Overview
Use the Preferences dialog to set Prism's defaults for various settings.
Note that some preference settings are made elsewhere in Prism. The import (paste special) dialog, the export graph, and the diagnostics tab of nonlinear regression, for example, all have check-boxes to make the current settings default for the future.
Also note that on Macs, there are two settings in the General tab of the System preferences dialog that have a big effect on how Prism works.
To open the Preferences dialog, drop the Edit menu (Windows) or Prism menu (Mac) and choose Preferences.
Most of the settings are self explanatory. The rest of this page discusses the settings that are not entirely self-explanatory.
File and Printer tab
•Compact format for PZF files. All this format does is leave out analysis results (and instead recomputes them when you open the file). IT makes the file a bit smaller, but PZFX files are way smaller.
•Do not read page size when opening files. Prism tries to track the page size of your printer, so the margins are realistic on screen. With some printers, Prism gets confused and you can check this option, which is rarely needed.
•How to copy graphs and layouts to clipboard (Windows). Prism gives you a choice of three formats: WMF, EMF (old) and EMF+. In theory, EMF+ is the best because it is newest. But it all depends on which application you are pasting into. You may need to experiment.
•How to paste a graph from another project (Mac). Choose whether the pasted image needs to be Windows compatible (which increases file size, and on slow computers may noticeably delay pasting).
New Graphs tab
Set defaults for axes, error bars, symbols and lines, color schemes, and graph and data table fonts. These defaults apply to newly created graphs, but don't change existing graphs.
Internet tab (Windows only)
Most of the tab is a relic from old versions. It sets up a feature that lets you send a graph to a web server via FTP. We can't imagine why anyone still uses this. If you do, please let us know!
The bottom part is an option for Prism to automatically check for updates and let you know if there is one.
