How do I Copy or Import a figure from MATLAB into Word document

Dear Support,

How do I copy or Import a figure (q-q plot graph) from MATLAB into Word document.

Thank you.

[Shivansh Gupta]

Use snipping tool which is preinstalled in windows.

[Ganta Shanmukha Rao]

is it possible to edit the graph in word file after importing from matlab??

[Adugna Taddese]

it works. thanks

Answer 1

[Nafees Ahmad]

I have searched this question many times, now I got the result by myself.

• # plot the diagram on the figure
• # Then go to the command window of MATLAB and enter

   print -dmeta

• Come to the Microsoft word and Paste the result
• Now in Microsoft Word formatting will create a problem. To solve this problem draw a table and paste the Matlab image into Table.

I hope this the answer of this question. Please rate my answer, if you still facing a problem please comment.* Thank you

[deepak maurya]

nice, it works

[Hamed Tirandaz]

Thanks man,

This line of code is very helpful.

By using this code, one can save its time

[Bachir Cheraf eddine Benhacine]

Thank you, it worked

[Anna Antoniou]

Thank you

[Osman Faruk]

Figure 1 > File > Save as > .tif

[Siti Salwa]

it works. thank you!

[Adugna Taddese]

it works. thanks

Answer 2

[Image Analyst]

Here is a full demo that shows you three different ways/options for saving axes into an existing Word Document using Word as an ActiveX server. This demo reads all PNG format images from the drive into the axes, and pastes them into a Word document that you specify:

% Script to save MATLAB axes (containing Tif images, or whatever you want) at the top of a Word Document.
% By Image Analyst.  April 2020.

% Initialization steps.  Brute force cleanup of everything currently existing to start with a clean slate.
% Just for the demo.  If you put this into your own function you'll want to get rid of the close and clear commands.
clc;    % Clear the command window.
fprintf('Beginning to run %s.m ...\n', mfilename);
close all;  % Close all figures (except those of imtool.)
clear;  % Erase all existing variables. Or clearvars if you want.
workspace;  % Make sure the workspace panel is showing.
format long g;
format compact;

%---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
% Specify the existing Word document that we want to paste images into.
% Have user browse for a file, from a specified "starting folder."
% For convenience in browsing, set a starting folder from which to browse.
startingFolder = pwd;  % or 'C:\wherever';
if ~isfolder(startingFolder)
	% If that folder doesn't exist, just start in the current folder.
	startingFolder = pwd;
end
% Get the name of the file that the user wants to use.
defaultFileName = fullfile(startingFolder, '*.doc*');
[baseFileName, wordDocumentFolder] = uigetfile(defaultFileName, 'Select a file');
if baseFileName == 0
	% Exit if the user clicked the Cancel button.
	return;
end
wordFullFileName = fullfile(wordDocumentFolder, baseFileName)
if ~isfile(wordFullFileName)
	% They probably typed in a new name for a non-existent document.
	msgbox('Error: %s must exist already, and it does not.', wordFullFileName);
	return;
end

%---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
% Get a list of TIF images.
imagesFolder = pwd; % The current folder, or wherever you want.
fprintf('Now getting a list of image files in folder "%s".\n', imagesFolder);
filePattern = fullfile(imagesFolder, '*.png'); % Change to whatever extension (image file format) you want.
fileList = dir(filePattern);
if isempty(fileList)
	[~, ~, ext] = fileparts(filePattern);
	warningMessage = sprintf('No %s format images found in folder\n%s\n\nExiting.', ext, imagesFolder);
	uiwait(warndlg(warningMessage));
	return; % Exit since there's nothing to do.  No images to paste!
end
numberOfFiles = length(fileList);

%---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
% Open the document in Word using ActiveX.
fprintf('MATLAB is launching Word as an ActiveX server...\n');
Word = actxserver('Word.Application'); 	% A MATLAB function.
fprintf('Word is now opening "%s" ...\n', wordFullFileName);
Word.Documents.Open(wordFullFileName);	% An ActiveX method.
fprintf('Document "%s" has been opened in Word.  Now making it visible.\n', wordFullFileName);
Word.Visible = true; % Make it visible.	An ActiveX property.

% Set horizontal alignment
% Word.Selection.ParagraphFormat.Alignment options formats:
%  0: Left-aligned
%  1: Center-aligned
%  2: Right-aligned
%  3: Fully justified
%  4: Paragraph characters are distributed to fill the entire
%      width of the paragraph
%  5: Justified with a medium character compression ratio
%  6: Does not exist.
%  7: Justified with a high character compression ratio
%  8: Justified with a low character compression ratio
%  9: Justified according to Thai formatting Layout
Word.Selection.ParagraphFormat.Alignment = 0; % Left align the images.  An ActiveX property.

hFig = figure; % Bring up new figure.

%---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
% For each image drop onto the Word document.
for k = 1 :  numberOfFiles
	pictureFullFileName = fullfile(fileList(k).folder, fileList(k).name);
	fprintf('Reading in %s, and pasting onto document.\n', fileList(k).name);
	theImage = imread(pictureFullFileName);
	imshow(theImage);
	hFig.WindowState = 'maximized'; % Need to re-maximize each figure since imshow() unmaximizes them.
	caption = sprintf('#%d of %d : %s', k, numberOfFiles, fileList(k).name);
	title(caption, 'FontSize', 15, 'Interpreter', 'none');	% Using 'Interpreter', 'none' so underlines in the file name don't cause the title to be subscripted after the underline
	drawnow;
	pause(0.6); % Optional : Delay a bit so we can see the image before it vanishes.
	
	% Pick only ONE of the 3 options below to paste the axes into Word at the beginning of the document.
	
	%---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	% OPTION 1: Transfer to Word by copying the current axes object to the clipboard and pasting into Word using ActiveX method Selection.Paste().
	% If you're using r2020a or later, use copygraphics() instead of the print() to copy the figure to the clipboard.
	copygraphics(gca); 	% A MATLAB function.  This will also copy the title above the image, and the axis tick marks (if showing) in addition to the image.
	Word.Selection.Paste;	% An ActiveX method.

	%---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	% OPTION 2: Transfer to Word by giving the file name string to the InlineShapes.AddPicture method of ActiveX.
	% Tell Word to read the file from the drive using it's filename, and then insert into the document.
% 	Word.Selection.InlineShapes.AddPicture(pictureFullFileName,0,1);	% An ActiveX method.

	%---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	% OPTION 3: Transfer to Word by giving the file name string to the InlineShapes.AddPicture method of ActiveX.
	% Pre-2020a, use print to copy the figure to the clipboard.
% 	print(gca, '-dmeta'); % Export figure to clipboard
% 	invoke(Word.Selection,'Paste'); 	% An ActiveX method.

end

%---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
% Clean up and shutdown.
% Close the image figure window.
close(hFig);

% Save the active Word document without prompting the user.
fprintf('Now saving Word document "%s".\n', wordFullFileName);
Word.ActiveDocument.Save();	% An ActiveX method.

% Shut down Word.  Close it.
fprintf('Now shutting down the Word ActiveX server.\n');
Word.Quit;	% An ActiveX method.
% Clear the variable from MATLAB's memory (workspace).
clear('Word');

% Let user know that we're all done, and offer to open the file.
promptMessage = sprintf('Done pasting %d images into Word.\nDo you want to open the document in Word?', numberOfFiles);
titleBarCaption = 'Continue?';
buttonText = questdlg(promptMessage, titleBarCaption, 'Yes - Continue', 'No - Quit', 'Yes - Continue');
if contains(buttonText, 'Yes', 'IgnoreCase', true)
	% Cause the operating system to launch Word and open the document.
	winopen(wordFullFileName);
end

fprintf('Done running %s.m ...\n', mfilename);

[Ben McMahon]

Yup thats a good script. V helpful. Thanks

Answer 3

[Mithun Mahto]

• MATLAB Figure window: Edit -> Copy Figure
• Switch to Word and paste (ctrl + v)

Answer 4

[Shashank Prasanna]

Put your code in a script and publish it.

http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_prog/publishing-matlab-code.html

You can publish either by clicking on the publish button in the editor or running the publish command on the commandline. Change the output format to Word, powerpoint, html or any other format you desire.

[Silas Adiko]

Thank you all for your assistance. I am quite new in using Matlab for the first time so I was really not getting your solutions.

However, an idea came to me which worked. After plotting the graph, say, qqplot, I took screenshot and pasted in Word document and cropped to required size and width.

[Shashank Prasanna]

That is one way, but if you don't mind copying and pasting into word (instead of the automated may i pointed out earlier) The better approach is to click on File menu > Edit > Copy Figure

This will copy just the figure as displayed, which you can then paste in the Word document.

Answer 5

[Azzi Abdelmalek]

Save your figure as jpg format

h=plot(t,y)
saveas(h,'filename.jpg')

[satheeshkumar satheeshkumar M]

very useful whenever some of the figures cannot having copy option, thanks

[Vikash Suthapalli]

thank you

[Image Analyst]

Not a good idea. You should use PNG format, not JPG to save. JPG introduces compression artifacts whereas PNG does not.

Answer 6

[John]

I would just like to add to Azzi's answer above,

h=plot(t,y)
saveas(h,'filename.jpg')

but also share that for me, jpg's in Word docs, show a lot of artifacts that make the figure look almost fuzzy or out of focus. I have had good luck with png or pdf in Word docs.

saveas(h,'filename.png')
saveas(h,'filename.pdf')

Answer 7

[Shar Timman]

Select the plots you've generated, right-click and "Create Zip File", then you'll find the Download function under HOME is activated and you can save it to your files.

Answer 8

[Image Analyst]

If you want to do it via ActiveX in Windows, you can save the image to disk (temporarily of you want), then you can bring up Word as an active X server.