bitmap.
All these ways of copying and pasting are described in Copying and Pasting Graphs on
page 26-5.
If you want the graph to appear in a printed word processing document at the
highest-possible resolution, you can print the graph to an Encapsulated PostScript
(EPS) file. This creates an image that cannot be viewed in the word processing
program, but will print at the best quality. See Printing to an Encapsulated PostScript
(EPS) file on page 26-7.
Finally, you can print the graph on old-fashioned papersee Printing Graphs on page
26-6.
Saving, Opening, and Closing Graphs
Graphs are part of your project. When you save a project, you are also saving any open
Graph windows. Those Graph windows will reappear when you reopen the project.
You can open graphs that are inside other project files.
You can also save a graph into a separate file, in one of several graphics formats. The
graph file can be opened in another MINITAB project or in another application.
If you want to use the graph in another application, you can also copy and paste it (see
Copying and Pasting Graphs on page 26-5), or print the graph as an encapsulated
PostScript file (see Printing to an Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) file on page 26-7).
Saving, Opening, and Closing Graphs Saving and Printing Graphs
MINITAB Users Guide 1 26-3
Saving graphs
The table below lists the file types that the graph can be saved into, and the programs
and applications where you can use that file.
Most of these graphics formats can be saved in black-and-white, color, or high color.
The more colors you use, the larger the file size, so save in color only if your graph uses
colors; save in high color only if your graph uses a large number of colors (as in a 3D
surface graph).
h To save a graph
1 With the Graph window active, choose File Save Graph As.
2 In Save as type, choose the format that can be used by the other application. To use
the graph in MINITAB, choose Minitab Graph.
3 In File name, type a name and click Save.
File type
File
extension Use in
MINITAB Graph
(MINITAB Graphics
Format)
MGF MINITAB projects, where you can edit, brush,
print, and save again. MGF files cannot be
opened in other applications.
JPEG
(Joint Photographic
Experts Group)
JPG HTML documents on the Worldwide Web.
JPEG uses a lossy compression scheme, so
the edges and color boundaries between
graph items may be blurred.
TIFF
(Tagged Image File
Format)
TIF Graphics and desktop publishing programs.
TIFF files can be used on PCs or
Macintoshes.
PNG
(Portable Network
Graphics)
PNG HTML documents on the Worldwide Web.
PNG is a recently-adopted standard that is
not yet supported by all browsers. PNG uses
a lossless compression scheme, so edges and
color boundaries are sharply defined.
Windows BMP
(Windows Bitmap)
BMP Graphics and word processing programs
that run on the Windows family of operating
systems.
Note Black-and-white means there are only two colors, full black and full white, with no
grays. Light colors such as yellow may translate to white. If your graph uses any colors
besides black and white, save with color; on a non-color printer the colored lines will
print as shades of gray.
Chapter 26 Saving, Opening, and Closing Graphs
26-4 MINITAB Users Guide 1
Opening graphs
You can open a MINITAB Graphics Format (MGF) file that was created in Release 12
or Release 11 of MINITAB. You can also open graphs that are contained in a MINITAB
Project (MPJ) file.
h To open a graph
1 Choose File Open Graph.
2 Under Files of type, select either MINITAB Graphics Format or MINITAB Project.
3 Select a directory and file name, then click Open.
4 If you select a MINITAB Project file, MINITAB then displays a list of the graphs in that
project. Select a graph and click OK.
Closing graphs
You can close graphs one-by-one or all at once.
h To close a Graph window
1 Click the Close button in the corner of the window.
h To close all Graph windows
1 Choose Window Close All Graphs.
MINITAB will prompt you to save graphs
You can have 15 Graph windows open at a time. If you create a sixteenth graph,
MINITAB will prompt you to close one or more of the other Graph windows. When you
close the window, MINITAB will ask you to save the graph. MINITAB will also ask you to
save a graph when you close a Graph window.
You can choose a preference for how you wish to be prompted in these situationsor if
you want to be prompted at all.
When many Graph windows are produced by a single command or a single MINITAB
macro file, then by default, MINITAB pauses to allow you to view, save, print, and close
Graph windows when you have too many graphs.
h To change your prompt preference
1 Choose Edit Preferences and select Graphics.
More You can also close one or more graphs using the Manage Graphs dialog boxsee
Managing, Arranging, and Naming Graph Windows on page 13-9.
Copying and Pasting Graphs Saving and Printing Graphs
MINITAB Users Guide 1 26-5
2 Select one of the following options under Before closing a graph, MINITAB should
prompt you to save a graph when:
I the graph has not been saved since it was created or last editedThis is the
safest option, and is a good choice when
you want to make sure that you never accidently lose any graphs
you never want to lose any changes you make to a graph
I you have edited the graph since it was created or last savedThis is a good
choice if you think that any graph you edit is generally worth more than a graph
that you have not edited. MINITAB automatically closes unedited graphs and
edited graphs that have already been saved.
I neverThis is a good choice when
you never want to be bothered with prompts at all
you dont care whether you lose an occasional graph
you can easily reproduce all graphs that you generate
3 Select one of the following options under When there are too many graphs,
MINITAB should:
I Prompt you to close one or more graphsthe default. When you choose this
preference, you must close a graph before continuing with your procedure.
Before closing a graph, you may view, save, and print graphs before closing at
least one.
I Close the oldest graphthat is, the first graph generated
I Close all graphsunclutters the display, may help performance if you have
many complex graphs
Copying and Pasting Graphs
One of the easiest ways to use MINITAB graphs in another software package is to copy
and paste them. The pasted graph can take one of several forms, depending on the
capabilities of the application you are pasting to:
I If the application is OLE compliant, the graph will be pasted as an OLE object you
can edit with the MINITAB graph editor.
Note The When there are too many graphs options only tell MINITAB which graphs are the
candidates for closing. Once MINITAB makes a graph a candidate for closing, the Before
closing a graph preference determines if you will receive a prompt or not. Then, if no
prompt is issued for the graph, and your preference is Close the oldest graph or Close
all graphs, MINITAB closes the graph(s) automatically. When you receive a prompt, you
can print, save, or close the graph.
Chapter 26 Printing Graphs
26-6 MINITAB Users Guide 1
I If the application is not OLE compliant, the graph will be pasted as a Windows
Metafile drawing whose parts (titles, lines, symbols, etc.) can be individually edited
by that applications editing tools.
I If the application has no editing tools for drawings, the graph will be pasted as a
static bitmap.
h To copy and paste a graph
1 With the Graph window active, choose Editor View.
2 Choose Edit Copy Graph.
When you copy certain 3D graphs, including 3D wireframe plots, MINITAB will
display a dialog box with this message: I can only copy a bitmap of this graph.
Proceed? To copy the graph, just click OK.
3 In the other application, choose the paste command.
h To edit a pasted MINITAB graph in another application
This option is only available if the application is OLE compliant.
1 Double-click the graph. The MINITAB graph editing window will appear.
2 Use MINITABs graph editing tools. See Chapter 24, Editing Graphs.
3 Close the window. The changes will be reflected in the application.
Printing Graphs
You can print graphs to color or black-and-white printers. MINITAB prints the contents
of each Graph window on a single page. The printed graph has the same aspect ratio
(ratio of width to height) as the graph has on your screen. For more information on
aspect ratios, see Changing the aspect ratio of a page on page 19-7.
h To print a graph
1 Make the Graph window active.
2 Choose File Print Window. You will see the standard Windows printing dialog
box, which contains printing options for your specific printer.
Note This section is on copying and pasting entire graphs. If you want to copy and paste
portions of a graph, see Copying and Pasting on page 24-9.
Tip With the OLE graph editor, you can also save a copy of the graph to a file: choose File
Save Copy As.
Printing Graphs Saving and Printing Graphs
MINITAB Users Guide 1 26-7
3 When you print certain 3D graphs, including 3D wireframe plots, MINITAB will
display a dialog box with this message: I can only print a bitmap of this graph.
Proceed? To print the graph, just click OK.
h To correct color problems on black-and-white printers
If your black-and-white printer is not properly displaying color elements as scales of
grey, you can force MINITAB to print parts of graphs as true black and white (no
greyscales).
1 Choose Edit Save Preferences Graphics.
2 Under Printing, check options to print text, fills, lines, or markers as black.
For more information, refer to the Help topic for the Edit Preferences dialog box.
Printing to an Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) file
You can print a graph to an EPS file, then import that file in another application. EPS
files are generally of higher quality than graphs copied and pasted using the Clipboard,
or graphs saved as different file types.
h To save a graph as an EPS file in Microsoft Windows 95
1 Choose File Print Window.
2 In Name, select a PostScript printer.
3 Click Properties.
4 Click the PostScript tab.
5 In PostScript output format, select Encapsulated PostScript.
6 Click OK.
7 In the Print dialog box, check Print to File, and click OK.
8 In the Print to File dialog box, type a file name (it is a good idea to use the EPS file
extension).
More You can print several graphs at once using the Manage Graphs dialog boxsee Missing
Values and Graphs on page 13-10.
Tip If you notice problems with the printed copy of a graph, search in Help for the topic
troubleshooting, and click the topic called problems with printed graphs. Printing errors are
often due to problems with the printer drivers supplied with your operating system or
printer, but the troubleshooting tips in Help list several work-arounds.
Note This option is not available on Windows NT.
Chapter 26 Printing Graphs
26-8 MINITAB Users Guide 1
h To save a graph as a non-EPS printer file
As well as EPS, you can save graphs in other printer file formats.
I Follow the instructions for saving as an EPS file (above), making sure that the right
printer is listed under Specific Printer.