Minitab Folders

Have you ever used Minitab and been overwhelmed by the amount of worksheets and graphs you have open at any one time? If so, then you need to use the following:

The Project Manager

All the worksheets, session commands, graphs and reports of a Minitab session constitute a Project. The Project Manager provides a means of viewing, navigating and manipulating these various components.

To open the Project Manager, choose Project Manager from the Window menu. A list of folders appears on the left hand side of a new window:

The Project Manager contains folders that allow you to navigate, view, and manipulate various parts of your project. By right-clicking on either the folders or the folder contents, you can access a variety of menus that allow you to manage Session window output, graphs, worksheets, command language, and related project areas.

The Session Folder

The Session folder contains a list of all Session window output by command and all graphs. Use this folder to manage Session window output, for instance to jump to Session window output, copy, delete, rename, or print Session window output or graphs or to append Session window output or graphs to the ReportPad

The History Folder

The History folder displays all session commands, without the output. This folder provides a convenient overview of what you have done in your session. If you use the Data window to change the worksheet, a note is generated in the History folder.

You can use the History folder for example to select command(s), then open the Command Line Editor where the command(s) you selected will automatically appear enabling you to quickly re-execute them.

You can also create a Minitab macro for repeating an analysis by first working through the steps using the menus and dialogue boxes, then copying the resulting session commands from the History folder, pasting into a word processor. See Creating a Simple Macro in Session Command Help.

Note that you cannot change the contents of the History folder.

The Graphs Folder

You can use the Graphs folder in the Project Manager to manage multiple Graph windows. By highlighting the graphs from the list in the Graphs folder and right-clicking with the mouse, you can:

• Save, Copy, or Print one or more graphs
• Tile multiple graphs across the Minitab screen for easy viewing and comparison
• Rename individual graphs
• Append graphs to the ReportPad folder

The ReportPad Folder

You can quickly create reports of your data in the Project Manager ReportPad folder using Append to Report. Use the ReportPad folder to store graphs, Session window output, and text (such as user comments and notes). All output in the ReportPad folder is fully editable, and you can save the contents of the ReportPad folder as an RTF (Rich Text Format) file that can be displayed in other applications. You can edit and print the reports directly from the ReportPad folder, or open and edit them in a word processing program for enhanced formatting options.

Related Documents Folder

The Related Documents folder contains a list of program files, documents or internet URLs that are related to your Minitab project. This enables you to quickly access project-related, non-Minitab files for easy reference

The Worksheet Folder

The Worksheet folders and their subfolders (Columns, Constants, and Matrices) contain an automatically updated summary of the current worksheet. They are especially useful to help you keep track of variables if you have a large worksheet. The Worksheet folders’ subfolders provide the following information:

Constants, matrices, and design summaries are each displayed in their own separate subfolders within the Worksheet folder.

Columns
For each column containing data, the Columns subfolder displays the column name, column ID, number of rows, number of missing values, column type, and column description. A T under Type marks text columns, a D under Type marks date/time data, and an N under Type marks numeric data.

Constants
For each constant containing data, the constant name, the constant ID, the value of the constant, and the description of the constant.

Matrices
For each matrix, the matrix name, the matrix Id, the number of rows in the matrix, the number of columns in the matrix, and the matrix description.

Designs
The Design subfolder displays Factors, Runs, Blocks, Base Design, Replicates, and Center points, as well as the display order and display units, and the factors and their uncoded levels.

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