Scatter plot text behind plotted data when image copied.

I have a figure containing a scatter plot overlaid with a fitted poly. I have added some text labels to the data.

When I copy the image and paste as enhanced metafile, the text appears behind the plotted data, even when I set the text object to 'top' and/or set the current axes to 'top':

t = text(x, y, str); % Adding a text label
uistack(t, 'top'); % Bring the text to the front
set(gca, 'Layer', 'top');

If I change the renderer to 'opengl', the image copies correctly, but the pasted image quality is very poor.

This behaviour is repeatable on any figure of this type.

[Animesh]

Hey @Kirstie Beugger, can you attach the code as well as the data file (if any) for better understanding of the issue.

[Kirstie Beugger]

Hi Animesh,

Thanks for considering my issue.

This is the original code used to add the text to the plot:

function [t] = addText(x,y,xtxt,ytxt,n)
figure(n)
hold on
legend('AutoUpdate','off')
plot(x,y,"ko")
str = {strcat(xtxt,'%'),ytxt};
t = text(x,y,str);
hold off
end

This is the (simplified) code used to create the figure in the first place:

figure(i)
clf
hold on
%plot the raw data scatter plots
s1 = scatter(data_x,data_y);
s1.MarkerEdgeColor = '#E1E1E1';

%Create a fit object for the data and plot it
[fitresult, ~] = createFit_poly2(data_x,data_y);
plot(fitresult_SandFx(0:max(data_y)), 'k')

%set the correct display for the y axis values
ax = ancestor(s3,'axes');
ax.YAxis.Exponent = 3;
ytickformat('%.0f')

title('Plot Title');
ylabel('y axis label');
xlabel('x axis label');
grid('on');
hold off

saveas(figure(i),strcat('figure ', string(i)))

Answer 1

[Adam Danz]

Thanks for the info @Kirstie Beugger. This bug was fixed in R2025a.

For releases prior to R2025a:

When copying graphics in vector format the figure's renderer is switched to painters which causes the change in text position.

A workaround is to set the z coordinate of the text to a value greater than 0.

tobj = findobj(gca,'type','text'); 
for i = 1:numel(tobj)
    tobj(i).Position(3) = 1; 
end

[Kirstie Beugger]

Oh great, thanks Adam. I'm glad it's a bug, I've been wrestling with it for a while.

[Kirstie Beugger]

Mint, thanks a lot Adam!

For anyone else who needs to use this, Chat changed the code slightly:

tobj = findobj(gca, 'type', 'text');

for i = 1:numel(tobj)

tobj(i).Position(3) = 1;

end

[Adam Danz]

Thanks for correcting that, Kirstie. Forgot the numel(). I fixed my answer.