Introduction

As you learn to use IGB, you'll find it offers many features that make it one of the best tools available for visualization and exploration of genomic data sets.

If you are new to IGB, the following six step Quick Start Guide will help you get started using IGB.

Step 1: Get and start IGB

Go to bioviz.org/igb/download.html IGB Download Page
Download and launch IGB.

If you have trouble starting IGB, see the Troubleshooting page or feel free to contact us.

Step 2: Choose species and genome version

To choose a species and genome version

Click a shortcut image (loads most recent genome for selected species)

or

Choose Species and Genome Version using the Current Genome tab.

IGB start screen
IGB User's Guide > Quick start > QuickStartChooseGenome.png

If your species or genome version is not listed, you can view your data as a custom species or genome. Go to Step 3: Open data sets.

Step 3. Open data sets

You can open data sets from remote data sources (Data Access tab) or by opening local files.

To open remote data sets

Select Data Access
Select data sets in the Available Data sub-panel

To open local files on your computer

Select File > Open File... or File > Open URL...

or

Drag the file or web link into the IGB window

When you select data sets or files, IGB adds a new empty track to the main view and lists it in the Data Management table.

IGB window after opening a data set
IGB User's Guide > Quick start > NewTrack.png

Genome reference sequence

If you would like to open a sequence file (fasta or 2bit format) to use as the reference sequence

Select File > Open Reference Sequence...

Step 4: Zoom in

Because many data files contain too much data to view all at once, IGB does not start loading data into the viewer until you click the Load Data button.

Before loading data, zoom in to a region you want to view.

To zoom in on a region

To focus zooming, click a location in the main view
To zoom in, drag the horizontal zoom slider to the right

Other ways to zoom

Other ways to zoom include

Search for a gene using the search box
Double-click a feature to zoom in on it
Click-drag over the axis to zoom in on a region
Click the plus and minus buttons next to zoom sliders

Step 5: Load data

To load data for the currently visible region, click Load Data button.

Step 6: Configure tracks

You can reorder the tracks by dragging the Track Label into the position you want (the Data Management Table reflect changes).

The Annotation and Graph tab will allow you to change color, size, amount of data shown as well as other various functions.