Export graphics pdf from Edit menu

I know the graphic can be Saved as a pdf ... but what is the export pdf meant to do?

It's saved to the clipboard:

DisplayHelpTopic "Exporting Graphics (Windows)"

Use the file menu save graphics to save to disk.

Yes, this is quite a misnomer, or at least it is in the wrong place, and has lead to a lot of confusion. I personally find this should be renamed to 'Set up Export for Clipboard' or something. As Tony wrote, this menu entry only changes the settings for 'export' via clipboard, i.e., if you select Edit => Copy or use the respective keyboard shortcut. Depending on the program you want to paste this in, support for different formats depends on your luck. For example, for pasting in MS Office products SVG (and sometimes EMF) works quite well.

Note that the correct command for saving as a PDF from within Igor is "Save Graphics" in the file menu, not to be confused with "Save Graph Copy", which is the function to save the graph's data as an Igor experiment file.

chozo wrote:

Yes, this is quite a misnomer, or at least it is in the wrong place, and has lead to a lot of confusion.

I am quite OK with the "Save Graphic" bit.

I had also looked at the Help Files > Exporting Graphics (windows) and neither subtopics >"Pdf Format" nor "Exporting Graphics Via the Cipboard (windows)"  doesn't explain what happens to pdfs 

However, when I check my clipboard after using Edit > Export Graphic> pdf nothing has been added ....

So, I agree - the option is in the wrong place - it appears to do nothing.

With Igor 9 / Mac the edit - export graphics dialog loads the graphics into the clipboard. I tested by pasting png and quartz pdf into powerpoint, and the pdf image is clearly vector while the png is bitmap.

With Igor 9 / Windows, the dialog works the same way: it both puts an image in the clipboard and the format becomes the default action on Edit->Copy for a window.

You can verify this by choosing Edit->Export Graphics when a graph is top-most, setting the PDF format, and clicking Okay.

Then use Misc->Pictures and click the Load button's dropdown menu to show the format(s) on the clipboard, one of which will be PDF:

OK, interesting. I didn't know that. It would be nice to improve communication to the user here. Maybe add a line to the top of the panel: "Export Graphics to Clipboard and Save Settings"

So, export doen't mean export outside of Igor Pro.  Nothing is copied, for example, to windows clipboard for extenal-to-igor use.  I have found the 'pdf image' can be pasted to notebook. Is there an advantage in taking this route?  I think the application of this "internal-export" is probably not something I could usefully use .... unless someone says otherwise.

Something does not seem to work for you then. Export Graphics does export to the clipboard, so the contents can be pasted to whatever program you like. I personally use this functionality exclusively to prepare documents and presentations. Have you tried setting this to a simple format like bmp and then pasting to another application. I think PDF copy and paste may not be supported by too many programs.

OK. Sorry I was not explicit. Export graphics such as png, bmp etc all work fine and I use this all the time.  But, on my windows 10 Pro at least, the export pdf option does not put anything in the clipboard. ( I just checked again with <WIN> <V>  buttons) 

Mike German wrote:

OK. Sorry I was not explicit. Export graphics such as png, bmp etc all work fine and I use this all the time.  But, on my windows 10 Pro at least, the export pdf option does not put anything in the clipboard. ( I just checked again with <WIN> <V>  buttons) 

It does (or at least it should), but PDF is not a commonly supported clipboard format on Windows, so the application you are using to view the clipboard's contents may ignore PDF data.

If you wish to investigate this, I suggest you download InsideClipboard (https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/inside_clipboard.html) which will let you view the raw contents on the clipboard and see all clipboard formats. Note that just because a format is on the clipboard doesn't mean you can paste using that format into any given application. When you paste, an application will look for one or more clipboard formats that it supports and most applications don't give you any control over which format is selected.

Ah ha! yes I see it now ... both the item in the clipboard and what postings have described..  I had been using Windows logo key + V which does not show the detail.

I have not found any PC apps that recognise this format.  Are there any that will allow it to be opened/saved/used as a pdf file? 

Mike German wrote:

I have not found any PC apps that recognise this format.  Are there any that will allow it to be opened/saved/used as a pdf file? 

I don't recall ever discovering a Windows application that accepts PDF data from the clipboard other than Igor, but I haven't tried too many applications. Something like Illustrator or another vector illustration program might accept PDF data.

Note that you can also export from Igor as SVG, which is accepted by some applications such as the Office suite (at least newish versions). Igor uses Qt's SVG library which, to be honest, is not great, and it does not support the full SVG spec. Simple graphs typically look fine when exported as SVG, but more complicated graphs or graphs that use some of the uncommon trace appearance settings might not look right when exported as SVG.