Exporting plots

Additional dependencies

You will need the following additional dependencies to use the export() functions:

  • Selenium

  • And either of the following:

    • GeckoDriver for Firefox, OR

    • ChromeDriver for Chrome / Chromium

You can install these dependencies from Conda as follows:

  • For Selenium with GeckoDriver:

    conda install selenium geckodriver -c conda-forge

  • For Selenium with ChromeDriver:

    conda install selenium python-chromedriver-binary -c conda-forge

Exporting PNG images

Bokeh can generate RGBA-format Portable Network Graphics (PNG) images from layouts using the export_png() function. This functionality renders the layout in memory and then captures a screenshot. The output image will have the same dimensions as the source layout.

To create a PNG with a transparent background set the Plot.background_fill_color and Plot.border_fill_color properties to None.

plot.background_fill_color = None
plot.border_fill_color = None

Sizing variability

Responsive sizing modes may generate layouts of unexpected size and aspect ratio. For reliable results, use the default fixed sizing mode.

Example usage

Usage is similar to the save() and show() functions.

from bokeh.io import export_png

export_png(plot, filename="plot.png")
../../_images/unemployment1.png

Image objects

To access an image object through code without saving to a file, use the lower-level function get_screenshot_as_png().

from bokeh.io.export import get_screenshot_as_png

image = get_screenshot_as_png(obj, height=height, width=width, driver=webdriver)

Exporting SVG images

Bokeh can also replace the HTML5 Canvas plot output with a Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) element that can be edited in image editing programs such as Adobe Illustrator and/or converted to PDF.

The SVG output isn’t as performant as the default Canvas backend when it comes to rendering a large number of glyphs or handling lots of user interactions such as panning.

To activate the SVG backend, set the Plot.output_backend attribute to "svg".

# option one
plot = Plot(output_backend="svg")
# option two
plot.output_backend = "svg"

To create an SVG with a transparent background, set the Plot.background_fill_color and Plot.border_fill_color properties to None, same as for PNG exports.

You can export an SVG plot in several ways:

  • With code:

    • Use the export_svg() utility function that lets you save a plot or a layout of plots as a single SVG file.

      from bokeh.io import export_svg

export_svg(plot, filename="plot.svg")

    • Use the export_svgs() utility function that lets you export a layout of plots as a set of independent SVG files.

      from bokeh.io import export_svgs

export_svgs(plot, filename="plot.svg")

  • From browser:

    • Use the SVG-Crowbar bookmarklet that adds a prompt to download each plot as an SVG file. This tool is fully compatible with Chrome and should work with Firefox in most cases.

    • Use the SaveTool from the toolbar but note that the exported files will have a blank area where the toolbar was.

../../_images/unemployment.svg