# 8.5.2.1.7 The Special Ticks Tab

This tab provides controls for special ticks in axis, including the ticks at axis begin, axis end or at any custom axis position. For 2D graphs, special ticks from four axes (Bottom, Top, Left, Right) could be customized separately; for 3D graphs, special ticks from up to 6 axes (X - Front, X - Back, Y - Bottom, Y - Top, Z - Left, Z - Right) can be customized separately, if the Use Only One Axis For Each Direction check box is cleared in the Show tab. For both 2D and 3D axes, you can choose to share the settings for opposite axes.

 Starting with Origin 2017, you can use the Layer list to switch between layers in a multi-layer graph.

## Global Control

 Use Same Options for Bottom and Top / Left and Right / Front and Back The contents for this check box update itself with the current active axis icon. Enable this check box to specify whether to share the settings between opposite axes. Note that for 3D graph, only when Use Only One Axis For Each Direction is not selected, will this check box be available.

## Display Box for Special Ticks

The current special ticks setting will be displayed in this display box. There are three columns in this display box and each is used for different purpose.

### At Axis Value

The cells in this column are used to define the position of the special tick. Except for the first two cells with contents Axis Begin and Axis End, all other cells are editable, you can double click on one to enter a desired position for the special tick. Note that as long as there are less than 12 rows in this display box, double click on the cell at the last row will always produce a new row below, which means a new special tick could be added.

### Label

The cells in this column are used to define the label to show at the corresponding special tick.

• <auto> means to show the entered value in the At Axis Value column as label but use the default tick label display settings(such as digits setting).
• <value as entered> means show the value entered at At Axis Value column exactly as label. This is the default selection for the custom special ticks(excluding the Axis Begin and Axis End tick).
• You can also double click on each cell to enter new labels to be shown.
 You can use the %1 notation to include the current tick label at any point in the expression. For example, if the current tick label reads "19," type %199 in the Labels text box to display "1999." Use the $(x) notation to include the current tick label in a calculation, where x is the current tick label value. For example, if the current tick label is "99," type$(1900+x) to display "1999."

### Show

The check box in this cell is used to determine whether to show the special tick defined in the same row.

## Buttons

There are two buttons under the display box:

 Delete This button is available when one or more custom special tick entries are selected in the display box. (i.e. the special ticks other than the Axis Begin and Axis End ones). It deletes the selected special ticks. Note that for multiple selection, you can hold Ctrl key and click on the special tick entries one by one. This button is used to open the Special Tick dialog for further style customization of the special ticks.

## Special Ticks dialog

This dialog can be opened by clicking the Details... button in the Special Ticks tab of Axis dialog. It is used to customize the tick and label format of special ticks.

 When this dialog is open, the main Axis dialog will be hidden. And you can click Apply button to apply the change in this dialog only, without coming back to the main Axis dialog. When click OK button to save the setting and close this dailog / click Cancel button to close this dialog, the main dialog will show again.

To customize the format of special tick(s), select one or more special ticks in the Special Ticks at panel. (For multiple selection, hold Ctrl key and click), and change the settings in the Tick Format or Label Format tab.

### Tick Format tab

This tab provides controls for the tick mark of selected special tick(s).

 Show For the reserved special ticks Axis Begin and Axis End, this control is a drop-down list and you can select from options Auto, Hide and Show. In which the Auto option means to follow the default tick settings. For the custom special ticks, this is a check box to determine whether this special tick will be shown or not. This text box is only available for a custom special tick, it is used to specify the position of the special tick on the axis. For details, you could refer to the At Axis Value section above. This text box is only available when Show is selected, it is used to specify the label at the special tick. For details, you could refer to the Label section above. This check box is only available when Show is selected, when it is selected, the special tick will follow the axis tick setting in the Line and Ticks tab, and all controls below will be disabled. The four controls: Style, Length, Color and Thickness are provided to customize the special tick format. For details, refer to the Origin Help file for Line and Ticks tab.

### Label Format tab

This tab provides controls for the tick label of selected special tick(s).

When the Auto check box is selected, the label format of a special tick will follow the tick label format settings in the Tick Labels - Format tab.

To separately customize tick label format, deselect the Auto check box and the other controls below will be enabled. For details, refer to the Origin Help file for the Tick Labels tab.

 For simple adjustments to font face, size or color, click on a special label to select it, then use the buttons on the Format toolbar to customize the label.

Additionally, for 2D graph with cartesian coordinates, you can select Show Leader Line check box to add the leader line between the special tick and its label when there is an offset. Then, a branch will show up to let you do further format settings for the leader line. These settings are consistent with those in Label tab of Plot Details dialog