xyscan Distribution Page

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What is it?:

xyscan is a data thief for scientists. Often the exact numerical values of data points depicted in graphs and plots are not available in tabulated form. That's a well known problem for scientists and engineers and the only way out is to use a ruler and read the values off the plot. In general this results in poor precision. xyscan is written to overcome this problem. It is a tool that allows one to retrieve the numeric values of data points and error bars with good accuracy.

xyscan can also be used for purposes other than scientific plots, e.g., for application where coordinates of shapes and curves are needed or coordinates and distances on maps.

Click here (plots) and here (maps) for screen shots of xyscan.

Legal Notes:

xyscan is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
Copyright 2002-2025 Thomas S. Ullrich

Supported Platforms

xyscan is currently (version 4.7.0) tested on macOS and Fedora Linux. Full test for Windows has to wait until the author has access to an development environment. Please use version 4.3.0 for Windows. Binary packages exist for version 4.7.0 for Mac only. This binaries are typically backwards compatible with earlier versions of the referring OS. Just download the macOS installer below. On Linux you need to build from source code, which is straightforward. Download the tar ball below and follow the instructions in the README file.

Notice for macOS: You will get an error notice on the Mac about an unidentified developer and the installation will be blocked. You have to go to System Preferences -> Security & Privacy and explicitly allow the install. I am more than happy to share this app for free with everyone but I see little reason to pay Apple for the privilege to do so.

Downloads

Version 4.7.0 (Nov 2025 - Recommended for macOS and Linux)

- What's New

- Use the macOS Installation Package.

- Source (Tar ball, to build see README file)

Version 4.6.8

What's New

This is a maintenance version.

Use the macOS (ARM64) Installation Package.

Source (Tar ball, to build see README file)

Version 4.6.6

What's New

This is a maintenance version with few improvements.

Use the macOS (14.2) Installation Package.

Source (Tar ball, to build see README file)

Version 4.6.4

This is a maintenance version important for macOS users.

macOS (12.3 Monterey) Installation package.

Source (Tar ball, to build see README file)

Version 4.6.1

This is a maintenance version with various bug fixes.

macOS (12.1 Monterey) Installation package.

Source (Tar ball, to build see README file)

Version 4.6.0

macOS (11.6 Big Sur) Installation package.

Source (Tar ball, to build see README file)

Version 4.5.0 (August 2020)

macOS (10.15 Catalina) Installation package

Source (Tar ball, to build see README file)

Version 4.3.0 (December 2017 - Recommended for Windows users)

macOS (10.13 High Sierra) Installation package

Windows (10) Installation package

Source (Tar ball, to build see README file)

Version 4.2.1 (October 2017)

macOS (10.12 Sierra) Installation package

Windows (10) Installation package

Source (Tar ball, to build see README file)

Version 4.1.0 (April 2016)

Mac OS X (El Capitan) Installation package

Windows (10) Installation package

Source (Tar ball, to build see README file)