9.1.5 The (Plot Details) Legends/Titles Tab


This tab provides controls for automatic legend and title construction in Origin graphs.

Legends titles tab.png

Auto Legend

Translation Mode of %(1) %(2)

Instead of manually modifying %(1), into %(1, @LM), %(1, @L, 1), etc. in legend box, specify what worksheet column header information should be used to translate %(1) in legend.

@LM: Use Comment (1st line)

Default setting. Use the 1st line of the Comment row (if any). Otherwise use the column Long Name. If neither Comments nor Long Name contains contents, use the Short Name of the corresponding column.

@R: Data Range

Workbook data range of plot. The syntax would be [Workbook]Worksheet!Col(Index)[start index, end index].

@U: Long Name & Units

Use the variables in column label rows of Long Name combined with that in Units. The display format would be Long Name(Unit) in English and Japanese versions of Origin, and Long Name[Unit] in German version.

If there is no contents in Long Name, the column Short Name will be used instead.

@LD: User Parameter 1

Use the first user defined parameter of the corresponding data column.

@LA: Long Name

Use the Long Name of the corresponding data column.

@LS: Short Name

Use the Short Name of the corresponding data column.

@LP: Parameter 1

Use the first Parameter of the corresponding data column.

Custom

Use the custom string specified in the Legend Custom Format and Additional Format (for @L, @V, @WT) edit boxes. See the Complete List of @Options for all available arguments. Combination of such @(Letter) arguments is supported.

Notes: Rich text formatting can be enabled for column header rows, to display superscript/subscript and special characters. Please view this quick help item for details.

Apply the Translation Mode of %(1) %(2) setting in one graph to another graph (including Legend Custom Format strings) by right-clicking on the legend object and choosing Copy Format: All. Right-click on the target legend and choose Paste Format to All.

Legend Custom Format

This combination box is displayed only when Custom is selected with the Translation Mode of %(1) %(2) drop-down list. You can type in texts or select from the drop-down menu for some frequently used formats.

You can click the Button Arrow in Legend Tab.png button next to the combination box to view the list of @(Letter) arguments. Also, you could refer to the Complete List of @Options for details.

Additional Format

When Custom is selected for Translation Mode of %(1) %(2) and @L (X Value), @V (Y Value) or @WT (Cell Value) is selected for Legend Custom Format, Additional Format box need to be filled to specify the row index or row and column indices, e.g.

  • Enter @L in Legend Custom Format and type 1 in Additional Format (for @L, @V, etc.) will show the 1st X value of each plot as legend text.
  • Enter @V in Legend Custom Format and type 5 in Additional Format (for @L, @V, etc.) will show the 5th Y value of each plot as legend text.
  • Enter @WT in Legend Custom Format and type 2,3 or B,3 in Additional Format (for @L, @V, etc.) will show 2nd column B, 3rd row value from the plot's source worksheet as legend text.
Translation mode 1stX.png

Refer to the Complete List of @Options for details.

To further customize numeric value's display format in legend,

  • For @WT, add custom numeric format as 3rd argument in Additional Format field. E.g. B, 3, .2 will use column B's 3rd row data as legend with 2 decimal places, B,3, P*2 will use column B's 3rd row in scientific notation with 2 significant digits.
  • For all other translation mode, no matter built-in label rows e.g. @LA, @LC, user defined parameter rows @LD1, ..., or @L, @V, ...., use the $( , ) to customize the display format. Then right click legend box, choose Properties... context menu. On Programming tab, set Link to %(%, $), Substitution Level to 2. E.g. in the following image, mean value of each plot shows with 0 decimal places.
Legend substitution level2.png
Legend display format.png

Show Units (when available) for Auto Axis Titles, %(?X) %(?Y)

Select this option to append the contents of the worksheet column's Units cell to the axis title.

Data Plot Index for Auto Axis Titles

This control is most likely to be useful when plotting multiple Y columns of data against a single X column. Use the drop-down list to specify which column will furnish the information for the Auto Axis Titles.

Note: a system variable @FPT is used to control whether Data Plot Index for Auto Axis Titles will exclude function plot

Legend Update Mode

This is used to determine how the legend should change when new data plots are added to the graph. Three modes are available in the drop-down list:

Update when Adding/Removing Just add/remove the the legend(s) when a data plot(s) is added into/removed from the associated layer on the graph.

Note: It will not change the format and structure of the existing legend(s).

Reconstruct when Adding/Removing Reconstruct the legend(s) whenever a data plot(s) is added to, or deleted from the associated layer on the graph.

Note: It will restore the legend(s) format to the default setting.

None Do not update or reconstruct the legend(s) whenever a data plot(s) is added to, or deleted from the associated layer on the graph.

Include data plots from all layers when constructing legend

If this box is cleared, Origin only includes datasets contained in the graph layer that was active when the legend object was created. Some graph templates -- notably those which employ multiple graph layers such as the Double Y Axis graph template -- have this feature turned on by default. When enabled, the legend will automatically include all datasets in the graph window.

Note: this option does not work for legend of categorical values and point by point legend.

Legend Symbol Width (% of Font)

This setting determines the width of the legend's data plot type icons as a percentage of the legend font size.

This setting does not affect color scales or bubble scales.

Indicate Active Dataset

Select the Indicate Active Dataset check box to highlight the active data set in the legend. When this check box is selected, a rectangle shape surrounds the symbol icon of the active data plot in the legend.

Additionally, when this check box is selected, the active data plot can be set by clicking on the data plot symbol icon in the legend.

Note:

  1. This checkbox is equivalent to right-clicking on Legend to select Legend: Indicate Active Dataset from context menu.
  2. You can also set the active data plot from the data list at the bottom of the Data menu or from shortcut menus (for instance, by right-clicking on the plot and choosing Set as Active).
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