Editing Keywords

FlowJo allows you to edit the keyword values of your FCS data*.

Adding keywords is helpful in sorting your workspace by staining panel, plate ID, well ID, patient, cell type, etc. as well as using the values of those keywords to set up batch reports and greatly speed analysis.

Keywords contained in an FCS file can be added to a workspace. Keywords and Value Series can be generated if there are keywords that you need to create for a workspace.

To edit the keywords, you must first be displaying those keywords in the workspace.

To display, right-click on the Name column heading of the Sample Pane in the Workspace and choose Edit Columns, or choose Edit Columns from the Workspace menu. This will bring up a dialog from which you can choose from all of the keywords contained in your FCS file. Select the keywords and press Add Column. You can also remove columns from this dialog. When ready, click Done.

Now that your keyword is in the workspace, you can sort the Workspace by that value by double clicking on any column heading. Or, click on any of the cells in the keyword column and type over the existing value. All cells in the Workspace can be edited except the Name, #Cells and Statistic columns.

A little about Flow Data....

When flow data is collected at the cytometer a data file is created in a specific format called FCS. Each FCS data file has two essential components, the description of the conditions at the time of collection, and the sets of numbers measured for each event. Whereas the cytometer formats all of the numerical data automatically, it is up to the operator to correctly specify the conditions. Keywords organize the information in FCS files and each keyword is designated with a $ (dollar sign). FCS keywords/value pairs are explained in greater detail here.

The names of the reagents used to stain each tube of cells is very useful information to have when analyzing your data. In the case that the sample was not properly annotated during collection, some or all of this information may be missing or incorrect. It is very common that data will be collected with labels FL1, FL2, FL3, etc., but missing the staining reagent - making it difficult to understand the nature of the experiment. FlowJo also uses this information in the creation of groups, so it will be hindered in your attempts, for instance, to apply the same gates to all samples stained with CD3 & CD4.

See the following topics for more information:

• The Workspace Window
• Changing workspace information display
• Groups
• Statistics
• Batch analysis
• Dragging and dropping nodes (copying gates, statistics or other analyses)

* The editing only effects the keywords as the exist in a current workspace, the actual FCS data does not get modified.