Starting CorelDraw

To start CorelDRAW do the following:

Click Start >> All programs >> CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 12 >> CorelDRAW 12.

OR

Click the Start button and type CorelDraw to display the list of CorelDraw applications. Select the appropriate app to open.

The welcome screen is displayed.

(Your displayed screen may be different depending on the version you are using).

• To start a new drawing page, click New on the welcome screen.
• To open recently used files, select one of the files under Recently Used.
• To open a saved drawing that is not among the Recently used files, click Open and browse through to locate your file.
• To start a drawing from a template, select New From Template.
  • When you click on New From Template, the New from Template dialog box appears.
  • Select a template from either of the Full page, Label, Envelop, etc tabs and click OK.

When you start a drawing from a blank page, you can specify a layout style by clicking: Layout >> Page setup, clicking Layout in the list of categories, and choosing a layout style from the Layout list box.

When you are working from the main window, assuming the Welcome startup screen did not display, Do the following:

1. To start a drawing from a blank page, Click File > New.To start a drawing from a template, Click File > New from template. Then click the tab that corresponds to the template category you want, and choose a template.
2. To open a drawing, Click File > Open.
   1. Locate the folder where the drawing is stored.
   2. Select a file by name and Click Open.
   3. You can also open a drawing by clicking the Open button on the toolbar. If you want to view a thumbnail of the drawing, click the Preview

Finding and Inserting Drawing Content

You can use clipart, photo images, and sounds stored on the Corel content CDs or online. To insert drawing contents, do the following:

1. Click Window > Dockers > Scrapbook.
2. Insert a Corel content CD into the CD drive.
3. Double-click an icon in the CD list and navigate to a folder.
4. To search for clipart, photos, and sound files
   1. Click Window > Dockers > Scrapbook > Search. The Search Docker window appears.
   2. Insert a Corel contents CD into the CD drive.
   3. Type a keyword in the Search for text
5. To insert a graphic or sound file on your drawing page, Drag the graphic or sound file from the Scrapbook docker to the drawing window.

Working with Templates

When you create a new drawing using a template, CorelDRAW formats the page using the template‘s page layout settings. The template’s style is then loaded into the new file.

You can edit a template by making changes to the styles, page layout settings, or objects.

Though CorelDraw has its in-built templates, you can create your own template files and reuse them. You can templates for flyers, newsletters, banner ads, etc and reuse them when necessary.

How do you create a template?

1. After you have created your design, click File > Save as.
2. Type a name in the File name list box.
3. Choose CDT – CorelDRAW template from the Save as type list box.
4. Locate the folder where you want to save the template and click Save.

To edit a saved template

After taking your time to create templates of different objects, you can edit them when needed. To edit a template:

1. Click File > Open.
2. Choose CDT – CorelDRAW template from the Files of type list box.
3. Locate the folder where the template is stored.
4. Double-click a template filename.
5. In the Open dialog box, enable the Open for editing To preview the contents of a template, enable the Preview checkbox.

To load styles from another template

1. Click Tools > Graphic and text styles.
2. In the Graphic and text styles docker, click the flyout button, and click Template > Load.
3. Locate the folder where the template is stored.
4. Click a template whose styles you want to load and Click Open.

Zooming and Panning

You can change the view of a drawing by zooming in to get a closer look or by zooming out to see more of the drawing. You can experiment with a variety of zoom options to determine the amount of detail you want.

Another way in which you can view specific areas of a drawing is by panning. When you work at high magnification levels or with large drawings, you may not be able to see the whole drawing.

Panning lets you view areas that aren‘t displayed by moving the page around in the drawing window.

To zoom, do the following:

1. Open the Zoom flyout, and click the Zoom
2. On the property bar, click one of the following buttons:

To pan in the drawing window, do the following:

1. Open the Zoom flyout, and click the Hand
2. Drag in the drawing window until the area you want to view displays.

Previewing a drawing

You can preview a drawing to see how it will look when you print or export it. When you preview a drawing, only the objects on the drawing page and in the immediate area of the drawing window are displayed, and you can see all layers that are set to print in the Object Manager.

If you want to get a closer look at specific objects in a drawing, you can select and preview them, too. When you preview selected objects, the rest of the drawing is hidden.

To preview a drawing, do the following:

1. To preview selected objects,
   1. Select the objects.
   2. Click View > Preview selected only.

To view facing Pages

1. Click Layout > Page setup. The page setup dialog box appears.
2. In the Document, Page list of categories, click Layout.
3. Enable the Facing pages
4. Choose one of the following settings from the Start on list box:Left side — starts the document on a left-facing page
5. Right side — starts the document on a right-facing page.

Note: You will be unable to view facing pages if the document uses a Tent card or Top fold card layout style, or if it contains multiple page orientations. The Left side option is only available for the Full page and Book layout styles.

Backing up and Recovering Files

CorelDraw can automatically save backup copies of drawings and prompt you to recover them when you restart the program in the event of a system error.

The auto-backup feature saves drawings that you have opened and modified. During any working session with CorelDraw, you can set the time interval for automatically backing up files. Specify where you want the files to be saved by default: in your temporary folder or to a specified folder.

You can recover backed-up files from the temporary or specified folder when you restart CorelDraw. Backup files are stored in either the temporary or the user-specified folder.

You can choose not to recover a file; however, that file is automatically erased when you shut down the program normally.

To specify auto-backup settings, do the following:

1. Click Tools > Options. The Options dialog window is displayed.
2. In the Workspace list of categories, click Save.
3. Enable the Auto-backup every checkbox, and choose a value from the Minutes list box.
4. In the Always back-up to area, enable one of the following options:
   1. Temporary folder — lets you save an auto backup file in the temporary folder.
   2. Specific folder — lets you specify the folder for an auto backup file.
   3. To create a backup file every time you save, Enable the Make backup on save
   4. To disable auto backup, choose Never from the Minutes list box.

To recover a backup file, do the following:

1. Restart CorelDraw.
2. Click OK in the File recovery dialog box.Save and rename the file in the specified folder. Recovered files are named cdr, where X is the numbered increment.

Note: If you click Cancel, CorelDraw ignores the backup file and deletes it when you exit the program normally.

Saving a Drawing

1. Click File > Save as. The save as dialog window is displayed.
2. Locate the folder where you want to save the file. If you want to save notes or keywords with the file, type them in the corresponding box.
3. If you want to specify advanced settings, click Advanced, and specify the settings you want in the Options dialog box.
4. Type a filename in the File name list box and click Save.

Note: If you want to save changes made to a previously saved drawing, click File > Save.

To save only selected objects (not entire page), do the following:

1. Select the object(s).
2. Click File > Save as.
3. Enable the Selected only checkbox in Save as dialog box.
4. Locate the folder where you want to save the file.
5. Type a filename in the File name list box and click Save.

Closing drawings and quitting CorelDraw

1. To close one of the drawing windows,
2. Click File > Close or Press Ctrl+F4.
3. To close all the drawing windows, Click Window > Close all.
4. To quit CorelDraw, Click File > Exit or press Alt + F4.