[R] GGSAVE does not save a good version of my graph

[Robert Baer]

You might consider using the ragg package for you screen renders (and 
the agg_tiff function).  I think these replace grDevice with something 
that may render to produce something closer to what the ggsave() render 
will look like.


On 7/23/2026 3:18 PM, Sorkin, John wrote:
> I am running R in RStudio. I am creating a graph, which I see in the plot window, and I use ggsave() to save a copy of the graph in a file.
>
> When I use look at the graph is RStudio's Plots window, the graph looks fine. When I click on the Plot window's export button, copy the plot to the clipboard and paste the graph into MS word, the graph looks fine. Please see first figure on attached MS word document.
>
> When I copy and paste the .tiff file saved by ggsave, the graph looks bad. Second figure on the attached MS word document. I think the graphs is being exported improperly by ggsave. I would appreciate any suggestions for improving the quality of the graph produced by ggsave.
>
> Please see code below and attached MS word document
>
>
>
>
> # Code to produce graph
>   ## Plot
>    zz <- ggplot(
>      df.long,
>      aes(
>        x = Date,
>        y = NumPeopleExposed,
>        color = factor(criticalvalue),
>        linetype = factor(criticalvalue),
>        group = factor(criticalvalue)
>      )
>    ) +
>      geom_point(size = 3) +
>      geom_line(linewidth = 1.5) +
>      
>      scale_linetype_manual(
>        values = c(
>          "solid",
>          "dashed",
>          "dotted",
>          "dotdash",
>          "longdash",
>          "twodash"
>        )
>      ) +
>      
>      labs(
>        title = species,
>        x = "Date",
>        y = "Number of People Exposed to Toxic Concentration",
>        color = "Critical Value",
>        linetype = "Critical Value"
>      ) +
>      
>      ## Show every date on x-axis
>      scale_x_date(
>        breaks = sort(unique(df.long$Date)),
>        date_labels = "%Y-%m-%d"
>      ) +
>      
>      theme_bw() +
>      
>      theme(
>        axis.text.x = element_text(
>          angle = 45,
>          hjust = 1,
>          vjust = 1
>        )
>      )
>      print(zz)
>
> Code to save the graph
>   current_time <- Sys.time()
>    current_time
>    # Convert colons to dashes, remove spaces
>    formatted_time <- gsub(":", "-", format(current_time, "%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S"))
>    formatted_time
>    
>    #species="JDS"
>    # Save graph
>    mypath <- file.path("C:","Users","JSorkin","OneDrive - University of Maryland School of Medicine","HalemMilton","PaperAndAbstract")
>    mypath
>    
>    myfilename <- paste0(species2,formatted_time,".tiff")
>    myfilename
>    
>    ggsave(plot=zz,
>           path=mypath,
>           filename=myfilename,
>           device="tiff",
>           width=4,height=3,
>           units="in",
>           dpi=600)
>
>    cat("Ending (12) Plot Fraction Exposed\n")
>    }
>
>
>
>
> John David Sorkin M.D., Ph.D.
> Professor of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine;
> Associate Director for Biostatistics and Informatics, Baltimore VA Medical Center Geriatrics Research, Education, and Clinical Center;
> Former PI Biostatistics and Informatics Core, University of Maryland School of Medicine Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center;
> Senior Statistician University of Maryland Center for Vascular Research;
>
> Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine,
> 10 North Greene Street
> GRECC (BT/18/GR)
> Baltimore, MD 21201-1524
> Cell phone 443-418-5382
>
>
> ______________________________________________
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>
-- 
---
Robert W. Baer, Ph.D.
Professor of Physiology
Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine
A.T. Still Univerisity of Health Sciences
800 W. Jefferson St.
Kirksville, MO 63501