Ensure Consistent Font and Text Styling Across Your Grapher Project

Achieving consistent font and text styling across your Grapher project is crucial for creating a professional and polished final document. To help you maintain uniformity, this article outlines the most efficient methods for applying and managing text appearance, including setting new object defaults, quickly modifying multiple existing objects, and using our new automation script to update nearly every text element in a complex file.

Achieve Uniform Text Styling: Three Essential Methods

When you're working with many objects, individually setting the font for each one can be tedious and prone to error. Use any of these methods to ensure your document has a consistent, professional appearance.

Please contact us if you would like us to add your vote to our suggestion file for the ability to set global font controls in Grapher.

1. Set the Standard: Update Default Properties for New Objects

The best way to ensure text consistency is to set up your preferences before you start creating any new objects. By taking the time to update the Grapher defaults, you ensure that every new title, label, and annotation automatically adheres to your desired style.

1. Go to File | Options.
2. In the Options window, expand the Defaults section in the tree on the left if needed.
3. Select the Font option.
4. In the right side of the window the current default Font Properties will be displayed.
5. Adjust the settings as desired.
6. Click OK.

Golden Nugget : Any new object you create after this change will automatically use these new defaults. This is the simplest way to maintain consistency moving forward!

2. Update Multiple Existing Objects with the Property Manager

If you need to make a rapid font change across several existing objects—for instance, all your graph titles or legend headers—the most efficient approach is to multi-select them. You can easily modify them all at once using the multi-select feature in the Object Manager. This saves significant time compared to opening the properties for each object individually.

1. In the Object Manager, Ctrl + Click (or Shift + Click) to select all the text objects you want to modify (e.g., three different graph titles).
2. With all of the objects selected, go to the Property Manager and select the Title tab, if there is one.
   1. Expand the Font section if needed and make the desired updates.
3. With all of the objects still selected, go to the Property Manager and select the Labels tab, if there is one.
   1. Expand the Font section if needed and make the desired updates.
4. The changes will be applied simultaneously to all selected objects.

3. Change Fonts for All Objects in a File with a Script

For a large, complex file where you want to change every object to a new corporate font, using the Change Font for All Objects script is the most efficient method. This script will quickly update the font for nearly every automatable text component in your GRF file.

1. The Change Font for All Objects.BAS script comes included with Grapher. In the ribbon click Automation | User Script | Change Font for All Objects.
   1. If for any reason you don’t see the script, you can download the script HERE.
   2. You can then add it to the ribbon using Automation | User Script | Add Scripts.
2. Run the script by going to Automation | Scripts | Run.
3. The script will prompt you to select the .SRF file you wish to modify, and then ask you to specify the new font you want to apply.

Customizing Individual Text Strings & Character-Level Control

There are occasions when you need to apply specific formatting, like making a single word bold or changing its color, without affecting the rest of the text. For this precise, character-level control, the Text Editor and Text Properties are essential tools.

1. In the Object Manager select the text object in question.
2. In the Property Manager the Text tab should be selected.

3. Access Text Properties (Full String): The Text Properties section allows you to adjust properties like font size, color, and style for the entire text string.

   

   Text object properties

4. Open the Text Editor (Granular Control): In the Text field, click the pencil icon on the right to open the Text Editor dialog.

   

   Text Editor window

5. In the Text field, click the pencil icon on the right to open the Text Editor window.
6. In the Text Editor window, highlight the specific word, number, or character you want to update.
7. Use the font controls (Font, Size, Color, etc.) at the top of the dialog to apply your changes to the selected portion.
8. Click OK.

Golden Nugget : Font properties applied to individual characters or words in the Text Editor will override any properties set for the full text string in the Property Manager. Use this sparingly to maintain overall consistency!