Save a figure as pdf

I have figures and I am using the command below to save it as pdf. Is there any way to save it directly as pdf instead of saving as .ps and convert to .pdf.

 print(figure(i), '-append', '-dpsc2', 'E:\myfigure.ps');

Thanks

Answer 1

[KSSV]

saveas(gcf,'myfigure.pdf')

Or

set(gcf,'Units','inches');
screenposition = get(gcf,'Position');
set(gcf,...
    'PaperPosition',[0 0 screenposition(3:4)],...
    'PaperSize',[screenposition(3:4)]);

print -dpdf -painters epsFig
The first two lines measure the size of your figure (in inches). The next line configures the print paper size to fit the figure size. The last line uses the print command and exports a vector pdf document as the output.

[za]

Is there a way to save it as pdf with fill page?

[Ghost]

fig=gcf;                                     % your figure
fig.PaperPositionMode='auto';
print('Name_of_file','-dpdf','-fillpage')

[Cyril Justin]

How do you save multiple figures on the same pdf?

[Marco Torres]

To save several matlab figures on the same pdf, you can use the report generator toolbox.

[Michael Judge]

@KSSV, Thank you so much for this. It's going to save me and my group so much time.

[Saunok Chakrabarty]

@KSSV,

Could you explain how you're using screenposition here?

Answer 2

[Sujay Kadam]

Update: Starting in R2021b, you can use exportgraphics to directly create PDF files containing multiple figures:

% append each of the figures to output.pdf
for i=1:numFigs
    exportgraphics(figure(i), 'output.pdf', 'Append', true);
end

(Original Answer prior to R2021b)

May be this has already been answered somewhere else, but I thought I would share what I usually do for generating plots in pdf format. Run the following code after generating a figure:

clear figure_property;
figure_property.units = 'inches';
figure_property.format = 'pdf';
figure_property.Preview= 'none';
figure_property.Width= '8'; % Figure width on canvas
figure_property.Height= '11'; % Figure height on canvas
figure_property.Units= 'inches';
figure_property.Color= 'rgb';
figure_property.Background= 'w';
figure_property.FixedfontSize= '12';
figure_property.ScaledfontSize= 'auto';
figure_property.FontMode= 'scaled';
figure_property.FontSizeMin= '12';
figure_property.FixedLineWidth= '1';
figure_property.ScaledLineWidth= 'auto';
figure_property.LineMode= 'none';
figure_property.LineWidthMin= '0.1';
figure_property.FontName= 'Times New Roman';% Might want to change this to something that is available
figure_property.FontWeight= 'auto';
figure_property.FontAngle= 'auto';
figure_property.FontEncoding= 'latin1';
figure_property.PSLevel= '3';
figure_property.Renderer= 'painters';
figure_property.Resolution= '600';
figure_property.LineStyleMap= 'none';
figure_property.ApplyStyle= '0';
figure_property.Bounds= 'tight';
figure_property.LockAxes= 'off';
figure_property.LockAxesTicks= 'off';
figure_property.ShowUI= 'off';
figure_property.SeparateText= 'off';
chosen_figure=gcf;
set(chosen_figure,'PaperUnits','inches');
set(chosen_figure,'PaperPositionMode','auto');
set(chosen_figure,'PaperSize',[str2num(figure_property.Width) str2num(figure_property.Height)]); % Canvas Size
set(chosen_figure,'Units','inches');
hgexport(gcf,'filename.pdf',figure_property); %Set desired file name

Warning: Style sheets will not be supported in a future release.

[Parth Patel]

This is the most perfect solution one can find for this problem. Thank you so much :)

[Sujay Kadam]

You're welcome! I'm glad you found this helpful.

[Md Modassir Firdaus]

Hi Sujay,

How can I change the only font size of legend ? It seems that the font size of every thing is same

[Sujay Kadam]

Hi Firdaus,

Kindly change in the following line '12' to 'auto'...

figure_property.FontSizeMin= '12';

[Katty]

Hi! Is it possible to generate this same pdf but in a horizontal format?

[Sujay Kadam]

Hi,

You may want to change the values in the following lines:

figure_property.Width= '8'; % Figure width on canvas
figure_property.Height= '11'; % Figure height on canvas

If the width is larger than the height, the resulting plots would have a more horizontal aspect ratio.

For example,

figure_property.Width= '16'; % Figure width on canvas
figure_property.Height= '9'; % Figure height on canvas

would produce plots that would be suitable for a typical computer screen.

Answer 3

[Richard Quist]

In R2021b and later you can use exportgraphics to directly create PDF files containing multiple figures:

% append each of the figures to output.pdf
for i=1:numFigs
    exportgraphics(figure(i), 'output.pdf', 'Append', true);
end

[Ramprakash Ananthapadmanaban]

'exportgraphics' function works well and even in subplots. Thanks

Answer 4

[Ish Jain]

saveas(gcf,'filename.pdf')
!pdfcrop filename.pdf filename.pdf'

pdfcrop is useful if you are saving pdf for latex and you are using Linux.

[ASMA FAROOQ]

print -dpdf epsFig