2.3.3 Origin Rich Text

Origin-Rich-Text

From 2022b, Origin support to use Origin Rich Text syntax in the Notes window.

With Rich Text, the Notes window has two modes -- raw text mode and Render mode. Toggle between these modes using Notes: Render Mode or shortcut key combination CTRL + M.

To add text to the Notes window, you need to be in raw text mode. To style added text, use the Format toolbar and/or apply pre-defined paragraph styles.

Zoom in or out of the rendered Notes page using the Zoom combo box on the Standard toolbar.

Format Text

When switch to Origin Rich Text syntax, the Format toolbar buttons (Greek, Super/Subscript, etc.) are available. You can the button to format text in the Notes window.

Besides using the buttons, you also can type following syntax to format text

Syntax	Description	Entering...	Results in...
\+(text)	Format text as superscript.	super\+(script)
\-(text)	Format text as subscript.	sub\-(script)
\=(text1,text2)	Format text1 as subscript, text2 as superscript.	script\=(sub,super)
\p%pointsize(text)	Change the point size of text. 200 doubles the size, 100 results in no change, etc.	change\p200(point)size
\i(text)	Format text as italics.	\i(italics)
\b(text)	Format text as bold.	\b(bold)
\u(text)	Format text as underline.	\u(underline)
\g(text)	Format text in Greek symbols.	\g(Greek)
\ab(text)	Display a bar above text.	\ab(X)
\ad(text)	Display a short line - a dot - above text.	\ad(A)
\at(text)	Display a tilde above text.	\at(A)
\(ASCII character code)	Displays the specified ASCII symbol.	\(169)
\y(') \y(")	Displays a full height prime or a full height double prime. To display it as a combining prime/double prime, use superscript like \+(\y(')) or \+(\y(")).	\g(c)\=(3,\y('))
\f:fontname(text)	Displays text using the fontname font. You can abbreviate fontname, as long as you use enough letters for the name to be unique.	\f:Wide Latin(font)
\cnumber(text)	Displays text in the color located at position number in the Color drop-down lists.	\c2(red)
\x(unicode number)	Display the unicode character.	\x(03b8)
\sc	Insert one conditional horizontal space in a string even there are multiple consecutive spaces.	in this example assume @LD3 and @LD4 not exist, so there will be two spaces. \sc make one space only \b(%(1Y,@LL)\sc%(1Y,@LD3)\sc%(1Y,@LD4)\sc(%(1Y,@LU)))	LName (Unit)
\(text\) or \[text\] or \q(text)	Display LaTex format. From 2025, to display LaTex format, it does not need to put the text inside \q( ).	\(\varphi_{\mu, \sigma^{2}}(X)\) or \[\varphi_{\mu, \sigma^{2}}(X)\] or \q(\varphi_{\mu, \sigma^{2}}(X))

Note: Some escape sequences may not listed in above table, you can see this page for more.

Insert Link

When edit Notes windows by Origin Rich Text syntax, you not only can add graphs, worksheet cells, variables links, Worksheet by Notes main menu or context menu of Notes window, but also can insert Symbol Map, LaTeX Equation, Link, Image from File/Web into Notes.

• Notes main menu

• Context menu of Notes window

Insert Graph

• Select Add Graph/Image option in the Note main menu or window's context menu to add graph links.

The Graph/Image Browser dialog will pop-up, then you select graph you want to insert. By default, the width of the graph is 300. And you can use system variable @IMGA to customize the default width value of graph.

or

• Type the syntax : \img(graph name, w=width value)

Examples:

\img(Graph1, w=500)

Worksheet cell

• Select Add Worksheet cell option in the Note main menu or window's context menu to add cell links. The Select from Workstsheet dialog will pop-up, then you click the cell in the Worksheet and then click Done button.

or

• Type the syntax : %([workbookname]sheetname, column, row [,format])

Examples:

%([Book1]Sheet1!,A,2,W)

• If Worksheet cell is defined name, the syntax can use the name of cell.

Note: The Scope of the cell name should set to Project.

Whole Worksheet

• Select Add Worksheet... option in the Note main menu. The Sheet Browser dialog will pop-up, then you click the Worksheet to add in the Notes.

or

• Type the syntax : \img([BookName]SheetName)

Examples:

\img([Book4]Sheet1)

Info Variables

• Select Add Info Variables option in the Note main menu or window's context menu to add variables links. The Insert Variable dialog will pop-up, then you select workbook or matrixbook data or metadata to add in the Notes.

New Table

This opens the New Table dialog for configuring a basic table.

1. Specify Number of Columns, Number of Rows, etc. and click OK. A book is created (e.g. NoteTable1) with your table ready for data entry (syntax e.g \img([NoteTable1]Sheet1)).
2. Enter data into the table that is created. Note that it is a standard Origin worksheet and as such, is customizable in any way that the standard worksheet is customizable.

Symbol Map

Opens a simplified Symbol Map with characters sorted by tab.

• Insert symbols from the Greek, Math. European, Combining, Arrow and Miscellaneous tabs.
• Click Advanced to go to the Advanced Symbol Map.
• Symbols inserted from any tab -- or inserted from the Advanced Symbol Map -- will be added to the Recently used symbols list at the bottom of the dialog.
• Click on the "gear" icon to modify the list for the current tab.

For more on the use of the Symbol Map, see Symbol Map and Character Map.

LaTeX Equation

1. Right click and select Insert: LaTeX Equation to open the LaTeX Equation Editor.
2. You can click the Equation button to open a list of Origin's fitting functions (incl. your user-defined functions). Pick a function or enter an equation into the top box and preview it rendered in the bottom panel. See also this document.

For more examples, please choose menu Notes: Load Samples: LaTeX Equations.txt.

Note: Before Origin 2023b, Insert: LaTeX Equation context menu will open the LaTeX Equation Editor App (if you've not already installed this free App, you are prompted to do so).

Link

Opens a dialog box for entering Text to display and a Link. Several types of links can be entered, for instance:

• Links to webpages (e.g. https://www.originlab.com)
• Links to help file pages (e.g. help://1293/TUTORIAL.CHM)
• Links to worksheet cells (e.g. range://[book1]sheet1!col(1)[100]

Additionally, you can run simple LabTalk commands from the Link box (e.g. labtalk://"ty -b[Hello World!]")

Example Syntax as seen in raw text mode, Notes window:

\link(labtalk://"ty -b [Hello World!]", Hello World!)

In Render Mode, clicking on the text in the Notes window will bring up an attention box that says "Hello World".

Image from File

Opens a dialog to browse for image files.

• The inserted image is linked to an external file and is not saved with the project. This helps to control project file size but be aware that sharing the project with others will require you to share external images, as well.
• The width of the image is modified using a "w" parameter (e.g. w=1000), where units are logical pixels).

Example Syntax as seen in raw text mode, Notes window:

\img(file://"%@JSamples\Image Processing and Analysis\car.bmp", w=1000)

The %@J string register in the above example returns the path of the Origin EXE folder.

Image from Web

Opens a dialog to specify a Image Link for a web image (hint: In your browser, right-click on an image and Copy Image Address, Copy Image Link, etc).

• The width of the image is modified using a "w" parameter (e.g. w=1000), where units are logical pixels).

Example Syntax as seen in raw text mode, Notes window:

\img(https://www.originlab.com/images/header_logo.png, w=200)

Paragraph Style

Apply Style to Paragraph

In Origin, you can use the build-in text style to apply to the paragraph.
When the cursor is in the paragraph, right-click to open the menu, you can select the Paragraph Style in the list.

Modify Text Style

You also can define new style by Modify Text Style tool.

• Select menu Tool: Text Style Manager to open the dialog. You can modify the build-in style, or add a new style.
• After creating a new style by this tool, the new style will be listed under Paragraph Style context menu.
• A TextStyles.ini file is created and saved to User Files folder. You can share your customized text style to other Origin user by sharing this file.

Modify Text Style with Escape notation

\p{{syntax1:value; syntax2:value; syntax3:value}}({paragraph content})

Set Paragraph as List

Besides using build-in Paragraph Style to set the list (bullet list/ number list) for the paragraph, we can use notation to set the paragraph list and custom more list properties.

Simple Paragraph List

Use these notation for the paragraph list, and custom the text color, bullet style and list numeric text format.

\p{{list:list name}}({paragraph content})

• Bullet list sample:

\p{{list:bullet;color:4}}({bullet}) \p{{list:bullet;color:5;listbullet:white bullet}}({white bullet}) \p{{list:bullet;color:6;listbullet:diamond}}({diamond style bullet}) \p{{list:bullet;color:8;listbullet:triangle}}({triangle style bullet})

• Number list sample:

\p{{list:number;color:1}}({Text 1}) \p{{list:number;color:2}}({Text 2}) \p{{list:number;color:3}}({Text 3})

• Using listnumber property can custom list numeric text format

\p{{list:number;listnumber:(%d)}}({Text 1}) \p{{list:number;listnumber:(%d)}}({Text 2}) \p{{list:number;listnumber:(%d)}}({Text 3})
\p{{list:number;listnumber:(%c)}}({Text 1}) \p{{list:number;listnumber:(%c)}}({Text 2}) \p{{list:number;listnumber:(%c)}}({Text 3})

Note: If insert non-list items (blank line, paragraph, Graph, Image) between the two paragraph list, it will break the number index. \p{{list:number}}({aa}) \p{{list:number}}({bb}) \p{{color:2}}({Not a list item}) \p{{list:number}}({cc}) \p{{list:number}}({dd}) To avoid breaking the number index, use liststart property for the second half list. \p{{list:number}}({aa}) \p{{list:number}}({bb}) \p{{color:2}}({Not a list item}) \p{{list:number; liststart:3}}({cc}) \p{{list:number}}({dd})

Multiple Levels List

There are 6 values of the list property, including: bullet, bullet1, bullet2, number, number1 and number2

• They allow nesting up to the depth three for each of bullet and number, for total of six. Each of them is a list name to indicate nesting. The name alone does not indicate the depth, but the position in the sequence is what matters.

\p{{list:number1}}({Level 1}) \p{{list:number2}}({Level 2}) \p{{list:number }}({Level 3})
\p{{list:bullet2}}({Level 1}) \p{{list:bullet }}({Level 2}) \p{{list:bullet1}}({Level 3})

• You can set six levels for a list

\p{{list:number}}({Level 1- Text 1}) \p{{list:number}}({Level 1- Text 2}) \p{{list:bullet;color:2}}({Level 2- AA}) \p{{list:bullet;color:2}}({Level 2- BB}) \p{{list:number2;color:3}}({Level 3- Text 1}) \p{{list:number1;color:4; listnumber:(%d)}}({Level 4- Text 1}) \p{{list:bullet1;color:6; listbullet:white bullet}}({Level 5- aa}) \p{{list:bullet1;color:6; listbullet:white bullet}}({Level 5- bb}) \p{{list:number1;color:4; listnumber:(%d)}}({Level 4- Text 2}) \p{{list:bullet1;color:6; listbullet:white bullet}}({Level 5- A1}) \p{{list:bullet1;color:6; listbullet:white bullet}}({Level 5- A2}) \p{{list:bullet2;color:12; listbullet:triangle}}({Level 6- a1}) \p{{list:number}}({Level 1- Text 3})

• In multiple levels list, Origin only supports some non-list items inserted in level one and level two.

For the level one sample, you can refer to the Tip in above section. Here, shows about inserting non-list item in the level two. You also can use liststart property to define the desired index for the restarting list.

\p{{list:level 1 list name|level 2 list name; liststart:the number of level 1|the number of level 2}} ({paragraph content})

\p{{list:number}}({Level 1- Text 1}) \p{{list:number}}({Level 1- Text 2}) \p{{list:number1;color:4}}({Level 2- AA}) \p{{list:number1;color:4}}({Level 2- BB}) \p{{color:2}}({Not a list item}) \p{{list:number|number1;color:4;liststart:2|3}}({Level 2- CC}) \p{{list:number1;color:4}}({Level 2- DD}) \p{{list:number}}({Level 1- Text 3})

Print or Export to PDF

You can output Notes window content to a physical printer; or print to PDF using a third-party driver such as Microsoft Print to PDF.

To create nice-looking output, you'll need to pay attention to these settings:

• Paper Size: This is set in File: Page Setup or in the Advanced options for your printer driver.
• Margins: These are set in File: Page Setup.
• Notes Display Margin: By default, the Notes display margin = 5 (units = points). Thus, you will note that in Render Mode (CTRL + M), there is a slight margin to the left side of the Notes page. This display margin is controlled by setting system variable @NDM.
• Notes Window Page Width: Page width is controlled by the property note.width (units = in/cm, etc). Default = 0, which corresponds to an uncontrolled width.

• When width is uncontrolled (note.width = 0 ), Notes Window Page Width is approximately equal to Paper Size – Margins. This should produce a satisfactory printout to PDF or paper.
• If you do specify note.width, do not exceed Paper Size – Margins or your text may be cut off.