Removing white space in .emf plots

I have a MATLAB program that generates data and plots the data. When I create the Figure, I use the following command:

figure100 = figure('Position',[1 1 1100 500],'Color',[1 1 1]);

Afterward, I use the

SAVEAS(figure100,FILENAME,'emf')

to save the figure to .emf file.

When I drag and drop the .emf file into PowerPoint I notice a large white space to the left and right of the figure. In order to remove the white space I typically CROP the figure in PowerPoint.

My question is how can I reduce the WHITE space in MATLAB so that I don't need to CROP in PowerPoint?

Answer 1

[Alex Knight]

You can simply 'ungroup' the figure when you get it into PowerPoint and delete the unwanted white box. Then you can 'regroup' the remaining objects.

Alternatively - set the background to be transparent. Then you don't care (you can definitely do this with the 'copy figure' method.

[million]

Thank you for your input. However, 'CROP' is much more easier than 'UNGROUP' & 'GROUP'.

I am no sure how to make the background transparent.

[Alex Knight]

Simple!

In the figure window:

Edit>Copy Options>

Figure Background Colour>Transparent background

is one way of doing it.

Answer 2

[Walter Roberson]

A lot of people have trouble saving figures nicely; it has become a FAQ . And the main answer is to use the Matlab File Exchange contribution export_fig

[million]

Thank you for your response.

I downloaded export_fig. The issue I have is with the resolution of the final product. File format .png does not look as professional as .emf.

Please find a test program I used below:

figure100 = figure('Position',[1 1 1100 500],'Color',[1 1 1]);

plot(1:10,sin(1:10));

grid;

saveas(figure100,'figure100','emf');

export_fig figure100.png -m2.5

Answer 3

[Fangjun Jiang]

You could adjust the position of the axes in the figure to make it looks better for you.

figure100 = figure('Position',[1 1 1100 500],'Color',[1 1 1]);
plot(1:10,sin(1:10));grid;
AxesHandle=findobj(figure100,'Type','axes');
set(AxesHandle,'Position',[0.05,0.1,0.9,0.85]);
saveas(figure100,'figure100','emf');

The position of the axes is in the format of [x,y,width,height].

You could manually adjust it to the position you like and then find out the exact number.

In the figure, click menu 'Edit'-> 'Axes Properties ...', then click the axes and adjust the position of left, right, top and bottom side

In the "Property Editor -Axes" panel, click the "More Properties ..." button, and find the "Position" value

[million]

This is a good idea. However, I am using subplot and not plot. How do you make it work for subplot?

Here is an example of my code:

clear all;

figure100 = figure('Position',[1 1 1100 500],'Color',[1 1 1]);

subplot(3,1,1);

plot(1:10,sin(1:10),'r-');

grid;

subplot(3,1,2);

plot(1:10,cos(1:10),'g-');

grid;

subplot(3,1,3);

plot(1:10,tan(1:10),'b-');

grid;

AxesHandle=findobj(figure100,'Type','axes');

set(AxesHandle,'OuterPosition',[0,0,1,1]);

saveas(figure100,'figure101','emf');

[Fangjun Jiang]

In your case, AxleHandle returns three handles, which are for three of your sub-plots. You could adjust each of them.