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Creating an Inset

The inset is a detail of the spectrum that is shown, duplicated, at higher resolution. You can add to a page how many insets you like. The inset is nothing but a plot. Instead of creating an inset, you can create two or more independent plots with the commands of the menu View > Split Plot. While the term inset means “plot inside the plot”, there is no conceptual difference among insets, subplots and the main plot. At any time, however, a single plot only is active - the main plot in that given moment. The Split... commands, like any other command, are applied to the active plot.

How to Create an Inset:

Step 1

Choose Tools > Monitor.

Step 2

Select the region that will be depicted. Initially you will see a new window, not an inset. The title of the window reports the central frequency of the selection, which can be changed. The monitor tool is still active, but not necessary. If you are satisfied with the current selection, you can choose Tools > Pointer.

Step 3

Resize the monitor window and place it over the main window at the same location where you want the inset to stay. The monitor window should not cover the borders of the main window.

Step 4

Choose View > Fix Inset. This transforms the monitor window into an inset.

The inset of a 2-D spectrum may look different because the top and left margins, if present into the monitor window, are removed. If you want to preview into the monitor window the final inset, exactly as it would appear, reduce or remove the margins around the main plot.

Step 5

An inset can't be manipulated directly, but can be promoted to the status of main plot. With the main plot, you know, you can do all sorts of manipulations. Press 7 or 9 to promote all the insets, one at a time, to the status of main plot. The old main plot goes into a dormant state (it's just another inset), until it's promoted back to its original status.

Step 6

To verify which is the main plot, press 8.
A colored frame appears around it. Press 8 again to hide the frame.

The framed inset can be deleted with View > Remove This Plot. If you hide the frame, the same command deletes all the other insets.

It is possible to enclose any inset, and the main plot as well, into a permanent frame. This frame has the same color of the scales and includes them. To display the frame, open the dialog Format > Axes and Scales, select the panel “Unit” and turn on the option Clipping Box.
These boxes have the interesting property of restricting the drawing operations inside themselves. In other words, the portions of the spectrum that would go outside the frame are hidden.

The inset is not a picture, but a live object. To appreciate this fact, try for example to change the phase of a spectrum containing insets.

Related Topics

Working with a Navigation Window

Navigation Commands and Keyboard Shortcuts

Preserving your Display Settings