Any color/text labels and any metadata can be assigned to each well of your well plate. Label definition/assigning and metadata assigning can be made inside the HCA template or directly in the Well Plates > 
Label Wells task (see: Well Plates > Label Wells).
Figure 1184. Sample Labeling tab inside a HCA template
Figure 1185. Well Plates > Label Wells task used inside a custom job
This window is the initial place for defining and assigning labels (see Defining and Setting Labels) and for assigning predefined metadata (see Defining and Setting Metadata) to cells shown in the well plate overview.
Figure 1186.
Labeling/Quantities window options
Copy Copies selected labels/quantities into clipboard.
Paste Pastes the labels/quantities from clipboard into your Labeling/Quantities well plate overview.
Export Exports all labels and quantities for each well plate preset into your clipboard.
Import Imports all data from clipboard. Two formats for importing labels and quantities are available. Please see: Importing predefined presets from spreadsheet applications.
Undo Standard Undo functionality.
Redo Standard Redo functionality.
Set Labels... Opens the Labeling/Tags window (see Defining and Setting Labels).
Custom Metadata... This button opens the Select Custom Metadata dialog window, where you can choose predefined metadata. For their definition, please see: Defining and Setting Metadata.
To label wells, make a well selection, choose the metadata from the top right list and click the button next to the selected/entered value or right-click on the selected wells and choose Set Custom Metadata.
Deletes the selected value from all selected wells.
Opens the Edit Cell dialog window.
Figure 1187.
This window adjusts the value/range of each metadata and link a label directly to it.
If you are using a Well Plates > 
Plate Loader or a Well Plates > 
Manual Plate List with multiple plates distinguished by a position or a barcode, a new preset linked to this plate can be created. Choose the link type from the combo box and click to confirm/adjust the preset name.
Creates a new preset (map of the currently defined well plate labeling and metadata of your well plate) and saves it with a custom name. Define as many presets as you like and switch in between them using the combo box. If you mark the Well Plates > Label Wells task to be shown during 
runtime, you can choose the preset for the current job run from the Presets combo box.
Opens the Preset Manager containing a list with all of your presets and links to the particular plates. Here each preset can be renamed, removed and its link can be altered.
Open HCA/JOBS > Presets > Manage Labels or click in the Well Plates > Label Wells task or Sample Labeling tab of the HCA template. Click Set Labels... task to create new labels. Labeling Tags window opens enabling to define your labels by clicking , entering a name and choosing a color label or optional description. When done with defining all of your color labels, click .
Figure 1188. Labeling Tags window used for defining labels
Click in the Well Plates > Label Wells task or in the Sample Labeling tab of the HCA template to open the Labeling/Quantities window (closely described here: Labeling/Quantities window). Click and drag over the table with your wells to select those you want to label. You can use the shift key to select a range of cells or the control key to select remote parts of the well plate. By right-clicking on any cell, you get more selecting options - i.e:. select all, invert all, select row, invert row, select column and invert column. When you are satisfied with your well selection, right-click on one of the selected wells and choose the desired labeling tag to be assigned to these wells.
Labels can also be added/removed by selecting well(s) and clicking on the labeling color.
Figure 1189.
Open the Manage Custom Metadata window (HCA/JOBS > Presets > Manage Custom Metadata to create new metadata.
Figure 1190.
Data Items tab
New Creates new custom metadata set.
Save Saves the current custom metadata definition using the name on the left.
Import Enables the user to import custom metadata definition from a .xml file or reuse them from an existing image file.
Export Exports current or all metadata definitions to a .xml file.
Remove Removes the current metadata.
Presets tab
This tab is used for setting up metadata sets (grouped metadata of different types). In the left list, single sets are created, arranged, renamed or deleted. On the right side of the dialog window, values of individual items are set. Predefined presets can be used in the System > 
Custom Metadata task.
Defining metadata
Create a new metadata set - click on New and give it a name. Click Add New and name your first metadata, choose its type, enter a text description, edit its properties, choose the default value and select whether it is mandatory or not. Add as many metadata as you like and confirm their definition by clicking .
Setting metadata
Click in the Well Plates > Label Wells task or in the Sample Labeling tab of the HCA template to open the Labeling/Quantities window (closely described here: Labeling/Quantities window). Click Custom Metadata... to open the Select Custom Metadata window where you can choose the metadata set from the first combo box and select (by a check mark) which metadata will be used in the current job. Make your selection and click . In the wellplate table make a well selection of wells to which you want to assign the chosen metadata. To assign metadata to selected well(s), right-click on the selection and choose Set Custom Metadata and confirm your metadata selection or click on the right side of the metadata name listed in the top right corner of the window.
Once you are done with adding labels/metadata, click to get back to the Well Plates > Label Wells task or Sample/Labeling tab of the HCA template. You can save your label as a .xml file by clicking the 
button. You can also import your saved labels by clicking the 
button. Clear your labeling any time by clicking the 
button.
After the HCA/Job containing labels/metadata is executed and finished, the Job Results window opens. Click 
Show Labeling to display labels over wells. Labels of the wells selected in the wellplate area are highlighted in the labels toolbar (invoked by clicking 
Show Labels). Any label can be temporarily turned off by unchecking the check box next to its name.
To assign prepared labels and metadata to the wells displayed in the result view, copy the metadata inside your spreadsheet application and click 
Import Metadata in the results view. Please see Importing predefined presets from spreadsheet applications for importing prerequisites.
Figure 1191. Job Results View displaying well labels
Two types of formats are supported for importing custom presets into the Labeling/Quantities dialog window. Labels and quantities have to be defined similarly to one of the examples below.
Plate View
Figure 1192. Plate View identification and definition
First row defines the plate (its name, name meaning, hotel). Next row contains the value type (Label, Numeric Value, Short Text, Long Text, Selection, Date), value name (empty for Label) and Unit (empty for Label). The values are then typed in the following rows as they appear in the well plate.
Figure 1193. Example of a Plate View table format
List View
This view is used to label and quantity features of each well by a single row record. First four rows (Variant A) or three rows (Variant B,C) specify the hotel position (optional), identify the plate, position of each well on a plate, value types (Label, Numeric Value, Short Text, Long Text, Selection, Date) with value names and units. If the Plate name meaning value contains an empty string “ ”, then the name of the plate is used for plate identification. WellIndex and Plate Position identifiers are considered to start at 1.
Variant A
Figure 1194. Variant A: list view identification and definition
Figure 1195. Variant A: example of a list view table format
Variant B
Figure 1196. Variant B: list view identification and definition
Figure 1197. Variant B: example of a list view table format
Variant C
Figure 1198. Variant C: list view identification and definition
Figure 1199. Variant C: example of a list view table format
Note
Both row and column well localisation can be described using numbers starting from one (1,2,3, ...) or by letters (A, B, C, ...). For example well “B3” can also be described as well “23”, “2C” or “BC”.
Linking with Well Plates > Plate Loader
Imported labels/quantities can be linked based on position of the well plate in a hotel (Linked by Position) or using a barcode (Linked by Barcode). Plate # selection among multiple hotels has to be unique, otherwise the linking is not performed. E.g. if plates #1 and #2 from hotel 1 and plates #3 and #4 from hotel 2 are selected in the Well Plates > Plate Loader, labels marked with hotel number 1 to 4 are linked correctly. Whereas if e.g. plate #1 is selected in both hotels the link for plate 1 is not created and a new preset named #1 is created instead.
Single wells or single points can be easily labeled with a color and a name during runtime. Use tasks System > 
Create Labels (see: System > Create Labels) and System > 
Assign Label (see:System > Assign Label).