Tip Of The Day Feature

[John Donovan]

I'm starting a "Tip Of The Day" feature in PFE but would very much appreciate any one line tips that you all would care to share with everyone else.

So here is the current only (and very lonely) tip of the day:



When there are a sufficient number of tips to share I'll enable the feature!

[John Donovan]

I'm starting a "Tip Of The Day" feature in PFE but would very much appreciate any one line tips that you all would care to share with everyone else.

So here is the current only (and very lonely) tip of the day:



When there are a sufficient number of tips to share I'll enable the feature!

Here's one: When acquiring EDS spectra along with your WDS analyses, the program cannot display the calculated EDS net intensities from Thermo or Bruker if one of the sample data lines has bad or no EDS intensity data. In this case, simply click the Calculation Options button in the Analyze! window and select Do Not Use EDS Element Data option. Then you can see which is the offending line and delete it and try again.

Still looking for more "Tip of the Day" suggestions!

[John Donovan]

I still need more "Tip of the Day" suggestions from you all, but I've implemented this feature in PFE.



Please note that it can also be turned on or off from the Help menu.
john

[John Donovan]

I would very much appreciate any "one liner" factoids for the "Tip of the Day" feature as seen here:



Think of your favorite "hidden option" in PFE and email or post a suggestion for the Tip of the Day" "database" add I'll add it right away!

http://smf.probesoftware.com/index.php?topic=110.0

[John Donovan]

The latest version of Probe for EPMA (v. 13.1.2) contains a few additional "tips of the day" but we could certainly use a few more.

Please feel free to email me directly (or post them in this topic) if you have any ideas for an additional tip of the day suggestion.

This feature is enabled by default on startup, but if turned off, can be accessed from the Help menu at any time...

[Mike Matthews]

Have you included the one about using the Positions button in the Move window to duplicate standard or unknown positions as Wave samples? Super useful feature!

[John Donovan]

Have you included the one about using the Positions button in the Move window to duplicate standard or unknown positions as Wave samples? Super useful feature!

Oh, yeah, that is a great suggestion. Will add that...  and if you or anyone can suggest some other tips I will re-compile and upload a new version with them this week.

[JonF]

Is there one for the Plot! option in the Output > Output Standard and Unknown XY Plots ?

Now I've found this, I use it all the time to keep tabs on the standard drift. 

[John Donovan]

Is there one for the Plot! option in the Output > Output Standard and Unknown XY Plots ?

Now I've found this, I use it all the time to keep tabs on the standard drift.

Yes, that is a good one. I will add it, thanks!

Another tip for monitoring the standard intensities is the List Standard Intensities button is the Analyze! window. I use that all the time. It also lists the background intensities on the standards and also the interference intensities used in the interference corrections.

And then there's the Run | List Standard Counts (Intensities) menu also.

[Anette von der Handt]

And never forget about "Drift".exe! Best thing ever for looking at long term drift. I also use it as a quick way to check when I used MAN backgrounds and when I used traditional off-peak backgrounds across multiple projects.

Along the same lines, there should be a tip that tells user about "Search.exe" that allows you to find sample names, wavescans, prior intensity data to calculate detection limits etc across all your mdbs.

Is there a tip already that you can import wavescans from other mdb's?

And then there is of course the trick that when you use the "Update" function in Automate, you can have the shift apply to a specific position by selecting it in the list rather than just the first position. I often use it to muck around with traverses.

Scenario 1: I want to make sure that a traverse goes exactly through the center of a large grain for example. I then set a traverse rim to rim, go to the center of the grain and select the halfway position in the position list. Hit "update" and voila!

Scenario 2: I want to create multiple traverses that are exactly parallel to each other (so almost like a grid but not quite). I create one traverse, multiply it in the positions dialog (duplicate as unknown) and then move the stage to the new start (or center) positions for the new traverses, select the relevant position in the list and update.

[John Donovan]

Anette, you so clever!

I will add the Drift and Search apps to the tip of the day feature, and the two suggestions for updating points I had never thought of and deserve a post of their own. Maybe you should start a new topic in the Probe for EPMA board called "Anette's Tips and Tricks"?  I will "sticky" the topic...

Very smart suggestions.