Export setup style replacement

This question says that the Export Setup dialog has been deprecated:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/2178487-how-can-i-access-the-export-setup-dialog-for-modifying-figures-before-export-in-matlab-r2025a

Over the years I have built up a library of export setup styles customized for different journal and conference settings (figure sizes, font sizes, resolution, line widths, etc). This has been an essential part of my workflow, allowing me to consistently reproduce figures for different targets without manual tweaking. The suggested replacement, uiexportdlg does not have the same granularity of control, nor the ability to save profiles. Is there an alternative that is closer to Export Setup capabilities?

Answer 1

[dpb]

It is irrevocable that Mathworks is committed to the new desktop going forward for good or bad..

That said, submit complaints and functionality requests officially at <Product Support Page> in order for there to be any chance at all of them making changes in appearance and/or functionality.

Since the Answers forum isn't an official support channel, complaints/suggestions posted here may not be seen by Mathworks stafff and so not at all certain would ever get into the enhancement list otherwise.

It's obvious that having the saved library to recall is a far more useful feature than having to manually recreate every time as well as haing to go to different places to make all the changes. One hopes that these kinds of oversights are only a temporary aberration in making the transition before it was really complete, but it unfortunately appears that the desktop was designed more for appearnce than functionality; or at least with only a very limited viewpoint of functionality from the developers' viewpoint rather than from a community-wide design/feedback process. ($0.02, imo, ymmv, etc., etc., ...)

The workarounds I would see if this does come to pass before corrected in the ui version would be

1. Create an m-file for each of your saved configurations that can apply to the figure that does the stuff needed, or
2. Create a set of figure-specific default setup options for the figure that can be set before creating a figure of the given target. This isn't nearly as flexible to be able to export the same figure multiple ways, of course.

What's worse than just "going to be" is from the release notes one culls

"The printpreview, printdlg, and exportsetupdlg functions will be removed in a future release. If you call printpreview or printdlg, MATLAB issues a warning and runs the new uiprintdlg (R2025a) function instead. If you call exportsetupdlg, MATLAB issues a warning and runs the new uiexportdlg (R2025a) function instead."

"To simplify the interfaces, the new dialog boxes do not include options for customizing fonts, line width, or tick values, or for setting the renderer. To control the appearance of a figure that you want to print or export, set properties of the figure and the objects in the figure before opening the dialog box."

That's simply rude!.

There's <another query that a staffer did respond to> trying to justify it, but it's a feeble attempt. I'd recommend adding your complaints to that thread as well; @Anita may be following it since did ask for feedback on use case.

[Brady]

Accepted as the sadly correct answer.

[dpb]

Some of the decisions made truly boggle the mind with "what COULD you be thinking!!!!????"

So far, I've just not bothered to download R2025; I'm too old of a dog to learn new tricks, particularly when they break 30+ years practice.

ADDEMDIUM

matlab.ui.internal.dialog.DialogUtils.checkDecaf

ans = logical
   1

which -all exportsetupdlg

/MATLAB/toolbox/matlab/graphics/graphics/printing/exportsetupdlg.m

%type exportsetupdlg

Since it is an m-file and although it is rarely wise to mess with Mother MATLAB, it appears in this case one could retrieve prior behavior by commenting out the following if block

% Use export dialog when webfigures are enabled
if matlab.ui.internal.dialog.DialogUtils.checkDecaf
    warning(message('MATLAB:exportsetupdlg:FunctionRemoved'));
    uiexportdlg(fig);
    return;
end

Warning: exportsetupdlg will be removed. Using uiexportdlg instead.

Unrecognized function or variable 'fig'.

at least until a release in which the whole code itself is removed, not just bypassed internally. Creating a local copy to alias the builtin would/should work.

[xiaohua]

Fully agree. The new verison of export setup is so badly!!! Really regret to download 2025b.

[dpb]

@xiaohua I would urge you to add your complaints/suggestions to the official support feedback; only by hearing the message loud and clear will changes ensue.