Overview of Printing and Exporting :: Printing and Exporting (Graphics)

Graphics

Overview of Printing and Exporting

This section is an introduction to the graphics printing capabilities provided with MATLAB and how to make use of them. It covers

Print and Export Operations

Graphical User Interfaces

Command Line Interface

Specifying Parameters and Options

Default Settings and How to Change Them

Print and Export Operations

There are four basic operations that you can perform in printing or transferring figures you've created in MATLAB.

Operation
Description

Print
Send a figure from the screen directly to the printer.

Print to File
Write a figure to a PostScript file to be printed later.

Export to File
Export a figure in graphics format to a file, so that you can import it into an application.

Export to Clipboard
Copy a figure to the Windows clipboard, so that you can paste it into an application.

Operation	Description
Print	Send a figure from the screen directly to the printer.
Print to File	Write a figure to a PostScript file to be printed later.
Export to File	Export a figure in graphics format to a file, so that you can import it into an application.
Export to Clipboard	Copy a figure to the Windows clipboard, so that you can paste it into an application.

Graphical User Interfaces

You interact with the MATLAB print and export tools using either Microsoft Windows or UNIX graphical user interfaces or with MATLAB commands. The table below lists the dialog boxes you need to print and export and summarizes how to open them from the figure window.

Dialog Box
How to Open
Description

Print
(Windows and UNIX)
File->Print or
printdlg function
Send figure to the printer, select the printer, print to file, and several other options

Printing Options
Click Options on UNIX Print dialog
Set some of the most commonly used print settings (UNIX only)

Page Setup
File->Page Setup
or pagesetupdlg function
Set properties to be associated with the figure when printed or exported

Print Preview
File->Print Preview
or printpreview function
View and adjust the final output

Export
File->Export
Export the figure in graphics format to a file

Copy Options
Edit->Copy Options
Set format, figure size, and background color for Copy to Clipboard

Figure Copy Template
File->Preferences
Change text, line, axes, and UI control properties

Dialog Box	How to Open	Description
Print (Windows and UNIX)	File->Print or `printdlg` function	Send figure to the printer, select the printer, print to file, and several other options
Printing Options	Click Options on UNIX Print dialog	Set some of the most commonly used print settings (UNIX only)
Page Setup	File->Page Setup or `pagesetupdlg` function	Set properties to be associated with the figure when printed or exported
Print Preview	File->Print Preview or `printpreview` function	View and adjust the final output
Export	File->Export	Export the figure in graphics format to a file
Copy Options	Edit->Copy Options	Set format, figure size, and background color for Copy to Clipboard
Figure Copy Template	File->Preferences	Change text, line, axes, and UI control properties

You can open the Print, Page Setup, and Print Preview dialog boxes from a program or from the command line with the printdlg, pagesetupdlg, and printpreview functions.

Printing and Exporting Command Line Interface