Once the plot is loaded, two thin lines become visible (see screenshot below). In the following they are referred to as cross-hairs. Both lines are exactly one pixel wide. The intersection between the vertical and the horizontal line defines the cursor position. The current x,y coordinates of the cursor are displayed in the Coordinate Display tab in the Tool Box. Move the cursor (cross-hair) using the arrow-up, arrow-down, arrow-left and arrow-down keys. The step size is 1 pixel. If you want to move the cursor faster (in larger increments) press the Shift key together with the respective arrow key. Alternatively you can also use the mouse. Press the left mouse close to the cursor, i.e., the intersection of the cross-hair lines, and drag it while keeping the mouse button pressed. Even quicker is double-clicking the left mouse button to make the cross-hair step to the current mouse/pointer position. On some platform/screen combinations and depending on your screen settings, step sizes smaller than one pixel are possible using the Alt (Option) key together with the referring arrow key. This is useful for increasing the precision for good quality plots. The cursor moving options are summarized in the table below.
Keys | Steps |
---|---|
arrow | normal, 1 pixel |
shift+arrow | fast, 10 pixel |
alt(option)+arrow | fine, 0.1 pixel (where available) |
left mouse button drag | arbitrary |
double mouse click | to position |
Depending on the color
scheme of your plot, the red default color of the cross-hair might be not
the best choice. The color can be changed via the Edit->Cross-hairs Color...
menu item. Pick a color that contrasts well with the color of the data points and the background.
Hint: For moving the cursor quickly over the plot the mouse & double-click is certainly faster but use the arrow keys when placing the markers and especially when placing the cursor for the actual scan.