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Acquisition keys

An acquisition key (AcqKey) is the name of one acquisition setup inside the method: one instrument method, one channel set. The default name is 1. The method can hold several keys, so one method can process samples that were acquired with different methods or on different instruments.

Analytes and their channels belong to one key. A sample is processed only with the analytes whose key matches the sample. Two analytes may share a compound name when their keys differ. They are different rows.

How a sample gets its key

The effective key is chosen in this order:

  1. Manual AcqKey, when you type one on the sample.
  2. The linked acquisition-set name.
  3. The raw key stored on the sample (from sample information when the file was added).
  4. The method’s default acquisition set. If the method has no default, the name is 1.

File → Add samples… fills the key from the method acquisition key taken from sample-info extraction. You can change it on the sample afterwards.

The method default is the acquisition set marked Default. If you delete that set, the set named 1 becomes the default, or the first set that remains.

What the key selects

For a sample, Quanto uses the channels and analytes on the matching key: which chromatograms are extracted, which quants and qualifiers exist, and which curve is fitted. It does not by itself choose the dose, the limit group, or the sample key.

A quant does not have its own acquisition key. It inherits the analyte’s key. Several quants on one analyte are alternate measurements inside that same key (different ions or ranges). See Which quant is reported.

Creating or updating an analyte from a sample

When you create or update an analyte from a sample (Compound Discovery Create analyte, Create analytes from all, update from a spectrum, and the other sample-driven updates), the analyte’s key is set from that sample.

On an update, the key is overwritten with the sample’s effective key. When the update uses several samples (retention time or qualifier ratios), the key changes only if every contributing sample has the same key. See Retention time update and Qualifiers.

Method → Load or import… can append analytes under a different key instead of replacing the method, which is how a second instrument method is added beside the first.