The Define Characteristic dialog box's Format tab contains the following options:
Background Color: (Default = White) Select this option to define the color used for the area surrounding the chart (containing the statistics and labels).
Display Color: (Default = White) Select this option to define the color used for the area containing the plotted points (i.e. the chart).
Grid Color: (Default = Not displayed) Select this option to define the color used for gridlines.
Curve Color: (Applied to Histogram display; Default = White) Select this option to define the color used for the area beneath the fitted curve superimposed over the Histogram bars).
Histogram Color: (Available for Individual X, X-Bar, Process Capability and Pareto charts; Default = Multicolored)) Use this option to select a single color for the histogram (and Pareto) bars.
X-Axis Labels: (Available for X-Bar, Individual-X and Attribute (P, U, Np, C) control charts) Select one of the following options as the x-axis label: Subgroup Number (default), Date, Time, Date and Time, or Traceability Items. When Traceability Items has been selected, a X-axis Traceability list box will be provided for selection of a Traceability field associated with the Characteristic’s data. The Font Settings button may be used to select the fonts used (see below).
Selected Subgroup Indicated By: (Not available for Rainbow Charts; see above): Choose to use either a red dot or a vertical blue line to indicate the subgroup selected with the left mouse and the scroll buttons.
Decimal Places: Enter the number of decimal places, from 0 to 20, displayed for chart labels and statistics (except K-S and capability and performance indices, which are always displayed at 3 decimals). This entry has no impact on the accuracy of calculations.
Show Warning Limits: (Available for X-Bar, Individual-X and Attribute (P, U, Np, C) control charts) Select this option to display warning limits at the 2 sigma level.
Note: When a Non-normal distribution is applied to the analysis, the Warning Limits are placed at the distribution percentile (approximately 95.5) corresponding to the Normal Distribution 2 sigma level. This maintains the expected false alarm rate.
Show Control Chart: (Default ON; Available for X-Bar and Individual-X charts) Select this option so that the Control Chart is displayed. De-select to show only the Histogram.
Note: Since the Histogram analysis, including Capability Indices, are only valid for a controlled process, and the Capability Indices require that the control chart for estimating process sigma be specified, it is suggested to always show both the Control Chart and Histogram.
Show Histogram: (Default ON; Required if Show Control Chart OFF; Available for X-Bar and Individual-X charts) Select this option to display a histogram of the observations, with a brief summary of the statistics, to the left of the control chart.
Rainbow Chart: (Available for X-Bar, Individual-X and Attribute charts) When this option is selected and Warning Limits (see below) are applied, the area outside the control limits is colored red, the area from the centerline to +- 2 sigma is green, and the area between the 2 and 3 sigma lines is yellow. If Warning Limits are not applied, the area within the control limits is green and outside the limits is red.
Show High Spec on Chart: (Available for Individual-X, Run, Np and C charts) When this option is selected and a High Spec (upper specification limit, USL) has been entered in the Properties tab, the USL will be drawn and labeled on the chart (shown on Histogram only if Show Control Chart option is set to the OFF position).
Note: Specification Limits cannot be drawn on X-Bar charts, since the specification limits apply to the observations while the plotted points and control limits apply to the subgroup averages.
Show Low Spec on Chart: (Available for Individual-X, Run, Np and C charts) When this option is selected and a Low Spec (lower specification limit, LSL) has been entered in the Properties tab, the LSL will be drawn and labeled on the chart (shown on Histogram only if Show Control Chart option is set to the OFF position).
See Note above.
Show Target on Chart: (Not available for P or U charts) When this option is selected and a Target (aka Nominal) value has been entered in the Properties tab, the Target will be drawn and labeled on the control chart (shown on Histogram only if Show Control Chart option is set to the OFF position).
Show Subgroup Note: Select this option to make the Subgroup Note field available in the Data Form to data entry personnel.
Show Diamond Around Out of Spec Points: Select this option to draw diamonds around each subgroup with one or more observations beyond the specification limits (as specified in the Properties tab).
Font Settings: Select this button to open the Font dialog box for choosing the font properties associated with the chart display, including the X-axis labels, the Summary Statistics (beneath the Histogram, where shown), and the chart y-axis labels. Note that larger font sizes may reduce the number of x-axis labels shown, depending on the number of subgroups included in the analysis.
Axis Scaling: Select this button to open the Axis Scaling dialog box for manually defining the upper and lower values to be applied to the chart’s y-axis.