in the toolbar at the top).After a search-match calculation, Match! presents a list of candidate phases/entries in the candidate list, ranked according to the quality of the diffraction pattern agreement. However, the final step (the selection of the matching phases/entries from this list) in most cases still has to be performed by the user. (Match! is able to perform the selection of matching phases automatically; however, the usage of this feature is only recommended in rather simple cases like routine checks).
The easiest way to select the matching entries works as follows: Immediately after the search-match calculation has finished, the first line (i.e. the
best-matching entry) in the candidate list is marked automatically, so that its diffraction pattern is displayed along with the experimental pattern. You can now
visually compare the agreement of the reference and the experimental pattern. Using the up- and down-cursor buttons on your keyboard, you can move the marking line
up and down in the candidate list, in order to inspect other entries. Once you have found a promising entry/phase, simply press the space bar
on your keyboard in order to select this entry/phase as "matching".
By default (depending on the "Residual searching" option), the peak intensities belonging to the selected entry/phase will now be marked as "occupied", and the figure-of-merit
values of the other entries in the candidate list will be re-calculated. As a result,
any other entries belonging to the same phase will be removed from the candidate list (or at least moved down to significantly lower FoM-values). You can now continue to move the
marking line up and down, selecting more entries using your keyboard.
Note: Alternatively, you can also select an entry by double-clicking on the corresponding line in the candidate list, or by dragging an entry to the match list on the right-hand side.
However, you can also first mark the entries you would like to select. In order to mark an entry, simply click on the corresponding line in the candidate list; the line will be inverted. You can also mark two or more entries/lines by keeping the Shift or Ctrl button (Cmd button on the Mac) pressed on your keyboard while clicking on the entries. For instance, if you mark an entry by clicking on the corresponding line, press the Shift button and keep it pressed while clicking on a second entry/line a little bit more down the list, all entries/lines in between will be marked as well. If you keep the Ctrl (Cmd) button pressed instead you can mark individual entries one after the other.
Once you have marked one or more entries, you can execute the "Select" command from the "Entries" menu (or press the corresponding button in the toolbar at the top).
Selected entries are always presented in the match list on the right-hand side of the program window.
If you would like to deselect one or more selected entries, you can use similar operations available for selection, e.g. double-clicking on the corresponding line in the match list, dragging the corresponding entry from the match list back to the candidate list, or marking the entry in the match list and selecting the "Remove from Match list" command from the "Entries" menu.
Please note: Once you have selected one or more entries as "matching", these entries are now kept in the match list throughout the session, even if you run a new search-match or restrainting operation, or if you swap patterns.
If you are investigating a series of samples all containing the same phases, you can export the contents of the match list to a Match! answer set file once you have finished the analysis of the first sample. For all remaining samples, you can then simply select the matching phases by importing this answer set file e.g. right after you have imported the diffraction pattern (so there is no need to walk through the whole phase analysis procedure again and again).
In order to do so, you can either select the menu command "File/Import/Predefined phase selection", select the command "Import predefined selection" from the match list's context menu (which can be opened by pressing the right-mouse button), or simply by pressing the key combination <Ctrl+Shift+O> (<Cmd+Shift+O> on the Mac). You will be asked to select a Match! answer set file (*.mta) then. Afterwards, Match! will calculate the FoM and other parameters for the entries that are defined in the selected file, and finally add these entries to the list of matching phases on the right-hand side.
If only raw data but no peak data are present when the command is executed, Match! will
first run an automatic raw data processing and a search-match run before adding the entries to the match list.