Is it possible to copy a figure with transparent background color in MATLAB 7.9 (R2009b)?

Question

MathWorks Support Team 2009-12-29

I would like to make the background of the figure transparent and then copy/paste it into applications such as PowerPoint.

I would also like to automate this process by writing MATLAB code.

Answer 1

The ability to copy a figure with transparent background using command line is not available in MATLAB 7.9 (R2009b).

As a workaround use the following GUI option:

From the figure menu select 'Edit -> Copy Options …'
In the Copy Options dialog box, set the Clipboard Format setting to 'Metafile (may lose information)' and set the Figure Background Color setting to 'transparent'.
Now, copy the figure to the clipboard by selecting the Edit menu -> Copy Figure menu item.
Paste the figure into PowerPoint and you should get transparent figure background.