Frequently Asked Questions

general account beta features graphing

General

What is Plot-O-Matic?

Plot-O-Matic is an online scientific graphing program. It is designed to meet the graphing needs of a physicist, chemist, biologist or engineer: curve fitting, error bars, the ability to easily insert scientific characters like greek letters.

What are the system requirements?

Plot-O-Matic runs on it's own server on the internet, so there is nothing for you to install and there are no hardware requirements. All that you need is a modern web browser. Plot-O-Matic officially supports Internet Explorer 6 and 7, and Mozilla Firefox. You will also need to have Javascript and cookies enabled on your browser. If you don't have Javascript enabled, Plotomatic will let you know (see here for instructions on how to enable Javascript).

What browsers are supported

Plot-O-Matic officially supports Internet Explorer 6 and 7 and Mozilla Firefox. If you get it working on other browsers, I'd love to hear about it.

Account

How long is my account upgraded for?

Free accounts last forever. All paid subscriptions last for one year. If you don't renew your account after a year, it will be downgraded to a Free account.

How do I sign up?

Just click on the “sign up” button in the top right hand corner of your screen. Enter your e-mail address, a login-name and a password. You will be sent a confirmation e-mail. Click on the link in that e-mail, and your account will be activated.

If you see something like 'logged in as ....' in the top right-hand corner of the screen, then someone else is logged in onto Plot-O-Matic on your computer. Log them out, and then sign up.

What is included in the free account?

The free account allows you to make up to 5 datasets. For each dataset, you can create up to 5 graphs and 5 data columns. Other than that, there are no restrictions on the free account.

What are the different account types

There are three account types: Free, Basic and Premium

What are the benefits of upgrading my account?

Upgrading will give you the ability to create more datasets and to create more graphs and data columns per dataset. For more information, see the account page.

How much does it cost?

Upgrading to a Basic account costs $30.

Upgrading to a Premium account costs $50.

For more information, see the account page.

How do I upgrade?

Once you have signed up and logged in, there will be an 'account' link in the top right hand corner of your screen. Click on that, choose an account type to upgrade to and click on it.

I have a coupon code. How do I use it?

Follow the instructions for upgrading an account. On the upgrade screen, there will be a text box that you can enter your coupon code in. Enter the code and then click on 're-calculate price'. The new price will be shown.

How do I get a coupon code?

I'm not exactly stingy with coupon codes. Keep an eye on the Blog and you may get lucky....

What happens when my account expires?

Your credit card will NOT be billed automatically. You will receive an e-mail a few weeks before your account is going to expire letting you know that you need to renew your subscription.

What happens if I don't want to renew my account next year?

Your credit card will NOT be billed automatically. If you don't renew your subscription, your account will be downgraded to a Free account. Your data and graphs will not be deleted. See What Happens if I Downgrade for more information on this. You can, of course, always upgrade again later.

What happens if I downgrade?

If you downgrade, a few things happen.

• Any datasets beyond the dataset limit for your new account type will be uneditable. You will still be able to view these datasets and download graphs and data, but you won't be able to make any changes to them.
• If a dataset has more graphs or data columns than the limit for your new account type, you will still be able to edit them just like normal. However, if you delete them you will not be able to create a replacement graph or data column.
• You won't be able to create graphs or data columns beyond the limit for your new account type.

To make that more clear, here's an example:

John has a Premium Account, which allows him to create an unlimited number of datasets. His account has 40 datasets in it. If he downgrades to a Basic account (which allows you to create 30 datasets), then 10 of his datasets will be uneditable.

If he has any datasets with more than 10 graphs in them, he will still be able to use and edit these graphs. He won't however, be able to create any graphs in those datasets or re-create the graphs if he deletes them.

If he downgrades to a Free account (which allows you to create 5 datasets), then 35 of his datasets will be uneditable.

I've forgotten my password or I want to change my password. What do I do?

On the login screen, there is a link that says "I forgot my password". Just click on that and follow the directions.

I've forgotten my login name. What do I do?

The "I forgot my password" link on the login screen will help you with this as well. Click on the login link and follow the directions. You can also just log in using the e-mail address that you signed up with.

Beta

What does 'Beta' mean?

First, it means that Plot-O-Matic costs nothing to use: I'm not asking you to pay any money for a beta product. There will always be a Free account, but right now everything is free. You start out with a Free account, but you can upgrade for free at any time.

Second, it means that things are not perfect yet. Things can look kind of wonky (especially if you have try to use a larger or smaller font size). This is temporary, and will be fixed.

Third, it means that all of the functionality hasn't been added yet. This leads me to the last, and most important point...

Fourth, I need feedback! Part of the implicit contract of a beta is that you get the product for no money, and I get feedback. You can let me know what you think by sending an e-mail to scott@plotomatic.com or by posting in the forums.

When will Beta be over?

Beta is scheduled to be over mid-September.

I upgraded myself for free. What will happen to after Beta is over?

The first time you log-in after beta is over, you will be given the choice to pay to upgrade or keep a Free account. See What Happens if I Downgrade for more information on what happens if you downgrade to a Free account. You can, of course, always upgrade again later.

I have a coupon code for a free upgrade. Why would I want to upgrade during Beta?

If you upgrade during Beta, the 'clock' on your account won't start ticking until Beta is over. I.e., if you have a coupon that gives you a free Premium account for a year, the account will be upgraded to Premium for a year after Beta is complete.

Features

How do I do a curve fit?

See the curve fitting help and the curve fit equation help.

How do I add error bars to a line?

See the error bars help.

Can I make Bar charts using Plot-O-Matic?

Not yet, but this will be coming soon.

Can I make Pie charts using Plot-O-Matic?

Pie charts will be available after Bar charts, but they are coming.

How about stepped lines and curved lines?

Yep, those are coming soon too.

Graphing

Where is this navigation box you keep talking about?

The navigation box looks like this:

It should be at the top of the screen whenever you are logged in. If you don't see it, it's probably because you aren't logged in. You can tell if you are logged in by looking at the top right corner of the screen. If you see "Please login or Signup" to the left of the search box, you need to login. If you see "logged in as ...." and the Navigation box isn't there, please let me know by sending an e-mail to scott@plotomatic.com, as there's something wrong on my end of things.

How do I create a new dataset?

To create a new dataset, go to the Navigation box (which looks like ) and click on the "Create new dataset" link.

How do I change which dataset I'm using?

To change which dataset you are working on, go to the Navigation box and click on it. Next, click on the dataset you want to work on. If you want to open the dataset in a new window, hold down the shift key while you are clicking.

What are the keyboard shortcuts?

See the keyboard shortcuts help topic.

How do I save my graph?

Every time you click on the 'save data and update graph' button, your graph and everything else on the dataset is saved. If you want to know how to download your graph to your computer, see the Downloading and sharing graphs tutorial.

How do I link to my graph?

See the Downloading and sharing graphs tutorial.