Saving - file formats and compression

When you save a Prism file, you save the entire project into one file. You have a choice of three file formats:

You can choose whether you want your default file format to be PZF or PZFX in the File & Printer tab of the Prism/Preferences dialog.

This is a binary format that can be opened by Prism 4 or 5, but not by other applications.

This is an XML format that can be opened only by Prism 5 (and not by Prism 4). The first part of the file contains all the data tables and info sheets in a plain-text XML format that can be viewed by other programs. After that comes information about results, graphs and layouts in a format that is incomprehensible to any program but Prism.

The PZFX format is a bit more secure for long-term backing up. Even without access to Prism, the data in the file are in plain text that can readily be viewed.

The PZFX format is very useful for data interchange. With a bit of work, someone could write a program to replace the data in a .PZFX file with new data. When you open that file, you'll see the new data analyzed and graphed.

This format is virtually the same as PZFX, but it also contains a XSL style sheet which lets you view the file in any web browser. You'll see nicely formatted data tables and info tables.

Prism has an option to save files in compact format. All the compact format does is leave out analysis results. Files with lots of complicated analyses will be smaller if saved in compact form, but all those analyses will need to be recomputed when the file is opened, which can take time.

Zipping the file with standard zipping software can do a much better job of compression. To really make a file as small as possible, save it compact and then zip it.

Check the box in the Preferences menu if you want to save in compact format as a default.

Saving and exporting are different. When you Save your Prism file you save it in Prism's file format. This type of file can only be opened with Prism.

Use Export to save a graph or layout in an image format that can be imported to another application. If you export a graph or layout, you are simply creating a picture of it. You won't export the original data or any analysis results. You won't be able to open the exported file or edit it, except as a picture. If you export a data table as a text file, you are just exporting the values.