Creating a master Page Layout for Graphs

Origin provides a master page feature to simplify the global annotation of graphs. Use the master page to display a consistent background, a company logo, or other labels and images on all or selected graph windows in your project.

Before using this feature, you must create your master page. The master page graph should contain the objects and background that you want to display on other graph windows. You can take a couple of approaches to this:

• You can customize the display of any graph window and then rename the graph window "master" using the window renaming method. Origin recognizes that a window named "master" is to serve as a master page.
• Alternately, Origin provides a graph template, MASTER.OTP, in which the axes and labels are hidden. You can add your master items to this template and resave it (see next topic).

Using the MASTER.OTP template

• To open this template:

1. Select File: New.
2. Select Graph.
3. Select Master from the (Template) Name drop-down list (in the Origin program folder).
4. Click OK.

You can customize the display of this window and set its shortname to "master".

Including a master page layout in your presentation

Once you create a master page (and name the graph window "master"), you then control the display of the master items in other graph windows in the project. You can control whether or not the master items are included when you export, copy, or print the graph window. This is a graph page-specific control, set on each graph page's Plot Details dialog box.

• To turn on use of master items:

1. Select Format: Page to open the Plot Details dialog box.
2. Select the Display tab.
3. Select the Use Master Items check box.
4. This will include master items when you export, copy, or print this graph window.

Controlling the display of the master items in the Origin session

You can control whether or not the master items display as you view the graph in Origin.

• To control the display of master items in the Origin session:

1. Activate any graph window.
2. Select View: Show: Master Items on Screen.

Additional master page notes

• To open a graph based on the MASTER.OTP template from a LabTalk script, use:

win -t plot master Master;

In addition to opening a graph window from the template, this script renames the window "Master."

• To display master items exclusively in portrait or landscape page orientation, you could instead rename your master graph window "portrait" or "landscape." These window names are also reserved for use by this feature. In addition, you can change your page orientation by using the menu File: Page Setup.
• If you have renamed your graph window "portrait" and you open a second graph window that is also in the portrait page orientation, then you select View: Show: Master Items on Screen, the objects in the portrait graph window display in the second graph window (assuming the Plot Details Use Master Items check box is selected).
• You can also include master items in layout page windows. However, by default, the Use Master Items check box on the layout page's Plot Details dialog box is unchecked. Therefore, you must select this check box to include master items when exporting, copying, or printing. Furthermore, you must select the View: Show: Master Items on Screen menu command to display the master items when viewing the layout page in Origin.