How to save a plot into a PDF file without a large margin around

Question

If I print a plot in EPS format  the content of the EPS file is fully occupied with the plot  But if I print a plot in PDF format  then there are big margins above and below the plot in the PDF file  How can I save a plot in a PDF file without the big margin around the plot   My guess is how to automatically choose the proper  paper  size in a PDF file to print to  according to the plot size   This is a question I have asked at tex stackexchange com  where I have got replies which mostly tried to solve the problem outside MATLAB  and I still don t quite understand the only reply that tried to solve from within MATLAB  So I would like to see if there are more opinions here

User · Answer

The function export fig on the MATLAB file exchange will crop the whitespace around an output PDF EPS file by default when it exports a figure

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What do you mean by  the proper size   MATLAB figures are like vector graphics  so you can basically choose the size you want on your plot   You can set the size of the paper and the position of the figure with the function set   Example    plot epx 1 5    set gcf   PaperPosition    0 0 5 5     Position plot at left hand corner with width 5 and height 5  set gcf   PaperSize    5 5     Set the paper to have width 5 and height 5  saveas gcf   test    pdf    Save figure     The above code will remove most of the borders  but not all  This is because the left-hand corner   0 0  in the position vector  is not the  true  left-hand corner  To remove more of the borders  you can adjust the PaperPosition and PaperSize vectors   Example   plot exp 1 5   set gcf   PaperPosition    -0 5 -0 25 6 5 5     Position the plot further to the left and down  Extend the plot to fill entire paper  set gcf   PaperSize    5 5     Keep the same paper size saveas gcf   test    pdf

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Save to EPS and then convert to PDF   saveas gcf   nombre eps    eps2c   system  epstopdf nombre eps    Needs TeX Live  maybe it works with MiKTeX     You will need some software that converts EPS to PDF

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This works for displaying purposes   set gca     LooseInset   get gca     TightInset       Should work for printing as well

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system    usr bin pdfcrop filename pdf

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Axes sizing in MATLAB can be a bit tricky sometimes  You are correct to suspect the paper sizing properties as one part of the problem  Another is the automatic margins MATLAB calculates  Fortunately  there are settable axes properties that allow you to circumvent these margins  You can reset the margins to be just big enough for axis labels using a combination of the Position and TightInset properties which are explained here  Try this       h   figure     axes     set h   InvertHardcopy    off       saveas h   WithMargins pdf      and you ll get a PDF that looks like   but now do this       tightInset   get gca   TightInset       position 1    tightInset 1      position 2    tightInset 2      position 3    1 - tightInset 1  - tightInset 3      position 4    1 - tightInset 2  - tightInset 4      set gca   Position   position      saveas h   WithoutMargins pdf      and you ll get

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The script in How to get rid of the white margin in MATLAB s saveas or print outputs does what you want      Make your figure boundaries tight    ti   get gca  TightInset   set gca  Position   ti 1  ti 2  1-ti 3 -ti 1  1-ti 4 -ti 2              if you directly do saveas  or print   MATLAB will still add the annoying white space  To get rid of them  we need to adjust the   paper size     set gca  units   centimeters   pos   get gca  Position    ti   get gca  TightInset     set gcf   PaperUnits   centimeters    set gcf   PaperSize    pos 3  ti 1  ti 3  pos 4  ti 2  ti 4     set gcf   PaperPositionMode    manual    set gcf   PaperPosition   0 0 pos 3  ti 1  ti 3  pos 4  ti 2  ti 4

User · Answer

It seems to me that all approaches  file exchange solutions unconsidered  here are lacking the essential step  or finally leading to it via some blurry workarounds   The figure size needs to equal the paper size and the white margins are gone   A   hgload  myFigure fig       set desired output size set A   Units   centimeters   height   15  width   19     the last two parameters of  Position  define the figure size set A   Position   25 5 width height              PaperSize   width height              PaperPositionMode   auto              InvertHardcopy    off              Renderer   painters          recommended if there are no alphamaps        saveas A  printout   pdf     Will give you a pdf output as your figure appears  in exactly the size you want  If you want to get it even tighter you can combine this solution with the answer of b3

[matlab] How to save a plot into a PDF file without a large margin around

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