Why Do Some Figure Properties Not Seem to be Applied Properly when Copy/Paste to/from Clipboard?

I have two figures f1 and f2. f1 is created with bar() and f2 with histogram2(). For f1 I execute

set(f1,'Color','none')
set(f1,'InvertHardCopy','off')
print('-dmeta','-f1')

and I executed the same commands for f2.

When I go to PowerPoint and paste in f1 from the clipboard it comes in fine.

But when I paste in f2 from the clipboard, it comes into PowerPoint with a black background.

Is there some other figure property that might be different between f1 and f2 that could cause this difference in behavior?

Answer 1

[Richard Quist]

My guess is that f2 is being copied to the clipboard as an embedded image which doesn't support transparency. By default the print command uses a heuristic to determine how to generate the content for vector formats like metafiles.

You can force the print command to produce "true vector" output by using the -vector option (R2021b or later). In earlier versions of MATLAB you can use the -painters option:

print(f1, '-dmeta', '-vector'); % 21b or later
print(f1, '-dmeta', '-painters'); % 21a or earlier

In R2020a or later you can use the copygraphics command instead of print, which has the added benefit of eliminating the extra whitespace that typically accompanies a plot:

copygraphics(f1, 'ContentType', 'vector')

[Paul]

-painters did the trick. Thanks!