# Cell copy results in jaggy, aliased output

When I copy a cells by selecting them from the collapse bars on the right, then using the context menu option "Copy", the pasted image of plots is not anti-aliased and in general the text seems to have bad styling compared to a screen. For example, here is a plot which is copied using the built-in copy command:

Manipulate[Plot[Cos[a x], {x, 0, 3 \[Pi]}], {a, 1, 10, 0.3}]


and here is a screen shot of the same command and plot:

As you can see the screen shot looks a lot better. For example, compare the graphical quality of the buttons in the animation panel.

• Again, post code as code, not just images. Otherwise trying to reproduce your input is painful. Oct 29 '13 at 8:20
• I have done this (see top of post) Oct 29 '13 at 16:37

## 2 Answers

The output is being copied as a metafile. To get the nice anti-aliased image, use Copy As Bitmap on the Edit menu.

• I can confirm that this works and is good as a screenshot. Is there a way to do this programmatically using a function as opposed to a menu operation? Oct 29 '13 at 16:36
• @TylerDurden, You could use CopyToClipboard[Rasterize[...]]. Oct 29 '13 at 16:53

I have already answered this question in http://community.wolfram.com

I reproduce my answer here:

The buttons are rendered by operating system (OS) and FrontEnd actually knows almost nothing about it. When you copy the graphics or Export it to EMF or PDF the buttons are not rendered by OS but are replaced with some predefined vector figures by the FrontEnd (probably they are loaded from the file "Bitmaps.tr" in the directory "\$InstallationDirectory\SystemFiles\FrontEnd\TextResources"). These figures are less attractive than what OS shows. The only way to get the on-screen appearance is to Rasterize the graphics (you can also select the Cell and then use the Cell :: ConvertTo :: Bitmap menu command). Then you can copy it from the Notebook or (much better) Export it as raster image and then import this image into another program.