Suppressing Live Script plotting figure inline

I am plotting a figure from a Live Script using the

set(gcf, 'Visible', 'on');

option to make it appear in a separate, external window.

However, a copy of the figure still appears inline the Live Script which I would like to avoid. The figure should only appear externally (i.e. in a separate window, which it already does), and not get created inline too.

I have tried the following, none of which worked:

• Plotting the figure inside a separate .m function (being called from the Live Script)
• Creating the figure with visibility 'off'
• Forcing 'normal' window style when creating the figure, i.e. f = figure('WindowStyle','normal')
• Creating and plotting into a uifigure (copy still shows up inline)
• Saving the figure with its visibility turned 'off' and opening it again in a different instance of another Live Script. Upon opening, both the external and the inline figures are created.

EDIT: Example Live Script attached for reference.

[Matt J]

I can't reproduce the problem. I suggest attaching the Live Script.

[Máté]

Thanks, please find the script attached.

Answer 1

[Máté]

MathWorks has kindly provided a working solution.

The Live Editor does not snapshot figures with the 'internal' property set to true. In addition, the plot has to target the axes of the figure specifically for the inline snapshot to be avoided (see example below).

Note, that this is an undocumented solution and may change with future MATLAB releases.

Verfified example implementation (checked on R2024a):

disp("Before plot");

f = figure('Internal',true);   % suppresses inline figure
set(f,'Visible','on');   % creates external figure window

ax = axes(f);   % targets axes of external window specifically

plot(ax, 1:10, rand(1,10), '.-');

grid(ax, 'on');
xlabel(ax, 'X [s]');
ylabel(ax, 'Y [y]');
title(ax, 'Random data');

disp("After plot");   % check Live Script output window for absent plot

Answer 2

[Matt J]

I don't think it's possible. However, you could shrink down the side bar area of the livescript where the figures are displayed, so that they aren't so visible,

[Máté]

Thanks @Matt J. Simulation statistics are being displayed in the the Live Script's output area, so making it very narrow is not a workable option.

[Umar]

Hi @Mate,

Thanks for sharing the script and the additional context. I see that you’ve already tried plotting in a separate `.m` function, creating the figure with `'Visible','off'`, forcing `'WindowStyle','normal'`, using `uifigure`, and saving/reopening the figure, yet an inline copy still appears.

This behavior is inherent to MATLAB Live Scripts: any figure output generated during execution is automatically captured and displayed inline, even if the figure is externally visible. Because of this, there is currently no way to fully suppress inline figures while running code directly in a Live Script.

Workarounds like shrinking the output area, as suggested by @Matt J, may reduce the visual impact but do not prevent the inline figure. The closest available approach is to wrap plotting in a function without returning any outputs, which minimizes inline duplication while still showing the external figure. However, complete suppression within a Live Script is not supported.

[Máté]

Thanks for the advice @Umar.

Would you be able to provide an short example of the "wrap plotting in a function without returning any outputs" approach?

I tried something resembling this, yet the inline figure was still created. Perhaps I missed something then.

Thank you!

[Umar]

Hi @Mate,

You mentioned:

"Would you be able to provide a short example of the 'wrap plotting in a function without returning any outputs'? I tried something resembling this, yet the inline figure was still created. Perhaps I missed something then."

Wrapping plotting in a function without returning outputs reduces workspace clutter but does not prevent the Live Script from capturing the figure inline—this is by design.

Minimal example:

function externalPlot(x,y)
if nargin==1, y=x; x=1:numel(y); end
h = findobj('Type','figure','Name','External Figure');
if isempty(h) || ~isvalid(h)
  h = figure('Name','External 
  Figure','NumberTitle','off','WindowStyle','normal','Visible','on');
else
  figure(h); clf(h);
end
plot(h,x,y,'.-'); grid(h,'on'); xlabel('X [s]'); ylabel('Y [y]'); title('Random plot');
end

Call from the Live Script:

externalPlot(1:10, rand(1,10));

Caveat: inline figures will still appear.