The scope program has the capability of saving and opening waveform data along with the current settings
(e.g. selected time-base, sample rate, enabled channels, scope resolution, etc…). This is one of the key
advantages that the PC based scope has over traditional analogue scopes. Traditionally users of analogue
scopes had to draw on graph paper the scope waveforms if a permanent record was required.
This saving of scope data feature is far more useful than taking a screen dump of the screen or copying the
scope waveform to the windows clipboard. Obviously taking a screen dump of the screen, using the windows
clipboard, and exporting the scope display to a bitmap are useful for importing an image of the scope display
into applications like Microsoft Word, but these images cannot be manipulated (e.g. channel time-base). The
saving and opening of the scope data is far more useful for keeping a record of an event for analysis at a
later time, because the scope controls are fully functional, for example time-base, center points of
waveforms, channel offset, grid resolution and enable/disable channels are adjustable.