Matlab: opening propertyeditor or plotbrowser forces correct textbox annotation; annotation fails without it

I have a generally happily running program that takes files, plots them, spits out a pdf (letter size). I use annotations to put in a title above a set of three subplots, and to use as a footer with file info and date. I would like the title to be at the top of the page, filling up from margin to margin, centered.

I have two ways of running the program: in 'batch' mode and 'interactive' mode. When in 'interactive' mode, I create the figure with a simple figure() command. When in 'batch' mode, I create the figure with figure('visible','off'). Here is my command for making the annotation:

annotation(obj.hFigure(f),'textbox',[0 0.9 1 0.1],...
    'String',title,...
    'HorizontalAlignment','center',...
    'FontSize',18,...
    'LineStyle','none',...
    'FitBoxToText','off');

Here, "obj.hFigure(f)" is simply a handle to the figure I am currently processing. As you can see, I place the figure near the top of the figure, and make sure that the text runs off the bottom of the 开发者_C百科box (in case it is larger).

My problem is with margins on the above annotation. In batch mode (no figures showing), I get 10% or so margins on either side of the text, which ruins the layout. In interactive mode (figures show up), I don't get the margins: the text correctly flows from one edge to the other.

I have narrowed down the problem to the following: I can get the correct response to the ps printing in batch mode if I make the figures visible (figure('visible','on')) AND open up

propertyeditor(gcf);
plotbrowser(gcf);

after each figure is plotted. This makes the program take about twice as long (which isn't a huge deal). But what I don't understand is: what do those two commands do that drawnow or refresh don't accomplish?!

I am unsure about your specific case, but when encountering this kind of problem in the past I have had great success by explicitly setting the figure size with:

set(gcf, 'Position', [100  100  300 300])

and then, before printing/saving setting the PaperPositionMode to auto, which seems to force the printed figure to be the same size as the one shown on screen:

set(gcf, 'PaperPositionMode','auto')