The legend is a key to help you interpret your plots. For example, a contour plot legend shows the values that each contour color represents; an X–Y plot legend refers to each curve by label and shows the curve's style.
Figure 38–1 shows a contour plot legend and an X–Y plot legend.
You can display or suppress legends for all plot modes, and you can customize the following:
the position of the legend,
the font and color of the legend text,
the appearance of a box outlining the legend,
the number of digits displayed for the legend values,
whether minimum and maximum plot values are shown, and
the appearance of the legend background (the rectangular area behind the legend).
The content of the legend depends on the plot mode and on plot mode-specific options such as the number of contour intervals or the style of X–Y curves. For more information on contour plot legend content, see “Understanding contour plotting,” Section 27.1; for information on X–Y plot legend content, see “Customizing the X–Y plot legend,” Section 30.6.3.
To customize the legend:
Locate the Legend options.
From the main menu bar, select Viewport
Viewport Annotation Options.
To display or suppress legends for all plot modes, toggle Show legend in the General tab.
When Show legend is on, legend options become available.
Click the Legend tab. The basic legend options are at the top of the Legend page.
To display or suppress a box outlining the legend, toggle Show bounding box. This “bounding box” visually separates the legend from the underlying plot.
To display or suppress the minimum and maximum values associated with contour and X–Y plots, toggle Show min/max values.
To choose the number of digits shown in legend values, click the Decimal places arrow. Legend values appear in exponential format, and the Decimal places option controls the number of digits to the right of the decimal point. Larger Decimal places values require more display space.
The specified number of digits appears in the Decimal places box.
Establish the position of the upper left corner of the legend.
To control the 
- or 
-position, click the % Viewport X or % Viewport Y boxes, respectively. Enter the positions you want as a percentage of the total width of the current viewport.
Customize the legend text font.
Click Set Font.
The Select Font dialog box appears.
Use the Select Font dialog box to choose the font characteristics you want. For more information, see “Customizing fonts,” Section 3.2.8.
When you are done, click OK to implement your changes and to close the Select Font dialog box.
Choose the color of the legend text.
Click the color sample 
.
ABAQUS/CAE displays the Select Color dialog box.
Use one of the methods in the dialog box to select a new color. For more information, see “Customizing colors,” Section 3.2.9.
Click OK to close the Select Color dialog box.
The color sample changes to the selected color.
To customize the background, click one of the following:
Match viewport to match the background to the viewport color.
Transparent to eliminate the background and show only the text.
Other color to reveal other background color options.
If you selected Other color:
Click the color sample .
ABAQUS/CAE displays the Select Color dialog box.
Use one of the methods in the Select Color dialog box to select a new color. For more information, see “Customizing colors,” Section 3.2.9.
Click OK to close the Select Color dialog box.
The color sample changes to the selected color.
Click Apply to implement your changes.
In the current viewport, legends for all plot modes change to reflect your specifications, which are saved for the duration of the session.
