Home  /  Resources & support  /  FAQs  /  Copying graphs and tables on Mac

Why am I unable to copy graphs and tables from Stata 10 into other applications?

Title Copying graphs and tables on Mac  
Author Theresa Boswell, StataCorp

Some users may experience problems with pasting graphs and tables from Stata to other applications.

Beginning with Stata 10 for Mac, Stata copies images to the Clipboard in PDF for the best possible output. However, some legacy applications such as Microsoft Office 2004 only support pasting images from the Clipboard as PICT. This can cause problems for users who attempt to copy an image within Stata and paste the image to another application. If you are unable to copy images from Stata to your application, open the General Preferences dialog and check the Copy Images to the Clipboard as PICT checkbox.

The PICT format does not support rotated text and has been deprecated by Apple in favor of PDF. Rotated text in a Stata graph will appear horizontal on the pasted PICT image. If possible, we encourage you to upgrade the application to one that supports Clipboard data in PDF, such as Microsoft Office 2008. Once you have upgraded your application, uncheck the Copy Images to the Clipboard as PICT checkbox in Stata so that Stata will copy images to the Clipboard as PDF for the best possible output.