If you have any previous version of our EasyGrapher programs other than EasyGrapher Stitch Wiz, you may be entitled to upgrade at a reduced price. Please contact us for details.

General Changes

1. One change that may have been too long in the making is that the design is now called a chart instead of a graph and the legend is now called the color key instead of the color chart. The preponderance of stitchers now use these terms, so we decided to finally change.

2. Significant changes were made to the organization of commands and menus. The two more significant changes are that all stitch selections, such as full and half stitches, are in their own Stitches menu and the View menu has been condensed and commands related to the screen appearance have been moved to it from other menus.

These changes are described in detail in the help file and the manual.

3. EasyGrapher Home is rewritten to run on Windows 95 and above including Windows 2000 and XP and to use what is called in computerdom a "multi-document interface." This has resulted in several changes in how the program works:

• up to 10 windows can be open at one time
• long file names can be used
• a computer display that can show more than 256 colors at once is strongly recommended
• a chart can have up to 32,000 lines
• there is no longer a limit to the number of stitches that can be copied to the clipboard
• individual windows are closed with the Close command in the File menu
• charts can be opened and saved across a network.

4. Fonts are now sorted alphabetically and Arial is selected in windows where no previous font selection has been made.

5. The toolbar now acts like those in Microsoft Office 2000.

6. Entries have been added to the Help menu to provide direct access to the EasyGrapher web site, including the Customer Support Page for EasyGrapher Home. From there patches can be downloaded. It also has links to a page listing bug fixes and other changes and to a page listing outstanding problems.

Color Key

1. Most color key changes are done through the Change Color Key command. This makes it much easier to perform a variety of color key changes in one window. This is a totally redesigned and simplified way to maintain a chart's color key.

2. In the Stitch Box:

• the currently selected stitch is highlighted
• there is no longer a separate box showing the currently selected stitch
• the More button is added for selecting symbols when there are more symbols in the key than can be shown at one time, and the scroll arrow buttons are removed
• double-clicking on a box will bring up the Change Color Key window with the selected stitch information displayed
• the Color Information window is no longer used.

3. Lines are now added to the color key the same as symbols are. There are now 5 line styles available. 

Note that this is a change in terms from previous versions of the program. Line style only refers to the pattern in which a line is drawn. Line refers to an entry in the color key as well as a line drawn on a chart.

4. The new Merge Symbols/Lines command works similar to the previous Change Symbol/Line command. However, it cannot be used to add a new symbol to the color key.

5. The new Remove Unused Symbols command deletes unused symbols from the color key.

6. The new Remove Unused Lines command removes lines from the color key that are not used in the chart.

7. The new Clear Color Key command can be used to easily clear all symbols and/or lines from the color key.

8. Two colors can be assigned to a line or symbol to indicate blended threads.

9. The number of strands can be specified for each symbol and line.

10. The new Sort Color Key command sorts the color key in the Stitch Box by color number, color name, and family/item number.

11. The number of symbols from which to choose is increased to 174. The font has been redesigned to eliminate the effects of a change in how Windows 2000/XP treats fonts.

12. Print Color Key now:

• can show frequency counts for symbols broken out by stitch type
• will print symbols and lines on the same page
• shows a print preview of the key before printing
• allows the font and font attributes (size, etc.) for text to be specified
• can print the number of strands.

View Features

1. Lines can be displayed as line styles on the screen. When displayed as black or colored lines, their width on the screen can be changed.

2. Display options for all design elements have been placed in sub menus to make the View menu shorter and all design elements can be selectively "turned off" such as lines, symbols, French knots, etc.

3. On large scrolls, the blackboard will scroll an entire screen rather than being limited to multiples of 10 rows or columns.

4. An additional zoom level was added between the former 3 and 4.

5. A window can easily be zoomed one level with the new Zoom In and Zoom Out commands.

Libraries

The concept of naming patterns and pasting them from a file has been expanded into the ability to create libraries. Font and Pattern Libraries can be created, each with a specific purpose in mind. With Font Libraries you can create your own alphabets, including backstitch alphabets, which can be used to chart text in the Chart Text command (formerly Text To Graph). Pattern Libraries work similar to the way patterns did before.

Chart Properties/Preferences

The previous Setup and Summary commands have morphed into two new commands, Preferences and Chart Properties.

With the advent of multiple charts being open at one time, display and other options had to be separated into those applying to newly opened windows and those applying to an existing chart.

Preferences is where view options are chosen and settings made that apply to new windows, such as how symbols are displayed and the size of the blackboard. There are also properties set here that apply across all open windows, such as the size of the Undo queue.

Chart Properties is where changes can be made that apply to only one window/chart, such as the chart name and blackboard size. Also, information about the chart is displayed.

Changing the size of the blackboard no longer clears the chart on the blackboard.

Miscellaneous Changes

1. When Snap files are found on program start up, the program automatically provides an option to use them to recover a work in progress. All snap files are deleted when the program ends.

2. Only one copy of EasyGrapher Home can be running at a time.

3. Charts created with the older DOS EasyGrapher programs can no longer be read. Please contact us if you need assistance in updating your old charts.

4. Print Chart will no longer limit printing the chart to multiples of 10.

5. Print Setup is merged into Print Chart and Print Color Key.

6. The length of a line being drawn can now be shown as it is being drawn. This is controlled by a switch in Preferences.

7. The paste highlight now can be shown using the same view options as are in effect for the chart. This is controlled by a switch in Preferences.

8. Pattern names can be up to 100 characters long.

New Commands/Features

This describes new commands or features not described above.

1. View Silhouette displays a condensed view of the chart on the active window. The Silhouette can also be used to change the view of the blackboard.

2. Sticky Lines lets you quickly draw a series of connected lines.

3. Auto Backstitch can automatically draw backstitches in the current line around all connected grid squares with the same symbol/color or around all connected symbols (bounded by empty grids).

4. Delete File can be used to delete chart files, including the backup files.

5. Block Copy is a new command very similar to the Block Move command. Block Copy provides a quick way to copy a selected area without having to use the Copy and Paste commands.

6. Flip Copy makes it easy to make a mirror image copy of a selected area. This is useful, for example, in creating all four corners of a border after designing one corner.

Changed Commands/Features

This describes changes to existing commands or features not described above.

1. Import

The Import command has been completely redesigned to make it easier to use and to add new abilities to edit an image before importing. 

• the original image as well as the “working” image are shown at one time
• an image can be rotated in degrees. 
• it can be zoomed in and out. 
• its sharpness, contrast, saturation, and brightness can be changed. 
• a despeckle option helps rid the image of random color specks.
• the converted size can be specified in either inches or rows and columns
• the noise in the image can be reduced through either the median or the average method
• colors can now be compared with two different methods
• the floss table used for matching can be selected from the Import window
• the working image can easily be restored from the original.
• the blackboard is expanded, if necessary, when the image is converted.

2. Print Chart

• the Print Chart window has been redesigned with a new tabbed interface to make it easier to use
• Print Preview has been added
• specifying the overall line thickness for stitch lines can be done
• the font and font attributes (size, etc.) for text can be specified
• the display can be returned directly to the Print Chart window from Print Preview
• Print Preview has been added as a separate command to the File menu
• symbols can now be printed as color stitches, similar to the display option
• a shaded or plain overlap can be printed
• the grid width can be changed