# What is the difference between setting xref = 'paper' and xref = 'x domain' for x = 0.5?

**URL:** <https://community.plotly.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-setting-xref-paper-and-xref-x-domain-for-x-0-5/59717>\
**Category:** 📊 Plotly Python\
**Created:** [January 3, 2022, 12:58am UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-setting-xref-paper-and-xref-x-domain-for-x-0-5/59717 "2022-01-03T00:58:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lorenpeve10](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/user_avatar/community.plotly.com/lorenpeve10/32/17184_2.png) [@lorenpeve10](https://community.plotly.com/u/lorenpeve10)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2022, 12:58am UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-setting-xref-paper-and-xref-x-domain-for-x-0-5/59717/1 "2022-01-03T00:58:38Z")

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Hello,

I am having a hard time understanding the difference between “paper” and “x domain”. I am showing two examples below. When would they be different? Thanks.

Example 1: Below are two rectangles plotted using xref = ‘paper’ & xref = ‘x domain’ and they plot exactly on top of each other.

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/uploads/plot/original/3X/2/1/21bdeb272a6cb8596afae532815adccce9879b94.png)

Example 2: Below are two text annotations set to the same x value and slightly different y value to not overlap them. As seen in the graph, both start at the same x-coordinate.

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/uploads/plot/original/3X/e/9/e902b8f74cb015ac2df755a0a08f2e1df15d8988.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![empet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/977dab/32.png) [@empet](https://community.plotly.com/u/empet)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2022, 9:08am UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-setting-xref-paper-and-xref-x-domain-for-x-0-5/59717/2 "2022-01-03T09:08:01Z")

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@lorenpeve10

To understand the three types of refs: 1) “x”, “y”, 2) “paper”, 3) “x domain”, “y domain”, read their presentation here:  
[https://plotly.com/python/reference/layout/annotations/#layout-annotations-items-annotation-xref](https://plotly.com/python/reference/layout/annotations/#layout-annotations-items-annotation-xref):

```auto
xref
Type: enumerated , one of ( "paper" | "/^x([2-9]|[1-9][0-9]+)?( domain)?$/" ) Sets the annotation's x coordinate axis. If set to a x axis id (e.g. "x" or "x2"), the x position refers to a x coordinate. If set to "paper", the x position refers to the distance from the left of the plotting area in normalized coordinates where "0" ("1") corresponds to the left (right). If set to a x axis ID followed by "domain" (separated by a space), the position behaves like for "paper", but refers to the distance in fractions of the domain length from the left of the domain of that axis: e.g., "x2 domain" refers to the domain of the second x axis and a x position of 0.5 refers to the point between the left and the right of the domain of the second x axis.

```

then look at these examples and the corresponding plots:

```auto
import plotly.graph_objects as go

fig=go.Figure(go.Scatter(x=[0,2,3], y=[0.5, -0.75, 1.63]))
fig.update_layout(width=600, height=500, xaxis_range=[-1, 4]);

fig.add_annotation(x=1,#annot placed at the point of coords(x,y)=(1,1) with respect to axes
        y=1,
        xref="x",
        yref="y",
        text="refs 'x', 'y'<br>(1,1)",
        showarrow=False,
        align="center",
        )
fig.add_annotation(x=1, #annot places in the upper-right corner of the plot area
        y=1,
        xref="paper",
        yref="paper",
        text="refs paper<br>(1,1)",
        showarrow=False
        )
fig.add_annotation(x=1.15, #annot outside plot area (at right of it, i.e. x>1)
        y=0.4,
        xref="paper",
        yref="paper",
        text="refs paper<br>(1.15,0.4)",
        showarrow=False,
        align="right",
        xanchor="right"
        )
fig.add_annotation(x=0.5,#annot outside plot area (above it, i.e. y>1)
        y=1.2,
        xref="paper",
        yref="paper",
        text="refs paper<br>(0.5,1.2)",
        showarrow=False,
        align="right",
        )
fig.add_annotation(x=0,#annot outside plot area (below it, i.e y<0)
        y=-0.25,
        xref="paper",
        yref="paper",
        text="refs paper<br>(0,-0.25)",
        showarrow=False,
        )
fig.update_layout(showlegend=False)
fig.show()

```

![annots-x-paper](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/uploads/plot/original/3X/c/1/c1489ab92a6fedc424c4f5588c5378311592fb58.png)

```auto
from plotly.subplots import make_subplots
fig1= make_subplots(rows=1, cols=2)
fig1.add_trace(go.Scatter(
    x=[0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8],
    y=[0, 1, 3, 2, 4, 3, 4, 6, 5]
), 1, 1)
fig1.add_trace(go.Scatter(
    x=[0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8],
    y=[0, 4, 5, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 2]
), 1, 2)
fig1.update_layout(width=900, height=500)

fig1.add_annotation(x=0.6, #annot similar to ref "paper" when the fig contains only one subpl, 
                            #but here within plot area of the second trace
        y=0.75,
        xref="x2 domain",
        yref="y2 domain",
        text="refs domain<br>(0.6,0.75)",
        showarrow=False,
        align="center",
        )
fig1.add_annotation(x=0.5, #annot with respect to "paper", below the fig plot area
        y=-0.15,
        xref="paper",
        yref="paper",
        text="refs paper<br>(0.5,-0.15)",
        showarrow=False,
        align="center",
        )
fig1.add_annotation(x=6, #annot with respect to xaxis 1, yaxis1
        y=1.5,
        xref="x1",
        yref="y1",
        text="refs x1, y1<br>(6,1.5)",
        showarrow=False,
        align="center",
        )

fig1.add_annotation(x=4, #annot with respect to xaxis2, yaxis2
        y=4.5,
        xref="x2",
        yref="y2",
        text="refs x2, y2<br>(4,4.5)",
        showarrow=False,
        align="center",
        )

```

 ![annots-dom-paper](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/uploads/plot/original/3X/b/5/b53105cb62fcd3296bf688efb2128c2212ad1466.png)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lorenpeve10](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/user_avatar/community.plotly.com/lorenpeve10/32/17184_2.png) [@lorenpeve10](https://community.plotly.com/u/lorenpeve10)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2022, 3:03am UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-setting-xref-paper-and-xref-x-domain-for-x-0-5/59717/3 "2022-01-05T03:03:38Z")

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This is great! Thanks, @empet !

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![avm23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c37758/32.png) [@avm23](https://community.plotly.com/u/avm23)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 7:33pm UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-setting-xref-paper-and-xref-x-domain-for-x-0-5/59717/4 "2024-01-26T19:33:07Z")

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Still not clear what is the difference between `domain` and `paper`, and why the both options need to exist.