In creating links between layers, I'd like to know if there is a way to link
the axis format of the daughter to the parent. That is, I find myself very
often linking two layers and then spending a lot of annoying time making sure
the number of ticks, the tick length, the label font size, etc. are identical
between the two layers. When several plots are linked to a single parent, it
can be quite a pain to update by hand each of the details on all the
offspring.

The linking feature is terrific, but does anyone else think that it could be
improved by including this kind of feature?

With the use of a graph template it is possible to create a number of graphs
using the same characteristics. This would include the type of plot and axes.
You can create labels and set the number of ticks and the length of the axis.
Once the template is as you wish save it using the File: Template: Save as�.
Origin menu command. If you use the template name Layer.otp, then you can
create duplicates on a new layer using the Edit: Arrange all Layers menu
command. You will be prompted for the number of rows and columns. If you
only have one layer in the graph window and you specify two rows and two
columns then Origin will prompt you, "Need to create 3 more layers". When you
click on OK three additional layers will be created. All of the
characteristics will be from the Layer.otp that you previously created. Do not
forget the layers are not yet linked. You will need to go to the layer control
to link the layers. You also should remember that the axes in the different
layers will rescale when you move data into them unless you have set the axes
in the Layer.otp from the default of NORMAL to MANUAL.

The template only allows the creation of identical graph layers. If you make a
change to one of the layers, the characteristics will not change on the other
layers. That is why you will want to make the Layer.otp as complete and
accurate as possible. There are some characteristics that you can change on one
layer and have the change reflected on all of the other layers. This mainly
refers to the font characteristics used in labels. Within the Text Control
dialog box is a check box [ X ] Apply to All which allows the font change to
affect all labels in all layers of the particular graph window.

It is not yet possible to link the characteristics from one layer to another so
they will automatically change. It is possible to create a custom LabTalk
script to read lets say the number of major tick labels on the X axis from
layer one, and then set the layer two X axis to the same number. This is
explained in detail on page 139 and 140 of the Origin LabTalk Manual version
4.0

Here is a LabTalk example that will set the number of major ticks in layer two
of Graph1 to be the same as the number of major ticks in layer one.

mtick=GRAPH1!LAYER1.X.MAJORTICKS;
GRAPH1!LAYER2.X.MAJORTICKS=mtick;