# Automatic is not always the default option

Contrary to what one might expect, specifying an option to be Automatic sometimes changes the output. For example, by default Show's range is set by the first graphic, but setting PlotRange -> Automatic causes it to choose the best range for all the graphics being shown. Are there any other situations in which Automatic is not the default option? And is there a way to modify the kind of command given at https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/a/48562/30780 to use the default rather than the Automatic value?

• You will need to read the documentation for the particular function. In the Details and Options section it list all the options and their defaults. These are also links to the options own documentation page where you can get more information. Further down on the function's page in the Examples | Options section there are examples for the options in the function. The Scope section also has interesting information on parameter and option values. – Edmund Mar 1 '17 at 11:02
• Show is a bad example. It actually doesn't have any options with defaults defined for it. A better example is PlotLegends. For most plotting functions (maybe all?) the default value is None, while PlotLegends -> Automatic turns on automatically generated legends. – m_goldberg Mar 1 '17 at 11:27