Adding text to a Prism graph or layout

To enter new text anywhere on a graph or layout:

Click one of the text 'T' tool buttons (the one on the right makes a text box with a border).

Click on the graph or layout at the spot where you want to enter text and type. If you want to enter several lines, press Enter between lines. When you are finished, click to select another tool or somewhere else on the page.

To enter a paragraph with automatic word wrapping:

Enter the first line or two using one of the text tool buttons and then click anywhere else on the page to create the text object. Go back and click on your text. You'll see knobs on the corners. Drag the knobs to make the text object the correct width. Don't worry about the height, as it will grow automatically as you enter text. Now, double-click inside the text object to bring back the insertion point and type your text. Don't push Enter at the end of each line, as Prism will automatically wrap the text as you type.

To add Greek letters, European characters, math symbols or Wingdings:

First be sure you have a text insertion point. Then press the Greek button and choose a character from the menus provided.

Tech details: Within Prism, Greek characters are encoded by switching to the Symbol font, and this is also true when you export a graph that encodes fonts (pdf, eps, wmf, emf). However, if you copy text to the clipboard, the Greek is encoded as Unicode characters, so there is no need to switch to Greek font.

To add a constant from an Info table:

You can add a constant from an Info sheet in a text box. Use the Insert Info Constant button on the Write section of the Prism toolbar. Once you've added an Info constant to your graph or layout, double click to open the text box and add a label. If you edit the Info constant, the linked text-box on your graph will be updated.

To enter en or em dashses:

An en-dash is wider than a hyphen or minus sign. An em-dash is even wider. Learn how to enter these in Prism.

 

 

Changing text

To change font and size of text:

Standard toolbar buttons let you make text bold, italicized, underlined, subscripted, or superscripted, and let you change font, color, and size.

Select a block of text or an entire text object and use the right-click menu. Or pull down the Change menu and choose Selected Text to bring up the font dialog.

GraphPad does not provide any fonts with Prism, but lets you choose any TrueType font already installed in your system. If you want a font that is not in the list, you'll need to find or buy the TrueType font and then install it into Windows or Mac OS X.

To rotate text:

You can rotate text objects to any angle you want. Click on one of the text-rotation buttons in the Text section of the Prism toolbar. The buttons will rotate your text in 15 degree increments.

Or double-click on the object boundary to bring up the Format Text dialog. Then set a standard rotation (horizontal, vertical up, vertical down) or choose angled and enter the rotation angle in degrees.

To change the alignment of a text block:

Click on the Justify button on the Font toolbar. From the drop-down menu, you can choose, right-justified, left-justified, or centered. Whichever you choose will be the default the next time you enter text.

To add or change a border or background:

Right click on a text block, and you'll see choices to change the border thickness and color, and the background. Or double-click on the border of the text object to bring up the Format Text dialog. Then click the Border and Fill button to bring up a dialog where you can change border and background.

To move text:

Move a text object by dragging. You can also stretch the object to change its shape. This will change how text wraps, but will not change the point size of the lettering.

You can only move axis and graph titles closer to, or further from, the graph. They always remain centered. To move a title closer to or further from the graph, point the mouse near the title until the cursor changes to a two-headed arrow. Then drag the title.

You can also move axis numbering (or labeling for bar or category graphs) closer to, or further from, the axis. Click on the numbering to select. Then use the arrow keys to nudge its position. Or set the distance between numbers and axis within the Format Axis dialog.

To prevent text from snapping into alignment:

When you drag a text object around the page, it will automatically snap into alignment with other text objects, with the center of bars (etc.) on graphs, or with the center of a graph. You can keep dragging, so are not trapped by the snapping. If the snapping gets in the way of moving the text object where you want it, hold down the ALT key while dragging and there will be no snapping.