Editing Columns

By using the column editor you can customize the look of your logs, from which columns are printed (and in which order), to what labels should be used.

Available And Displayed Columns

All available columns are displayed in the upper part of the window.  The "Displayed Columns" are those which the current template is printing on the log.  To add a column, select it in the "Available Columns" and click the "-->" button to add it to the "Displayed Columns."  To remove the column, select it in the "Displayed Columns" and click the "<--" button.  You can also double click a column to add/remove it.

To adjust the order in which columns are printed (from left to right), highlight a column and click either the "Move Up" or "Move Down" button.

Note that when you select a column, many of the other sections of the screen update their data to reflect the selected column's properties.  When a specific column is highlighted, you can adjust things like its width and labels.

Normally, the columns begin at the left side of the log frame.  You can specify a different offset, however, or choose to center all of the columns.

Titles

The titles tab is used to edit both the printed and screen titles of the selected column.

The title is what is printed at the top of the column, for example "Material Description."  The description is what is printed on the key as the description of the column, for example "Description of material encountered.  May include consistency, moisture, color, and other descriptive text."

Note that the English and Metric titles and descriptions are entered separately.  The appropriate title/description will be used based on the output units of the log.

Width and Lines


Basic Appearance

The column width is the most commonly customized item, and it is important to understand how this value affects the overall look of the log.

The total width of the log area is defined in the Page Defaults, and then each column must have a width defined for it.  If the total width of the columns is less than the log width, there will be a gap along the right edge between the last column and the frame of the log.  But if the total width of the columns is greater than the log width, the columns will run past the frame and possibly off the page.

For this reason, the total column width is calculated for you after changing a column's width.  This way, if you are adding or deleting columns, you can adjust the other column widths to keep the total width the same.

You can also change basic parameters such as if a line is drawn across the top and bottom of the column, if material and sample boundaries are to be drawn across the column, if you want gridlines (horizontal, at every tick mark), if you want to shrink the text to fit within the column (sometimes useful for the material type column), and if you want to auto-continue layers across pages.

Left/Right Side of Column

Use these sections to further customize the appearance of the column.  Interior columns typically have both the left and right sides drawn, however the Depth and Elevation columns usually only have one side drawn (with tick marks).

You can also choose which side you want the ticks drawn - for example, on the left side of the column you can either print tick marks to the right (inside the column) or to the left (outside the column).

Line Widths

You can adjust the line width of either side, or the top, of each column separately.  If you would like to make them all the same, click the "Use for All" button.

Groundwater


When groundwater levels are entered (see Entering Water for details), groundwater symbols are plotted on the log.  By default, the groundwater symbols are plotted in the Material Description column, however they may be printed in any column(s) desired.  To add the groundwater symbol, make sure that "Show Groundwater" is checked for the appropriate column.  If you want to also display the associated text with the symbol, check the "Show Groundwater Text" box as well.

Select which side of the column on which the groundwater is displayed using the appropriate radio button.  If the groundwater symbol is on the left side, the groundwater text will be printed to the right of the symbol.  If the symbol is printed on the right side of the column, the text will appear to the left of the symbol.

The "arrow size" is used to adjust the display size of the groundwater symbol (basically an arrowhead).  The "arrow offset" is used to adjust how far from the side of the column the symbol is displayed.

Well Log

Some basic well log options can be set on the "Well Log" tab.  Note that this tab is empty/unused unless the "Well Log" column is selected.