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How to place a Matlab graph into Microsoft Word 1
Jeffrey Donnell
The Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
HOW PLACE A MATLAB GRAPH
INTO
MICROSOFT WORD
Jeffrey DonnellThe George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical
Engineering
The Georgia Institute of TechnologyAtlanta, GA 30332
SummaryThis document reviews the steps that a beginner should
take in order to insert a Matlab plot into a Word docu-ment.
Specifically, this document explains:
1) How to copy the plot using Matlabs menu commands.
2) How to use Words menu commands to paste that plot into your
Word document.
3) How to use Words tools to adjust the appearance of the plot
in Word.4) How to use Matlabs menu commands to export a plot in a
Windows-friendly file format.
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How to place a Matlab graph into Microsoft Word 2
Jeffrey Donnell
The Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Your experimental project report needs to look like this, with a
Matlab plot properly cited, captioned and dis-
played. This document will explain how to transport this graph
from Matlab to Word. This can be accomplished
through a Copy-and-Paste operation, or by exporting the plot to
a windows-friendly intermediate file such as a
bitmap or metafile.
You have already prepared this graph in Matlab and it is ready
for transport to Word. We will first describe how
to copy this graph and paste it into Word.
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How to place a Matlab graph into Microsoft Word 3
Jeffrey Donnell
The Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
1) Copy the Figure from Matlab
1) In the Matlab figure toolbar, pull down the Edit menu and
select Copy Figure:
The plot is copied without further input from you. You may now
close your Matlab file and open your Word
document in order to paste the copied plot.
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How to place a Matlab graph into Microsoft Word 4
Jeffrey Donnell
The Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
2) Paste the Matlab Graph into Word
When you activate your Word document, you should place the
cursor at the point where the graph needs to be
displayed. Open Words Edit pulldown menu and select Paste
Special:
Word will present you with the Paste Special dialog box, which
shows Words pre-selected options for inserting
the information on the clipboard:
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Jeffrey Donnell
The Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
In the Paste Special dialog, Picture is adequate for pasting a
Matlab plot directly into Word. The plot will be
displayed as on the next sheet.
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How to place a Matlab graph into Microsoft Word 6
Jeffrey Donnell
The Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
This plot may be marginally too small or too large for the space
available on your page. While it is best to make
size adjustments in Matlab, acceptable results can be obtained
with Word tools, so long as the adjustments are
small.
3) Adjust the Size of the Display
Your chart will appear, but depending on Matlabs screen
settings, the graph may be the somewhat small for
your needs on letter-size paper. To resize the chart, you should
highlight it, open Words Format menu and
select Picture:
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How to place a Matlab graph into Microsoft Word 7
Jeffrey Donnell
The Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Words Format Picture dialog will display. Here we wish to adjust
the size of the display, so the Size tab is
selected:
This image is adjusted to obtain a width of around 5 inches.
This number does not describe the plot size but the
size of the bounding box; when a Matlab plot has a
five-inch-wide bounding box, the plot itself will fill about
four inches on the printed page, and this is adequate for most
classroom needs.
Caution: It is best to avoid rescaling a chart or drawing by
more than 15%, as you quickly encounter resolution
problems. Small adjustments can be made after you paste your
chart into Word; larger adjustments should be
made before the graphic is copied from the spreadsheet program.
Matlab gives you excellent control in adjusting
the size of your plots before you copy them.
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How to place a Matlab graph into Microsoft Word 8
Jeffrey Donnell
The Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
The image below shows the finished plot still selected. The
bounding box far exceeds the size of the plot:
----------------
4) Exporting a Graph from Matlab
If you need to preserve a graph for future use, or if you need
to transport a graph to several different media, you
may wish to export it as an image file. Matlab allows you to
export a finished plot in a variety of Windows-
friendly file formats.
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How to place a Matlab graph into Microsoft Word 9
Jeffrey Donnell
The Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
To export a graph, open the File menu and select Export. Youll
see the export dialog below, giving you a list
of possible file formats to use:
Enhanced Metafiles, Tiff files and JPEG files all work well with
Word, and they provide adequate representation
of your graphs. However, such file types cannot be opened and/or
adjusted as graphs once they have been cre-
ated.
