Identify plots with titles or labels in Grapher

Automatically generate a legend  [TOP]

A well-designed graph legend is crucial for interpreting the lines, fills, and symbols used in your plot(s). While Grapher can automatically generate a Graph Legend, you can also customize them to perfectly suit your data. For single graphs, the standard legend works great, but for specific plot details, consider a Plot Legend, or a Multi-Graph Legend for combining information from several graphs.

1. Click on the Graph or any plot in the graph to select it.
2. Click the Graphs Tools | Add to Graph | Legend command. A default legend displaying all plots is added to the graph.

The default legend is added to the graph,
displaying all of the plots in the graph in the order the plots are drawn.

3. Click on Legend 1 in the Object Manager to select it.
4. In the Property Manager, click on the Title tab.
5. Expand the Title Properties section, if needed.
6. Delete all text in the Text field.
7. Click the Legend tab.
8. Change the value in the Line length field to 0.
9. Change the Number of symbols field to 0.
10. Click on the Line tab.
11. Change the Style to Invisible.
12. Click on the Fill tab.
13. Change the Pattern to None.
14. Click the Graph Tools | Plot Tools | Move Labels command ().
15. With the first legend entry selected, click and drag the text to the desired location on the plot. (This can be inside the existing legend or anywhere else on the graph.)
16. Click on the next entry text in the legend and drag it to the desired location.
17. Press ESC on the keyboard to end label movement mode. All of the labels are now next to the appropriate plots.

The legend labels are now placed next to each line in the graph.

Customize your legend with the Legend Properties, Title Properties, Legend Entries, Line Properties, and Fill Properties. 

Labeling Individual Plots  [TOP]

Easily identify individual line or point style plots in your multi-plot graphs by adding plot titles directly along the line. This method offers a clear alternative to a legend, as demonstrated in the example image where each line plot is distinctly named. You can precisely control the title's position—vertically, horizontally, or by custom offsets—from the Title page in the Property Manager. This feature is available for various plot types, including line/scatter, step, class scatter, polar, Q-Q, and ternary plots.

Plot titles are added as labels to each plot

Add a plot title in Grapher

1. In the Object Manager, select the Plot.
2. In the Property Manager, select the Title tab do one of the following.
   1. To add a title based on the name of the plot in the Object Manager, check the box in the Link title to plot field.
   2. To name the plot manually, enter the desired plot title in the Text field.

Additional information about plot titles and their properties can be found on Grapher's Plot Title Properties help page.

Labeling Plots with Worksheet Data  [TOP]

Grapher allows you to incorporate text from a worksheet to label individual plot values. This is a powerful way to add precise, data-sourced descriptions to your plots. Just specify the worksheet column containing the desired label text.

1. Open the worksheet used to create the graph and locate the cells with the desired plot names as shown below.
   
2. In the Object Manager, select the first Plot.
3. In the Property Manager, select the Labels tab.
4. Click in the Label variable field and select the worksheet column containing the plot name.
5. In the First row field, enter the row containing the appropriate plot name and press ENTER.
6. Repeat step 5 for the Last row field.
   
7. If needed, adjust the X offset and Y offset and Font properties for the label.
8. Repeat steps 2-7 for each plot in the graph.

Plot name labels are added to each plot in the graph