About the Elements Pane

Overview of the Elements Pane

The Elements pane contains plots and insets that you can insert into a graph.

The Elements pane contains the following panels:

The Plot Layers panel contains plots that you can click and drag to a graph cell. For a description of this panel, see About the Plot Layers Panel.
The Insets panel contains graphics elements that you can click and drag to a graph cell. For a description of this panel, see About the Insets Panel.

The elements on these panels are available only when a graph is open. To insert an element into a graph, click and drag the element to the graph.

Note: You can also insert an element by using a context menu. For more information, see Use the Add an Element Pop-up Window.

Show or Hide the Elements Pane

To show or hide the Elements pane, select or clear the View

Elements menu option.

Use the Add an Element Pop-up Window

As an alternative to dragging plots and insets from the Elements pane, you can insert an element by using a context menu.

To use the Add an Element pop-up window:

Right-click inside a graph cell, and select Add an Element. The Add an Element pop-up window opens.
Click the element that you want to insert. If an element is dimmed, then you cannot add it to the cell.

About the Plot Layers Panel

Plot Layers Panel

The Plot Layers panel contains plots that you can click and drag to a graph cell. The panel contains a number of different plot types that can be used to design many types of graphs. All of the elements in this panel are plots. Here are the general types of plots:

basic plots, such as scatter, series, step, band, needle, and bar chart
fits and confidence plots, such as loess, regression, penalized B-spline, and ellipse
distribution plots, such as histogram, box plot, and density plot (normal and kernel)
vector and contour plots
lines, reference lines, and drop lines
block and stack block plots

You can add multiple plots to a graph cell as long as the data types are compatible. For more information, see Compatible Plot Types. These plots are layered, or overlaid, in the cell.

About the Insets Panel

Insets Panel

The Insets panel contains elements that you can click and drag to a graph cell. You can add the following items to your graph:

a discrete legend or a gradient legend (for contour plots)
one or more cell headers and text entries

Legends and text insets can be placed in one of several locations within the cell.

Change the Appearance of the Elements Pane

You can change the appearance of the Elements pane by setting a preference so that a simpler interface is used. For instructions, see Setting Preferences.

The following display shows the Elements pane with the simpler interface.

Modified Elements Pane

The preference setting also applies to the Add an Element pop-up window.