OriginLab Corporation - Scientific Graphing and Data Analysis Software - 2D graphs, 3D graphs, Contour Plots, Statistical Charts, Data Exploration, Statistics, Curve Fitting, Signal Processing, and Peak Analysis

Saving and Reapplying Graph Customizations

Each Origin graph is created with a graph template (*.OTP) file, using default settings that are saved with the template. Once a graph window is created, you can customize it in any number of ways. When customizing a graph, you might follow one of two general strategies:

Graph Customization Strategy Number One: Use the controls in various dialog boxes -- primarily the Plot Details and the Axes dialog boxes -- to modify the graph. This strategy lends itself to one-at-a-time -- as well as one-time -- customization of graph elements. Despite being suited to one-time customizations, note that your customizations can be applied to future graphs by saving the graph as a graph template (*.OTP) file.

  • For general information on customization of 2D graphs, see General Tips for Customizing 2D Graphs in the Origin Help file.
  • For information on such things as page background color, page orientation, page size, etc., see Customizing Page Elements in the Origin Help file.
  • For information on such things as layer background color, layer dimensions, thinning of plotted data, etc., seeCustomizing Layer Elements in the Origin Help file.
  • For information on customizing plot colors, symbol shape, fill patterns, see Customizing Plot Elements in the Origin Help file.
  • For information on customization of graph axes, see Graph Axesin the Origin Help file.
  • For information on adding and customizing annotations, see Adding Text and Drawing Objects in the Origin Help file.
  • For information on customizing legends in 2D graphs, see Graph Legends in the Origin Help file.

Graph Customization Strategy Number Two: Copy the format of one graph and apply it to another graph or, similarly, apply a pre-formulated Theme to the graph (a Theme is a saved format). This strategy is best suited for applying a particular customization (or a suite of customizations) to one or more existing graph windows.

To apply the same customizations to future graph windows, you create and apply something called a System Theme. A System Theme is a suite of styles that are applied globally to each graph as it is created. Note that you are still employing a graph template, but the template's default settings are overridden by the Theme.

Themes lend themselves to mass customization of previously constructed graphs as well as the application of multiple "looks" to a graph (think "journal article" versus "web-publishing" or "oral presentation").