How to save AUTOMATICALLY all opened figures (unknown amount) in one .pdf file.

Hi all

Please, how to save all figures that have been generated by a code (or different codes - so al opened figures) in one pdf file. I found some solution where one need to specify and save manualy all the figures, but I am looking for something fast and automatic.

I have already tried export_fig and SaveFigs from Matlab file exchange but it doesn not work correctly. ( if I am wrong, please show how to use them correctly)

Thanks

Answer 1

[Adam Danz]

Get handles to all open figures:

 figHandles = findall(0,'Type','figure'); 

Then use export_fig() to save them to a PDF using the -append option.

On the first iteration of the loop you'll need to create the file. On all subsequent iterations of the loops, you'll append the file. Your code may look something like this (you can adapt it to your needs).

 % Create filename 
 fn = tempname();  %in this example, we'll save to a temp directory.
 
 % Save first figure
 export_fig(fn, '-pdf', figHandles(1))
 
 % Loop through figures 2:end
 for i = 2:numel(figHandles)
     export_fig(fn, '-pdf', figHandles(i), '-append')
 end

If you want to open the document when you're done,

 winopen(fn) %assuming fn is the full path the document

[Yurii Iotov]

Thank you so much, Adam!

Works as I wanted!

But is it possible to save also number of each figure inside a pdf ?

[Adam Danz]

I think the easiest way to do that is to add the figure numer to the figure itself so that when the figure saves, the figure number is included. You could do this within the same loop above just prior to exporting the figure.

 figHandles = findall(0,'Type','figure');
 for i = 1:numel(figHandles)
    % add transparent axis
    ah = axes(figHandles(i),'Position',[.9,.9,.1,.1],'Visible','Off'); 
    text(.7,.7,sprintf('Figure %d', figHandles(i).Number),'Parent',ah,...
        'VerticalAlignment', 'middle', 'HorizontalAlignment', 'right'); 
 end

[Yurii Iotov]

Thanks again!

[ChrisMat]

Hey Adam!

If i run export_fig, a window pops up saying: Ghost script not found. Please locate the program.

Could you help me with this one?

thanks!

Christian

[Adam Danz]

Check out the description of the function found here:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/23629-export_fig

When exporting to vector format (pdf & eps), and to bitmap using the painters 
renderer, this function requires that ghostscript is installed on your system. 
You can download this from: 
http://www.ghostscript.com