{"id":3660,"date":"2026-04-27T09:32:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T13:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/graphics-and-apps\/?p=3660"},"modified":"2026-04-27T09:49:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T13:49:39","slug":"graphics-and-app-building-updates-in-r2026a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/graphics-and-apps\/2026\/04\/27\/graphics-and-app-building-updates-in-r2026a\/","title":{"rendered":"Graphics and App Building Updates in R2026a"},"content":{"rendered":"The R2026a release is now available, and I\u2019ve selected a few highlights to keep you up to date on the most important graphics and app building features. This release introduces a new way to publish interactive graphics to the web and collaborate on apps using MATLAB Drive, along with a new chart for exploring data distributions, updates to the axes toolbar, and extensions to existing features that may not already be on your radar. \u00a0R2026a also improves graphics stability and memory usage, enabling more visualizations from large data sets than in previous releases.\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><em>See the <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/release-notes.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>release notes<\/em><\/a><em> for a complete list. <\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\">Share Interactive Graphics on the Web with Web Canvas<\/h2>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse;width: 988px;height: 48px\">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"width: 20%;text-align: center;vertical-align: middle;padding: 8px\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/graphics-and-apps\/files\/2026\/04\/26aOverview_1.html\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\">\r\n<\/iframe><\/td>\r\n<td style=\"width: 80%;text-align: left;vertical-align: middle;padding: 8px\">Have you ever wanted to zoom in, pan, or rotate an exported MATLAB plot displayed on a webpage? Now you can! R2026a introduces web canvases that preserve the interactivity of MATLAB graphics beyond the desktop. You can create HTML files directly from MATLAB plots and live scripts, with the axes remaining interactive for panning, zooming, and rotating within the HTML file. The exported files open in any modern web browser without requiring a MATLAB license, making it easy to share interactive results with collaborators or host visualizations on a web server.\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;font-size: inherit\"><em>More info:<\/em> <\/span><a style=\"font-family: inherit;font-size: inherit\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/creating_plots\/display-interactive-graphics-in-web-pages.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Display Interactive Graphics on Webpages<\/em><\/a><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\">Share Apps Directly from App Designer with MATLAB Drive<\/h2>\r\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse;width: 988px;height: 48px\">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"width: 20%;text-align: center;vertical-align: middle;padding: 8px\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3618\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/graphics-and-apps\/files\/2026\/04\/26aOverview_2.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/td>\r\n<td style=\"width: 80%;text-align: left;vertical-align: middle;padding: 8px\">Collaborative app building became significantly easier in R2026a. If your app is stored in MATLAB Drive, you can now share it directly from App Designer without leaving the design environment. From the Designer tab, you can invite collaborators with view or edit permissions, or create a shareable link that others can use to run or download the app. This makes it easier to review, iterate, and collaborate on apps with teammates while keeping access management closely tied to your development workflow.\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><em style=\"font-family: inherit;font-size: inherit\">More info: \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/creating_guis\/app-sharing.html#mw_77e00d0d-52e2-4d09-86a8-dc8eabe9ec7e\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Share App in MATLAB Drive<\/a><\/em><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\">A More Accessible and Flexible Axes Toolbar<\/h2>\r\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse;width: 988px;height: 48px\">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"width: 20%;text-align: center;vertical-align: middle;padding: 8px\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3619\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/graphics-and-apps\/files\/2026\/04\/26aOverview_3.gif\" alt=\"\" \/><\/td>\r\n<td style=\"width: 80%;text-align: left;vertical-align: middle;padding: 8px\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;font-size: inherit\">The axes toolbar has a makeover in R2026a, with a more accessible and consistent interface. The toolbar now appears persistently above axes and can be expanded or collapsed interactively and programmatically. It supports keyboard navigation, works well with touch and screen readers, provides options for toolbar location, and supports SVG images for sharper icons.<\/span>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><em>More info: Stay tuned next week for a detailed article on the new axes toolbar. See also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/matlab.graphics.controls.axestoolbar-properties.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Axes Toolbar Properties<\/a><\/em><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\">Visualize Distributions with raincloudplot<\/h2>\r\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse;width: 988px;height: 48px\">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"width: 20%;text-align: center;vertical-align: middle;padding: 8px\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3620\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/graphics-and-apps\/files\/2026\/04\/26aOverview_4.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/td>\r\n<td style=\"width: 80%;text-align: left;vertical-align: middle;padding: 8px\">The new raincloudplot function combines the strengths of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/violinplot.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">violinplot<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/swarmchart.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">swarmchart<\/a> into a single visualization. A smooth kernel density estimate conveys the overall distribution, while individual data points remain visible for added context. The function supports matrices and grouping variables, making it well suited for exploratory analysis and comparisons across groups.\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><em>More info: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/raincloudplot.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">raincloudplot<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/graphics-and-apps\/2025\/01\/16\/violin-plot-a-tool-for-data-visualization\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Violin Plot blog article<\/a><\/em><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\">Plot Directly from Table Data<\/h2>\r\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse;width: 988px;height: 48px\">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"width: 20%;text-align: center;vertical-align: middle;padding: 8px\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3621\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/graphics-and-apps\/files\/2026\/04\/26aOverview_5.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/td>\r\n<td style=\"width: 80%;text-align: left;vertical-align: middle;padding: 8px\">Charting support for table-based workflows continues expansion in R2026a.\u00a0 Functions including bar, barh, area, histogram, polarhistogram, geodensityplot, and binscatter now accept table and timetable inputs directly.\u00a0 When table syntax is used, axis labels and legends automatically use table variable names when appropriate, simplifying code and improving readability.\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><em>More info: <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/creating_plots\/plots-that-support-tables.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Plots That Support Tables<\/em><\/a><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\">Increased flexibility when Linking Axes<\/h2>\r\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse;width: 988px;height: 48px\">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"width: 20%;text-align: center;vertical-align: middle;padding: 8px\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/graphics-and-apps\/files\/2026\/04\/26aOverview_6b.html\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"width: 0px;overflow: hidden;line-height: 0\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span>\r\n<\/iframe><\/td>\r\n<td style=\"width: 80%;text-align: left;vertical-align: middle;padding: 8px\">Multiple calls to linkaxes now preserve previously established links instead of replacing them. \u00a0This makes it easier to build coordinated interactions such as linking x-axes across one pair of axes and y-axes across another, similar to the behavior of scatterhistogram, without losing either association.\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;font-size: inherit\"><em>More info: <\/em><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/linkaxes.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>linkaxes<\/em><\/a><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nThese are a few of my favorites, but don\u2019t take my word for it. R2026a includes a wide range of additional updates across graphics and app building that may be exactly what you\u2019re looking for. I encourage you to check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/release-notes.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">release notes<\/a> for the full list of changes and details.\u00a0 As always, we\u2019d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"overview-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/graphics-and-apps\/files\/2026\/04\/26aOverview_0.png\" class=\"img-responsive attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/div><p>The R2026a release is now available, and I\u2019ve selected a few highlights to keep you up to date on the most important graphics and app building features. This release introduces a new way to publish... <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/graphics-and-apps\/2026\/04\/27\/graphics-and-app-building-updates-in-r2026a\/\">read more >><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":198,"featured_media":3692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,14,2,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/graphics-and-apps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3660"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/graphics-and-apps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/graphics-and-apps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/graphics-and-apps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/198"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/graphics-and-apps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3660"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/graphics-and-apps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3695,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/graphics-and-apps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3660\/revisions\/3695"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/graphics-and-apps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/graphics-and-apps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/graphics-and-apps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/graphics-and-apps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}