Defaults & Options: define, save and load different styles in Surfer

Updated
Surfer gives you full control over every aspect of your maps and many of the properties used to do this can also be set as defaults in a SET file. Define your preferred font, line, symbol, and fill styles in Surfer to simplify generating consistent, high quality visuals that align with your visualization style. 
 
Surfer SET files (defaults) can also be renamed and used to apply different styles to different projects and workflows. 
  

Use Options to set global styles

Properties defined in the options dialog are applied to all new objects. This makes options a great place to define your most common style preferences. For example, if you change the Font properties to 16 point Copperplate Gothic, all new text including labels and titles will use those font properties.

Set the global defaults by clicking the File | Options command. In this example, the default font properties are changed so all text uses a 16pt Copperplate Gothic Light font style.

To set global default options

  1. Click the File | Options command. 
  2. On the left side of the Options dialog, click on Line, Fill, Symbol, Font, Label or Frame. 
  3. Set the desired options on the right side of the dialog. 
  4. Click OK and all future objects that have that property automatically use the format you specified.

 

Use Defaults to set individual object properties

Defaults are used to set object specific properties that may differ from the global defaults.  For example, you may wish for your map titles to use a larger, bold font while all other text uses the global default set in Options.

Set plot specific options by clicking the File | Defaults command. In this example, the Top Axis is selected and the Title font properties have been changed. All titles added to the top axis will use the font properties defined here.

To set properties for an individual object type, 

  1. Click the File | Defaults command. 

  2. On the left side of the dialog, expand the object type and select the property you'd like to change

  3. On the right side of the dialog

    1. enter the Setting Value using the appropriate format

    2. change the Setting Persistence to All sessions if you want the defaults saved to the SET file

  4. After making your desired changes, click OK to save the new default.

 

Save a SET file for later use

  1. Turn on hidden files/folders if they are not currently visible
  2. Navigate to C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Golden Software\Surfer\ where <username> in the path above will be your user name on the computer.
  3. Locate the Surfer.set file
  4. Create a copy the original surfer.set file and change the file name (i.e. surfer_original.set).
  5. Open Surfer and click File | Defaults.
  6. Make the desired changes to the defaults.
  7. Click OK to save the changes to the surfer.set file.
  8. Create a copy the new surfer.set file and change the file name (i.e. ScientificAmerican.set).

 

Load a SET file into Surfer

  1. Click File | Defaults.
  2. Click the Change Filename button to the right of the Current Setting File name.
  3. Select the SET file to use and click Open.
  4. Click OK.

 

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