Cdrwgsol

Sheffield Hallam University, Corporate Information Systems
CorelDRAW 7
Getting Started with CorelDraw GS31 Version 2 August 1999
Aligning Objects
Artistic Text
Bezier tool
Bitmaps, importing
Blending
Bulleted text
Clip Art
Cloning
Colour, applying
Context-sensitive tools
GETTING
STARTED
CorelDraw is the
most popular
PC-based commercial
artists package.
This document introduces
you to CorelDraws main
features, and to the concepts
youll need to understand to
use these effectively.
Some familiarity with
Windows or Windows 95 is
assumed.
Corporate Information Systems
Curving corners on a Rectangle

Dimensioning tools
Drop capitals
Duplicating objects
Ellipses, creating
Extruding
File formats, bitmap
Fill tool
Freehand drawing
Grids
Grouping
Guidelines
Layers
Linked text
More
Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................1
Basic Operations........................................................................................................2
The CorelDraw Toolbox Context-sensitive tools Property Bar Status bar Right mouse
button Setting up your file Page setup Setting drawing units Saving your Work Using
the Zoom tool Refreshing the Screen Display
Creating & modifying simple objects.........................................................................6

Creating rectangles and ellipses Creating polygons and spirals Undoing Actions The Pick
tool: Selecting objects Deleting objects Moving objects Copying objects Scaling and
stretching objects Rotating objects Changing an objects Outline and Fill Applying
colour Using the Outline pen tool Using the Fill tool Copying outline and fill attributes
The Interactive Fill Tool Using the freehand drawing tool Connecting line segments
Creating a closed object with the freehand tool Using the Bezier tool The Natural Pen tool
Dimensioning tools Modifying objects with the Shape tool Curving corners on a
Rectangle Creating an ellipse Segment Deleting a line or curve segment Modifying line
length and direction Manipulating Artistic Text
Using the Text tool .....................................................................................................14

Artistic Text Paragraph Text Changing the Typeface: Artistic or Paragraph Text Creating
bulleted text and drop capitals Fitting text to a path Importing text Copying and pasting
text Handling multi-page documents & linked text Linked text Inserting and deleting
pages Setting up and viewing multipage documents - Column layouts Limitations on
CorelDraw's multi-page capabilities
Changing default settings...........................................................................................20

Changing Text defaults Changing Pen and Fill defaults Changing typing options Saving
settings for new documents
Ordering grouping & aligning objects ...................................................................22

Ordering Objects Grouping objects Aligning objects to one another Using a Grid
Creating Guidelines Snapping options
Importing and exporting bitmaps...............................................................................24

Importing and cropping bitmaps Altering bitmaps Wrapping text round a bitmap
Exporting bitmaps
CorelDraw bells & whistles .......................................................................................27

Useful variations on Copy and Paste: Pasting Duplicating objects Cloning Copying text
formatting Using symbols and clip art Blending Extruding Welding and trimming
Mirroring Making fills and bitmaps transparent - Creating your own patterns - Powerclips Perspective effects - Envelopes
Printing from CorelDraw...........................................................................................34

Making the most of CorelDraw help..........................................................................35
Index...........................................................................................................................36
Author: Jos Kingston
Introduction
At SHU, CorelDraw is available only at Psalter Lane,
in the specialist computer graphics rooms (A201
and B216).
Jargon:
There are two main types of
computer graphic image:
Vector and Bitmap.
Bitmaps are formed by
storing an image as a set of
dots. The quality of a
bitmap is dictated by its
resolution the number of
dots per inch used and its
colour depth the number
of colours used. Highresolution bitmaps using
the full colour range
required for photo-realism
can create very large files.
Vector graphics are objectoriented. Anything you
create for instance a
shape, or a string of text
is an object, which is
defined by its attributes
for instance position, line
thickness, fill. Vector
objects can be modified
more easily, and take up
much less file space, than
bitmaps. Vector mode is
used by CorelDraw and is
standard for CAD
packages, whilst paint
packages and imagescanning processes work
with bitmaps.
You're best off working with
Corel Photo-Paint or Adobe
Photoshop if you want to
have all the bells and
whistles available for
transforming bitmaps. But
within CorelDraw itself,
many of the most popular
tools for handling bitmaps
are now available on the
spot. This is a great leap
forward in bridging the gap
between vector and bitmap
software.
Introduction
CorelDraw is the leading PC package for commercial artists. It

consists of a suite of applications:
CorelDraw itself is the central package, providing a host of
vector tools for manipulating display text, creating drawings, and
capabilities for importing or exporting bitmap graphics as well.
You can stretch text, rotate it, fit it to a path of any shape,
extrude it to give a three-dimensional effect, and much more.
You can draw Bezier curves, which give you tremendous power
to create exactly the shapes you want. You can blend objects;
weld objects; add perspective; and create fill patterns of your
own.
CorelDream is for producing 3D pictures.
Photo-Paint provides tools for modifying and adding special
effects to bitmap images. Photo-Paint's capabilities are very
similar to those of Adobe Photoshop, the "industry standard"
software for image manipulation.
The graphics utilities available include CorelCapture a
screengrabbing utility which copies the current screen display
from any Windows application to the clipboard as a bitmap.
OCRTrace converts scanned text into editable format. It also
lets you trace a bitmap image to vector format which can then
be edited in CorelDraw. This can be very useful indeed with
simple images.
This document introduces you to the capabilities of the main
CorelDraw 7 package. If you have used any other computer graphics
packages, you will find a lot in common in how they operate. If not,
a familiarity with CorelDraw will stand you in good stead for using
other graphics applications, on Macs as well as Pcs.
Some acquaintance with Windows software and Windows 95 is
assumed. If you dont have this, you might find it easiest to learn the
basics with a word processing package, such as Microsoft Word, before
moving onto CorelDraw. Its especially important that you should know
about good housekeeping when youre working with graphics files
can take up a great deal of disk space. We recommend that you learn
how to use Windows Explorer for this purpose.
Basic Operations
CorelDraw can be set up to load simply by double-clicking its icon
on the Windows 95 desktop. Otherwise:
Click on the Start button, select Programs and find
CorelDraw. Once CorelDraw has loaded:
If you don't see a blank drawing area ready to work on, select
File from the menu, then New.
Look first at the Toolbox on the left of the screen: you do
most of your work from here.
The CorelDraw Toolbox

The tools with triangles in the bottom right corner are flyouts the
icon gives access to a selection of related tools. Click and hold
down until the flyout menu appears.
Pick. You have to click on this tool before you can select any object or objects which
you want to move, copy, delete, resize, or modify in any other way.
Page 7
Shape. Use to add rounded corners to rectangles; and to change the location of the
nodes which dictate the shape of CorelDraw objects.
Page 13
Zoom. Click and hold down to open a fly-out menu from which you can select the
magnification you want.
Page 5
Freehand. For lines and curves. Hold down the mouse button when you click on the
tool, and a fly-out will open. The Bezier Pencil lets you draw curves by defining nodes.
11- 12
Rectangle. Click on the tool, then click and drag with the mouse to create a rectangle.
Page 6
Ellipse. Use in the same way as the rectangle tool. Hold down the Control key while
you click and drag if you want to constrain your shape to a square or circle.
Page 6
Polygon. Click and hold down to open the flyout menu, from which spirals and grids
can also be drawn.
Page 6
Text. Click on the tool, then click on the drawing area for Artistic Text. Click and
drag to draw a frame for Paragraph Text.
14-15
Interactive Fill. Works in conjuction with the Property Bar (next page) to provide
quick control over filling objects.
Page 10
Transparency. Lets you apply transparency by clicking and dragging.
Page 32
Interactive blend. Click and drag from one object to another to produce a blend.
Page 30
Outline pen. The fly-out provides icons which allow you to change the shape, width
and colour of freehand lines or object outlines.
Page 9
Fill. Select colour and patterning for an objects fill.
Page 10
Basic operations
The upper row of icons at the top of the screen is the standard
toolbar. The icons on the left are found in most Windows software
save, print, cut and paste, and so on.
Property bar
The row of icons underneath the standard toolbar is known as the
property bar. This takes context-sensitivity to giddy heights
whats available depends upon what tool is currently selected from
the Toolbox (see page 2), and what kind of object is selected within
the drawing area. The top illustration shows what the property bar
looks like when a rectangle has been drawn and selected. In the
bottom illustration, the Text tool has been selected.
Move the cursor slowly over the tool icons. A yellow "tool
tips" box pops up to describe the function of the tool which
the cursor is currently resting on.
Jargon: Status bar:
In any Windows software,
keeping an eye on what
the status bar is telling
you can be especially
useful if and when you get
unexpected results from
whatever youre doing.
Status bar
Look at the bottom of the screen. The status bar always provides
information about your current action. For instance, it gives you
details of what object is currently selected; its outline and fill; and
tells you the typeface and size for a selected text object.
Right mouse button

As with most Windows 95 software, the right mouse button plays a
useful part in providing quick access to the functions you're most
likely to want. Like the property bar, its context-sensitive.
Right-click on a few objects: shapes youve created, tools in
the toolbox, ruler areas. The example on the left shows the
popup menu which appears with a text object selected. For
any object, selecting Properties from the popup gives access
to all the commands you're most likely to need.
In CorelDraw, the right mouse button has some
brilliant "drag and copy" capabilities see pages
8,27,28.
Basic operations
Setting up your file

Page setup
When CorelDraw opens a new file, you should see the Page Setup
controls on the left of the Property bar. If you dont:
In the Toolbar, click on the Pick tool.
Click on a blank part of the drawing area.
The Property Bar will change to display the setup controls.
Page size should normally be set to correspond to the paper size
that youll be printing to. But its easy in CorelDraw to scale down or
up at the printing stage to fit whatever paper size you want, so bear in
mind that you wont need to rework your design if, for example, you
wanted to print it both as an A3 poster and A4 handbills. (An
important qualification to this: if your file includes bitmap images,
loss of quality will result from scaling, especially scaling up.)
Click on the Property Bar buttons to switch paper orientation
between Portrait and Landscape.
Setting drawing units
When the Property Bar is in setup mode as described above, you set
drawing units from here. The ruler bars will reflect your selection.
Saving your Work
Avoid working in files created with sophisticated
graphics software like CorelDraw 7 straight from
floppy disk. It's much more reliable to work from the
hard drive (C), or from network space.
Mousemat.cdr
From the Menu, select File, then Save.

The first time you do this, the Save Drawing dialog box will open.
Make sure Save In is set to the folder where you want to keep
your file.
Make sure Save as Type is set to CorelDraw (CDR).
Enter a suitable File name. CorelDraw will automatically
add the extension .cdr to this.
Save every few minutes while you work.
Dont use Save As to back up a CorelDraw file to
floppy it sometimes corrupts the file. At the end of
your session close down CorelDraw, then use
Explorer to copy important files to floppy, Zip, or
network space for safe keeping.
Basic operations
Using the Zoom tool

Selecting an appropriate magnification for the work
you are doing, will make you far more efficient. Get
accustomed to moving quickly backwards and
forwards between the different zoom options
available from the zoom icon in the Toolbox.
In particular, if you are having difficulties in connecting one
line segment to another, things will work much better if you
increase your magnification. And if you lose an object
(which easily happens if you use the scroll buttons to move up
and down your page), the quickest way to locate it is by
zooming to Fit in Window.
Zoom in. Click on the icon, then drag on the page area to draw a
fence around the objects you want to magnify.
Zoom out. Each click zooms out by a factor of two, or returns you
to the magnification before you zoomed in.
Actual size. Bear in mind that the screen display isnt as high
resolution as a laser printout. Viewing at 1:1 you may not see all the
detail which is actually there.
Fit in Window. Displays all the objects in your drawing at
maximum size to fit within the window area.
Full Page/Page width/Page height. Use to design and check
your overall page layout.
You can also change zoom levels from the Standard
Toolbar at the top of the screen.
Refreshing the Screen Display

If lines or blobs or gaps appear which shouldnt be
there, dont get frustrated attempting to delete them
they will almost certainly disappear when you
refresh the screen.
Its hard work for the computer to keep the screen display completely
accurate and up to date; sometimes there will be glitches. (Computer
jargon for something not being quite right.) The less powerful your
computer, the more likely you are to run into this problem. If it
happens:
From the Window menu, select Refresh Window.
There is a useful keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + W
Zooming also has the effect of redrawing the screen display, and thus
getting rid of any on-screen glitches.
Basic operations
Creating & modifying simple objects

Always use the left mouse button, unless instructed otherwise.
Its usually best to work from top left to bottom right when
you create an object by clicking and dragging.
Creating rectangles and ellipses
In the Toolbox, click on the Rectangle tool.
Click and drag to create a rectangle.
Create another rectangle: this time, hold down the Control
key while you click and drag to constrain its shape to a square.
Use the Ellipse tool to create an oval and a circle.
You can draw symmetrical shapes from the centre rather than the
corner hold down the Shift key while you draw.
Creating polygons and spirals
In the Toolbox, click on the Polygon tool. Hold down the
mouse until a flyout toolbar appears. Tools for creating spirals
and graph paper are also available from here.
Click and drag to draw a polygon.
Notice how the icons centre right of the Property Bar change when
the Polygon tool is selected. You can switch from here between
polygon and star mode, and specify the number of points on your
polygon or star.
When you select the spiral tool from the flyout, the Property bar lets
you specify the number of revolutions in the spiral, and choose
between symmetrical and logarithmic spirals. You must change these
settings before creating your spiral.
Undoing Actions
You can quickly undo your last action:
In the standard toolbar, click the Undo button.
To undo a sequence of actions:
Click on the arrow right of the Undo button, then select from
the list.
Use the Redo button (right of undo) in just the same way.
The Pick tool: Selecting objects

An object needs to be selected before you can modify it for
instance, to change colour, outline thickness, or typeface.
In the Toolbox, click on the Pick tool.
You must always do this before you can select an object.
Click on one of the objects you have created to select it. If the
object has no fill, click firmly on its outline.
Square black handles will appear around the object.
To select multiple objects:
Hold down the Shift key while you click on each object; or
click and drag to draw a fence (referred to as a marquee
box) round them. An object will only be selected if the whole
of it lies within the marquee.
To select all the objects in a file:
In the Edit menu, choose Select All.
To select an object which overlaps with other objects:
Youll often want to place objects in front of and behind
one another. (Page 22) This can make it difficult to select
the object you want to change.
In the Toolbox, click on the Pick tool.
From the Layout menu, choose Object Manager.
The Object Manager window will open. Click to select the
object or objects you want. Close by clicking the X icon top
right of the window's title bar.
The Object Manager can be enormously useful.
Bear in mind for future exploration!
Deleting objects
Select the object or objects you want to delete.
On the keyboard, press the Delete key if you know you
wont change your mind. If you might want to retrieve the
object, use Cut from the Standard Toolbar instead.
Moving objects
Click anywhere on the selected object, but not on its handles.
Hold the mouse button down. The cursor will change to a
cross shape, as illustrated. Drag with the mouse to move the
object.
Use the Property Bar to specify an objects position accurately
by its xy co-ordinates see next page.
Creating and modifying simple objects
Copying objects
CorelDraw provides the usual Cut, Copy and Paste buttons on the
standard toolbar at the top of the screen. Theres also a useful mouse
shortcut for copying:
Click and drag as if you were moving the selected object or
objects, but once youve started dragging, hold down the
right mouse button as well as the left one.
Scaling and stretching objects
CorelDraw provides the means to do this interactively by clicking and
dragging; or accurately from the Property Bar.
Click on the Pick tool if not already selected.
Click and drag
Select the object or objects you want to size or move.

To scale interactively:
Click on a corner handle, and drag. This will scale the
object its size will change, but its shape wont.
Click on a side handle, and drag. This will stretch or
contract the object in that direction.
Watch it! You can easily find yourself mirroring an
object by accident when doing this. See page 31.
For accurate scaling and positioning:
Use the Property Bar to specify xy coordinates, object size, and scale factor.
Click the padlock button before specifying measurements to
maintain proportional sizing.
Rotating objects
Select the object you want to rotate.
In the Property Bar, either specify the required rotation
angle in the Angle of Rotation box, or click on the arrows
next to it until the object is rotated the required amount.
Alternatively:
Click to select an object, then click once more.
You should now have entered Rotate and Skew mode: the square
box handles around the selected object will be replaced with doubleheaded arrow handles.
To rotate an object: click on the centre of a corner arrow
handle, and drag. The cursor should change to a horseshoe
shape. If you want to leave the original (for instance, to draw
blades on a windmill), hold down both mouse buttons while
you drag.
Changing an objects Outline and Fill

Rectangles and ellipses are known as closed
objects; a curved or straight line is called an open
path. Any closed object consists of an outline, and a
fill. Characteristics of a CorelDraw object, such as
outline thickness, colour, or type of fill, are referred
to as attributes of the object.
CorelDraw offers many different ways of doing the
same thing. (Right mouse button, toolbox, etc.)
Unless you're a keyboard shortcut whizzo, the Main
Menu is usually slowest! Experienced computer
users should think afresh about how they do things.
Applying colour

Click here to expand the
colour palette.
Using the Outline pen tool

Jargon: Rollup
Rollups are windows
which you can keep
open on screen while
you work, to give quick
access to the tools you
are most likely to need.
Select the object or objects you want to colour.

Left-click in the colour palette on the right of the screen to
apply a fill colour; right-click to apply an outline colour.
Click on the scroll tools at the bottom of the palette to increase
the colour range available to select from.
Select one of the objects you have created.

Click on the Outline pen tool.
A flyout toolbox will appear, to provide a range of tools for

modifying the thickness, shape and colour of the line or
outline. The tools on the right let you apply a small number of preset
widths with just the one click of a button. The tools on the left of the
flyout give access to dialog boxes which allow you much more
precise control over the objects outline. Especially useful is the pen
and special fill rollup.
Click on the third tool from the left to display the pen rollup
window on screen.
Click and drag on the rollup window title bar to move it to whatever
screen position you want.
Click on the middle icon at the top of the rollup window to
close it but keep it handy on screen; click again to roll it down
again.
You can alter outline thickness and colour, and also apply
arrowheads to lines, from this rollup. Familiarise yourself
with how to do these things.
Note that your changes wont take effect on the
selected object, until you click the Apply button.
Using the Fill tool

Select one of the closed objects you have created.
Click on the Fill tool. A flyout will appear.
Click on the Special Fill rollup (right of flyout). This gives

easy access to the same fills which you can also reach
separately from the fountain fill, texture fill and pattern fill
icons left of the flyout. Notice that this rollup doubles up in
the same window as the pen rollup. (See previous page.)
Click on the different icons and scrollbar arrows in the

Special Fill rollup to try out some of the many fill effects
which are available to you.
Remember that your changes wont take effect until you click
on the Apply button.
If you use a lot of full colour pattern, bitmap or
texture fills, your file may become very large and
slow to work with. If so, don't apply such fills until
you have done all your other work on the file.
Copying outline and fill attributes

The pen and fill rollup includes an eyedropper icon in the
bottom left corner. This allows you to instantly copy the outline or
fill attributes from one object to another.
Give any object you have created an interesting fill.
Select another object to which to apply this fill.
In the Special Fill rollup, click on the eyedropper. The cursor

will change to a large arrow. Click on the object from which
you want the fill to be copied, then click on Apply.
Alternatively, you can "copy object properties"
using the right mouse button. See page 28.
The Interactive Fill Tool

Select an object.
In the Toolbox, click on the Interactive Fill Tool.
Notice how the Property Bar changes. In general, you may find it
quicker to apply fills and outline attributes from here than from the
Rollup and colour palette. Do experiment with the click and drag
method of applying fountain fills!
10
Using the freehand drawing tool

Click on the freehand tool in the Toolbox. (If you held down
the mouse button and the flyout toolbox has appeared, make
sure you select the first left icon.)
Click and drag to draw a freehand line or curve.
To draw a straight line: click where you want the beginning

of the line, take your finger off the mouse, then click where
you want the end of the line.
To constrain the straight line to 15o increments: hold down

the Ctrl key while you move the mouse and click for the end
of the line. Do this whenever you want to be sure a line is
vertical or horizontal.
On screen, a straight line will often look jagged.
Don't worry about this. When you zoom closer on
screen or print out straight from CorelDraw, it
should look fine.
Jargon: Pixel:
abbreviation of
Picture Element: the
dots which make up
the screen display. A
pixel isnt a fixed
size: it depends on
the resolution of the
monitor how many
pixels make up the
screen area.
Connecting line segments

You will often want one line segment to connect to the end of
another, so that you can treat them as a single object.
Create a line, and double-click at its end point. The doubleclick will automatically start you off on a connected line
segment from this point.
A line will automatically connect to the previous line if its start point
is no more than five pixels away from the previous lines finishing
point, but the double-click approach is more reliable.
Creating a closed object with the freehand tool
If lines connect to create a closed object, you can add a fill and
change any other attributes just as you would with a rectangle or
ellipse. The illustration on the left shows a closed object created with
the freehand tool.
When you add the last line segment to form a closed object,
single-click to place the finishing point of the last line, at
the starting point of the first. If you double-click, Coreldraw
will assume you want to add a further segment to the line.
Alternatively and often easier, select Auto-close from the
Property Bar.
Click on the Pick tool. (If the Line tool is left selected, you may
find yourself drawing lines unintentionally.)
11
Using the Bezier tool

A Bezier curve consists of nodes, connected by line segments. Once
you have created a Bezier line, you can use the Shape tool to tweak it
into a curve, like a rubber band, by pulling on its nodes and control
points. This is a very satisfying activity, but it may take a while
before you feel that you have any control over what happens to your
curve!
Click and hold down the freeehand drawing tool until the
flyout appears.
Select the Bezier icon.
Click where you want your curve to begin. Keep the mouse
button down, and drag to where you want to place the next
node in the curve. Click and drag in the same way to place
subsequent segments.
Playing around is the best way to get a grip on whats going on. You
may find the on-line help information useful select Help Topics,
then search the Index for Bezier.
Press the Space Bar twice if you want to start a new curve.
When you have finished using the Bezier pencil, select the
Pick tool so you dont find yourself accidentally drawing
unwanted lines or curves.
The outline boxes show the curves nodes, which can be

edited later with the Shape tool. (Page 13)
You can create closed objects with the Bezier tool, just as you can
with the standard freehand pencil.
To draw a straight line segment within a Bezier object:
Lift your finger from the mouse button, and click at the finish
point of the segment.
The Natural Pen tool
This tool can be specially useful where you want to draw curves with
a differently coloured outline and fill.
In the Freehand flyout, click the Natural Pen icon.
The Property Bar changes to provide pen controls.
Dimensioning tools
In the Freehand flyout, click the Dimension tool.
The Property Bar changes to give access to a range of dimension
tools look up dimension lines in the Help Topics index.
12
Modifying objects with the Shape tool

The Shape tool has different effects, depending on the type of object
which you have selected. To activate it:
Click on the Shape tool, then click on the object you want to
modify.
Draw a rectangle if you havent got one handy, and activate
the Shape tool. Node boxes will appear at the rectangles
corners. Click on one of these, and drag, to curve the corners
of the rectangle.
Alternatively, when your rectangle is selected you can use the
dragger in the Property Bar to set corner roundness.
Creating an ellipse Segment
Draw an ellipse if you havent got one handy, and activate the
Shape tool. Click on the node box and drag to create the
segment. If the cursor is on the inside of the ellipse when you
click and drag, you will create a pie wedge; if its on the
outside, you will create an arc.
Alternatively, when your ellipse is selected you can use the
Property Bar controls to create an arc or pie wedge.
Deleting a line or curve segment
Selected node
Activate the Shape tool, then click on a node to select it. The
outline node box will appear bolder. Press the Delete key. If
the first or last node was selected, the first or last segment will
be deleted. If any other node was selected, the line or curve
will be redrawn without that node.
Modifying line length and direction
Activate the Shape tool, then click and drag on the node at
either end of the line.
Manipulating Artistic Text
Create a word or two of artistic text (see following pages),
scale to a fairly large size, then click on the Shape tool. The
position of each letter is dictated by the node at its bottom left.
Click and drag on a node to move that letter.
13
Using the Text tool

Typographers make a clear distinction between display text, used
to catch the eye; and body text, used for what needs to be read.
Whereas display text can usefully employ a variety of artistic
techniques to draw the attention, the reader is likely to be seriously
distracted by fancy formatting of body text.
CorelDraw is primarily a commercial artists package, and as such is
concerned more with providing all the bells and whistles for display
text, than with the features needed for handling large chunks of body
text quickly and simply. (Although each new version of CorelDraw
is bringing major improvements in this respect.) Most people prefer
to use their favourite word processing software for standard
document work- you can easily import word processed text into a
CorelDraw file. (page 17.)
Display text is referred to by CorelDraw as artistic text; and body
text, as paragraph text.
Artistic Text
From the Toolbox, select the Text icon.
Click in the page area where you want to enter your text, and
type in a couple of words. Dont worry about size or typeface
at this stage.
Click on the Pick tool, select the text object you have
created, and scale or stretch it to whatever size you want.
(Page 7)
Apply a different fill to your text. (Page 10)
Apply a visible outline to your text. (Page 9)
Bear in mind that
Artistic Text doesnt word
wrap you have to press
Enter every time you want
to start a new line.
Each letter you enter is treated by CorelDraw as a closed object, with

an outline and a fill. This is great if you want to create effects like the
one you have just tried out. But most of the time it is a serious
nuisance if letters are set to have an outline as well as a fill it is
likely to give a thickened, jagged appearance to your text when
printed.
Make sure your artistic text is still selected.
No outline/fill icon.
14
Choose one of the many possible ways to switch off the text
outline. Right-click on the icon at the top of the colour
palette; or use the Property Bar, the Pen rollup, or the Outline
Pen fly-out.
Using the Text tool
Paragraph Text
From the Toolbox, select the Text icon.
The border or frame you

see while you're typing in
paragraph text, shows the text
area you defined. Once you
have finished creating this text
object, the border will no
longer be displayed.
Notice that you can often find
yourself creating a new
paragraph frame when you
didn't intend to. If this
happens, select the new
frame and delete it.
Click and drag with the mouse on the page area to define a
frame within which you want the text to fit. You can easily
change the shape of this later, so just go for a rough and ready
approximation.
The cursor will now be blinking within the text area you have
defined, ready for you to start typing in text. Text will word wrap
to the frame borders as you type only press Enter at the end of
paragraphs.
If there isnt enough space in your frame for the text you want to type
in; or if you want to change the frames shape:
Click on the Pick tool, and select your text.
Drag on the frame handles to size and scale it.
Your text will automatically re-wrap to the new frame size.
Make sure all the text has all fitted into the frame. If it hasnt,
youll see a triangle icon in the tab at the bottom of the
paragraph frame, as illustrated. Resize the frame until this tab
is blank.
You can wrap paragraph text round the shape of
any object or bitmap image - see page 25.
Changing the Typeface: Artistic or Paragraph Text
When a Text object or the Text tool is selected, the Property Bar
allows you to choose typeface, size, style, and alignment for both
artistic and paragraph text by methods which should be familiar if
youve used any popular Windows word processing software.
Notice that you cant use the Property Bar if you want to change
multiple text objects at the same time. To do this:
Select the text objects you want to change either draw a
marquee round them, or Shift-Click. (Page 7)
From the Text menu, select Format Text.
The Format Text dialog box will open: settings chosen here will
apply to all selected text objects, whether Artistic or Paragraph text.
With artistic text, type size can be altered by
selecting the object, then clicking and dragging to
scale or stretch it. Paragraph text cant be scaled
and stretched in this way: when you click and drag
you resize the frame, not the text. Change
paragraph text type size using the Property Bar or
Format Text menu options.
Using the Text tool
15
Creating bulleted text and drop capitals

In paragraph text mode, you can automatically create bulleted
points, selecting from a wide range of symbols.
1. Click on the Text tool, and either define a new paragraph text
frame (see previous page), or click in an existing one.
2. If you have already typed in text which you want to convert to
bulleted points, click and drag with the mouse to highlight it.
To change the entire contents of a paragraph frame to bulleted
points, select the frame with the Pick tool.
3. In the Property Bar, click on the Bullets icon.
4. When you want to return from bulleted text to normal lines,
click again on the Bullets icon to switch it off.
To change the type of bullet youre using:
In the Property Bar, click on the Format Text icon.
The Format Text dialog box will appear.
Click on the Effects tab.
Select your symbol, bullet size and indent from here.
Usually, youll want Placement set to Hanging Indent.
Drop caps are set in a similar way from the Effects tab.
Familiarise yourself with what you can do from the other
tabs in this box.
Fitting text to a path
Create the line or shape to use as a path.
In the Toolbox, click on the Text tool.
Move the cursor close to your path object. CorelDraw will
recognise when a possible text path is in sight, and the
cursor will change shape as in diagram 1.
When the cursor is this shape, click and type.
You can select your path independently and modify it as you want
with the Pick or Shape tool. The text will automatically reroute.
Notice in the Status Bar that the path will be referred to as a control
object. If selecting the control object independently of the text
proves difficult, use the Object Manager. (Page 7.)
Once the text is as you want, switch off the path outline to
make it invisible. (Page 14.)
If you've already typed in text and then want to fit to a path, or if you
want to modify positioning in relation to the path:
Select both the text and the path.
From the Text menu, select Fit text to path. Make your
choices from the rollup, then click the Apply button.
16
Using the Text tool
Importing text
You can import documents into CorelDraw 7 direct from
WordPerfect and Word 6 formats. Whatever your word processor, a
file saved to plain text format (often known as ascii or .txt format)
should be importable into CorelDraw.
To import files from Word 97, you must first save
the file from Word in Rich Text Format.
Most formatting will be maintained in Rich Text Format, but some
complex layouts, for instance with text boxes, will be lost.
As a general rule, dont apply complex formatting
within your word processor if youre going to import
text leave the fancy touches to add in CorelDraw.
In CorelDraw:
From the File menu, select Import. The Import dialog box
will open. In the Files of Type list, select All Files. Set
drive and directory to display your file, select it, and OK.
Your text will be imported into CorelDraw as paragraph text,
running on to as many pages as it needs in linked frames see the
next page. Expect to have at least some reformatting to do, especially
if the typeface originally used isn't available on the computer where
you're working.
Copying and pasting text
When you copy and paste in the usual way, your text will be inserted
into CorelDraw as a document object it can then only be edited if
you double-click on the object to activate the software in which it was
created. If you want your text to look exactly as you created it
perhaps with a fancy border added in CorelDraw this is what you
want. But more often, it's likely to be an irritation that you can't edit or
format the text using CorelDraw's tools.
Simple copying and pasting of text from software
such as Word may give unwanted results. It's
usually more reliable to import a Rich Text file as
described above.
Using Paste Special from the Edit menu gives you
a wider range of paste options, depending on what
type of object you are pasting. However there is a
problem with CorelDraw 7 running under Windows
NT which means this is unlikely to work properly
on SHU's computers. Import text in preference.
Spellcheck and proofread your text before
importing or pasting it to CorelDraw, so the word
processed file remains a correct reference copy.
Using the Text tool
17
Handling multi-page documents & linked text

You can use CorelDraw to produce multi-page
documents magazines or even books. But if your
document contains a large number of pages with
graphics, bear in mind that it's usually best to keep
file sizes down to around 2mb for ease of handling.
Split a document between different files if necessary.
When you import or paste text from a word processor into
CorelDraw, it will run on to as many pages as are required to fit the
text at your current text settings. The Navigator at the bottom of the
screen shows you how many pages there are in your file:
Keep an eye on this it's easy to find that pages have unexpectedly
created themselves Beware clicking on the + button!
Editing paragraph text
Make small changes by selecting the Text tool, then clicking within
the text. If you want to do extensive editing within CorelDraw: select
your text object, select Text from the Menu Bar, then Edit Text.
Linked text
When you flow text into a multi-page document, it will be
automatically be contained within linked paragraph frames. Whether a
document is single-page or multi-page, you can manually link
paragraph text frames to one another. If, for example, you change the
size of a paragraph frame to accommodate a graphic, the text will
reflow to the following frames.
Whenever you use paragraph text, you should be aware of what
happens if not all your text will fit into a frame:
Click to select a paragraph frame. If the handle at the bottom
centre of the frame contains a triangle, this means that there is
more text to come.
If you want all the text in a single frame: resize the frame and
adjust type size until the triangle disappears.
If you want the text to continue in a different frame: Click on
the triangle, and the cursor will change to a linked text icon, as
illustrated. Click and drag to define your next paragraph
frame. The text will flow into here, and the handles at the top
of this frame and the bottom of the previous frame will change
to display a linked text icon.
It's often useful to work with linked paragraph
frames where you want text to flow between
differently shaped areas scattered over a page.
18
Using the Text tool
Inserting and deleting pages

In the Navigator, click the + button. A new page will be
inserted before the currently selected page.
To insert multiple pages: from the Layout menu, select
Insert Page.
To delete pages: from the Layout menu, select Delete Page.
If the page you delete contains any linked paragraph text, this will
reflow onto succeeding pages. All other types of object on a deleted
page will be deleted, not relocated.
Setting up and viewing multipage documents
CorelDraw offers a number of settings which can make life much
easier when working with multipage documents:
From the Layout menu, select Page Setup.
In the example, page layout has been set up for a
standard booklet, printed on A4 folded to A5. Note that
page size is set to A4 landscape the booklet will
print two pages on an A4 sheet. When printed, the pages
will be laid out so as to be in the correct order when
printed back-to-back and folded.
Facing pages has been selected so that the booklet
can be viewed in "double page spreads" whilst working
on it. If you're using booklet format, the pages will still
be in consecutive order when you view them select
Print Preview to see them as they'll print.
Column layouts
Select the paragraph text which you want in columns.
In the Property Bar, click the Format Text icon.
Select the Frames and Columns tab, specify the number of
columns you want, set required width, and OK.
Limitations on CorelDraw's multi-page capabilities
Automatic page numbering isn't available, except as a "prepress" feature. The numbering won't fall within the printed
page area unless you print to a larger paper size than you have
specified as your document's page size.
Headers and footers running titles along the top and/or
bottom of each page can't be generated.
CorelDraw doesn't have the capacity to produce Contents or
Index pages, or to add footnotes.
Using the Text tool
19
Changing default settings

When you run CorelDraw, it will use its default settings for pen
outline width, fill, and typeface. Bear in mind when you change
default settings, that these changes will only take effect on objects
created from now onwards.
On your own computer, the changes you make to default settings can
be saved from one work session to the next. Multi-user computers,
for instance in educational institutions, may be set up so a standard
configuration is restored each time CorelDraw is loaded.
Changing Text defaults
Make sure that you dont have any text objects selected.
From the Text menu, select Format Text.
Click to select whether you want the new settings to apply to
artistic text, paragraph text, or both, then OK.
The Format Text dialog box will open. Make your choices and
OK.
Changing Pen and Fill defaults
You can change the default Outline Pen attributes in a similar way,
making sure that you dont have any objects selected, and applying
new choices from any of the Pen flyout tools. If the CorelDraw setup
youre working on doesnt already default to this, it can be especially
useful to have Outline Pen set to nil width for text objects, and to a
width of your choice for other objects. Simply repeat the process of
applying choices, and specify each time in the Outline Pen dialog
box what type of object you want these settings to apply to.
Default fills can be altered with the Fill flyout tools following the
same procedure.
No outline/ fill icon
20
The default fill is usually set to black for text

objects, and no fill for graphic objects. Bear in
mind that no fill is not at all the same as a white fill,
and the distinction is vital when you want to place
objects on top of one another.
Changing typing options

Like Word or WordPerfect, CorelDraw 7 has a variety of settings
designed to make your life easier. For example, you may find its set
up so that the first letter you type will always be capitalised. It may
assume that if you type (c) you want a copyright symbol: . Red
wavy lines may appear to suggest that your spelling needs correcting.
It could well be that you find such things irritating rather than useful.
If so:
In the Tools menu, click on Options.
If CorelDraw is being too clever about changing
what youre typing, select the Type Assist tab. Note
that you can either switch off Replace text while
typing completely, or add/delete specific items to the
automatic replacements list.
Select the Spelling tab and switch off Perform
automatic spell check if the red wavy lines annoy
you. (But bear in mind that they won't print in any
case.)
Saving settings for new documents

If youre using CorelDraw on your own
computer, there are a number of other default
settings which you may wish to change
most especially in relation to page setups,
ruler and grid settings.
Set up the CorelDraw working
environment exactly as you want it.
From the Tools menu, select
Settings for New Documents.
Select the settings youd like to save,
then click Save Settings Now.
On multi-user computers, administrators can

easily set up a batch file to copy over standard
configuration files every time CorelDraw is loaded.
This means that the previous user's whims,
preferences and accidental alterations won't get
imposed on the next user.
21
Ordering, grouping & aligning objects

Ordering Objects
If you think you have
lost an object from a
CorelDraw file, always
consider the possibility
that something else has
got placed on top of it.
CorelDraw refers to the process of placing objects one behind the

other, as ordering. This is often essential to create the effects you
want: for instance, to place a fill or a shadow box behind some text.
Ordering is not to be confused with layering. Layering is used to
cluster related objects together in a drawing. For example, a wiring
diagram might be created on one layer of a drawing, to overlay an
architects plan on another. Beginners and non-technical users dont
normally need to use layers in software like CorelDraw. (But youll
instantly benefit from using layers when working with bitmaps in
Corel PhotoPaint or Adobe Photoshop.)
Try to copy the example on the left:
Create a small amount of artistic text.
Anywhere nearby, create a rectangle and select it. From the
Edit Menu, select Duplicate.
Apply a white fill (not the same as no fill) to one rectangle,
and a black fill to the other. Move the two rectangles into the
right position in relation to one another.
Make sure one of the rectangles is selected. From the Property
Bar, try out the To Front or To Back buttons.
Move the text so that its on top of the shadow box.
Notice that when a text object is selected, the To Front and To Back
buttons aren't available from the Property Bar. When ordering more
than two objects, you often also need more sophisticated control than
these two buttons provide. In these cases:
From the Arrange menu, select Order.
A greater variety of ordering options is then available.
Always group
critically related objects
immediately. Its very
irritating if, for example,
you find youve
accidentally moved or
stretched one part of the
text shadow box, without
the rest.
Copy the group, then
ungroup to edit the text
in the copy, if you want
to create more objects
with similar formatting.
22
Grouping objects
The above is a good example of when you should use Group, so that
the three objects are treated as one from now on.
Select the three objects.
In the Property Bar, click on Group.
You must Ungroup to edit any object within the group.
Objects, including symbols, may be combined
rather than grouped. From the Arrange menu, select
Break Apart to edit.
Ordering, grouping and aligning objects
Aligning Objects
Learn these features
now: the same concepts
of snapping to grids,
guidelines or objects are
used in all CAD packages.
Pleasing alignment is one of the most important aspects of good

design. Aligning objects purely by eye is always time-consuming,
and never accurate. CorelDraw lets you align objects automatically
with one another; or snap objects onto a grid or guidelines, or to
other objects.
Aligning objects to one another
Select the objects you want to align. (Page 6.)
In the Property Bar, click on Align.
Set alignment choices from the dialog box.
Using a Grid
Always set the grid to suit the particular needs of the work
youre doing. Otherwise, Snap to Grid wont be a help, and
may be a hindrance.
In the Layout menu, select Grid & Ruler Setup.
The grid will use whatever units you have specified for the
ruler (page 4). Bear in mind that a grid won't show fully
unless you're viewing at an appropriate magnification, but
snap to grid will work whether or not the grid is visible.
Creating Guidelines
Use Guidelines as you would a ruler or T-square. They are purely onscreen guides they won't print.
Click anywhere on the horizontal ruler bar, and drag down
onto your page area. A blue horizontal guideline will appear
on screen.Follow the same process to create a vertical
guideline. Refer to online help if you want a guideline at an
angle.
To remove guidelines: drag them back to the ruler bar.
Snapping options
You can snap to guidelines or other objects, as well as grids. You
will often want to switch quickly between having Snaps set on, and
off.
Check that no objects are selected.
From the Property Bar, click the appropriate snap button or
buttons.
Look up Snap to Object in online help to see how this feature
works.
Ordering, grouping and aligning objects
23
Importing and exporting bitmaps

You will often want to incorporate a bitmap image into a CorelDraw
file. You may also need to export to bitmap format from CorelDraw
for instance, to save images in a format you can use within Web
pages. In addition CorelDraw has the capacity to import and export
in standard vector formats files in .dxf format can be moved
between CorelDraw and CAD software packages. You can also
export text to standard word processing formats.
Importing and cropping bitmaps
CorelDraw has a very wide range of conversion filters which
allow you to import and export graphics from and to all the most
commonly used file formats.
In the File Menu, click on Import.
The Import Dialog box will appear.
Click on the Arrow by the Files of Type box, and
scroll down the list this shows you all the file
formats which CorelDraw can handle. If the setting
is left on All Files, you can simply select the file
you want whatever its format.
If you want to crop your image, it's best to do so at
this stage, before it's imported. Otherwise, the
unwanted parts of the image will be adding
unnecessarily to your file size.
Select Crop from the box lower centre of the window. A
Crop Image window will open.
Click and drag on the image preview handles to crop; or
specify crop area in exact measurements.
Once the bitmap is loaded into CorelDraw, you can use the Shape
tool to crop bitmaps to non-rectangular shapes.
Click on the Shape tool, then click on the bitmap you want to
crop. Nodes will appear at each corner. Click and drag a node
to modify the outline shape.
Add in extra nodes as you require: double-click on the Shape
tool or on a node to display the Node Edit box. Click on the
bitmap outline where you want an extra node, then click the
Node + button in the box.
When cropping a bitmap to a complex shape, its often
best to define a path using Photoshop or Photopaint.
But also look at CorelDraws PowerClip capabilities
page 33. Designating background colours as
transparent is another useful strategy page 32.
24
Altering bitmaps
If you want to carry out sophisticated transformations to a bitmap
image, it's usually best do this before importing the image: use
software designed for the purpose, such as Adobe Photoshop or
Corel Photopaint. But CorelDraw does provide a "cut-down" set of
bitmap manipulation tools for you to use with bitmaps after
importing them.
Select your bitmap.
The Property Bar will change to display the tools
you're most likely to need.
Among other things you can rotate a bitmap, mirror it, and adjust
sharpness, brightness etc. from here.
From the menu, choose Bitmaps.
From here, the same commands can be accessed as from the Property
Bar, and more besides. Resample lets you change the size and
resolution of the bitmap; Convert to allows you to change its colour
mode for instance, from full colour to greyscale. These options can be
useful to keep your overall file size manageable for example, a
greyscale or 256-colour (8-bit) image will take only one-third the space
of a full-colour (24-bit) image.
Try out the different effects available (Blur, noise, etc.)
Wrapping text round a bitmap or other object
Paragraph text can be wrapped around any object, whether it's an
imported bitmap image, or a shape created in CorelDraw. The text
must be in paragraph mode, not artistic. (Page 14.) Text can be
converted from artistic to paragraph mode if necessary - select and
click the Convert Text icon to the right of the Property Bar.
Right-click on the object which you want to wrap text
around. If you object is already positioned in the text, you may
need to move it so you can select it independently of the text,
then move it back into position.
Select Wrap Paragraph Text from the popup menu.
To make sure that your text doesn't come too close to the object:
Right-click on the object and select Properties from the
popup. Click the General tab, then set Text Wrap Offset as
required.
If you want to wrap text around part, not all of a
bitmap image, it's often useful to draw an outline
shape around the part from which you want text to
be repelled, set the outline width to none, and
wrap text around this invisible shape.
25
Exporting to bitmaps
Jargon:
Resolution: The
number of dots used
to create an image measured in dots per
inch (dpi) or pixels
per inch (ppi).
You can export all or part of any CorelDraw file to bitmap format.
However, this is likely to result in significant loss of quality,
especially if text or fine lines are exported. Quality loss can be kept
to a minimum by specifying high resolution settings when you
export, but your bitmap file may then become very large and slow to
work with.
A variety of bitmap file formats are available. You must use a
compressed format GIF or JPEG if you want to include an image in
a Web page. Online help has good information about which of these to
use when. BMP is a reliable format for images you want to import into
Microsoft packages such as Word. Uncompressed TIFF is a good
choice for images you want to transfer between PCs and Macs, or if you
want to load into specialist bitmap or dtp software.
If you only want to export part of your CorelDraw image to a
bitmap file, select what you want included.
From the File Menu, select Export. The Export Dialog Box
will open. (Only the lower part of this is illustrated.)
Set Save as Type to the file format you
require.
Set the checkboxes for Export this Page
Only and Selected Only right of the
save as type list as you need.
Name your file, then click Export.
A second dialog box will open. This is where all the important
decisions need to be made. Experiment, especially with resolution.
Watch the Projected uncompressed file size reading at
the bottom of the box, and note how your choices affect it.
256 colours will often be fine for a computer-generated
image, and the file will be only one-third the size it would be
saved in "millions of colours" Dithering is usually best left off
to avoid a speckly effect.
Best quality is achieved by leaving size set at 1 to 1. Scale up
or down in CorelDraw before exporting.
High quality printing requires much higher resolution than
simply displaying on screen. But a bitmap saved at 300 dpi is
four times the byte size it would be at 150 dpi, which in turn is
four times the byte size of the same image at 75 dpi.
Anti-aliasing is used to minimise jagged effects on text and
fine lines when exported to bitmaps. Super-sampling does the
job better than normal anti-aliasing, but takes longer.
26
CorelDraw bells & whistles

Useful variations on Copy and Paste
Like all Windows software, CorelDraws Standard toolbar
includes the usual Undo, Redo, Cut, Copy and Paste operations.
Select All is also commonplace in Windows software, and makes it
very quick to delete everything from a file, if you want to start
afresh. (See page 8.)
Pasting
When you use the Paste option, CorelDraw will usually place the
new copy of the object, directly on top of the original. This is
confusing you are likely to think that nothing has happened. Click
and drag to move your pasted copy to its desired position.
Duplicating objects
Tip: The keyboard

shortcut to repeat an
action is especially
useful. Hold down the
Control key, and press
R (Ctrl + R)
Duplicate copies and pastes in one go, putting the copy down
slightly offset from the original.
Select the object or objects you want to duplicate, then select
Duplicate from the Edit menu.
Notice that the duplicate copy, not the original, is now the selected
object. If you want further copies:
From the Edit menu, select Repeat.
Your second duplicate will be positioned in relation to the first
duplicate, not to the original.
You can exactly specify the relative position of a duplicate this is
useful if you want multiple copies of an object at fixed distances
from one another.
In the Property Bar, use the Duplicate Distance buttons.
Either type in the values you want, or use the arrow keys to
increase/decrease.
Original
Duplicate
The example is set up so that duplicates are placed two inches to the
right and one inch above the original. Duplicates can be placed to the
left of and/or below the original by specifying negative values.
Distance is measured from the centre of one object to the centre of
the next not the space between the two. Once you have set
preferences here, they will remain in force when you duplicate or
clone, until you change the values again.
CorelDraw bells and whistles
27
Cloning
If you select Clone rather than Duplicate from the Edit menu, the
copies will remain linked to the original. In the Status Line, the
original will be described as the control object. Changes you make
to the control object, will be automatically applied to the clones.
Select the object or objects you want to clone from, then select
Clone from the Edit menu.
The clone will now be the selected object. Notice that you cant
simply repeat the Clone command, because you cant clone from a
clone. To place further copies of the Clone at fixed relative positions:
Make sure the first clone (not the control object) is selected,
and use Duplicate and Repeat as described on the previous
page.
In the example, an artistic letter (1) has been cloned and duplicated
as described above(2); the control object has then been selected, and
a different fill applied (3).
You can modify a clone independently if you wish. If you do so, any
attributes you have specifically set for this clone will override the
control object attributes. However, any attributes which you havent
reset on a clone, will change when you change the control object. For
instance, if you only changed the shade of an individual clone, and
then change the pen outline thickness of your control object, this
alteration would apply to your changed clone.
Copying text formatting
Its often useful to apply the text formatting which you have set for
one text object, to another.
Select the source object the text from which you want the
formatting to be copied.
Click and drag the source object with the right mouse button
until its resting above the target object.
Leave go of the mouse button. If you've got the knack, a
popup menu should now appear. Look at the different choices,
and select Copy All Properties.
The typeface, typesize, outline and fill of the source object will now
be applied to the target object.
You can use this method to copy outline and fill
from between any objects, not just text ones.
28
Using symbols and clip art

Symbols
In the Standard Toolbar, select the Symbols icon. The
Symbols Rollup will open.
Choose a symbol. Use the arrow keys at the top and bottom of
the rollup to select a different set of symbols, and to scroll
through the symbols available from that set. You can specify
the size from here, but its easy to alter it later with the Pick
tool.
Click and drag your chosen symbol onto the CorelDraw
drawing area.
Scale or stretch the symbol to the size you want.
You can alter the outline and fill of any symbol,
just as you can any other CorelDraw object.
However, with all but the simplest symbols, the
results you get might not be quite what you
expect. You need a good understanding of
CorelDraw to avoid frustrations. Most symbols are
grouped or combined objects you must ungroup
or break apart if you want to fine-tune them. See
page 22.
Clip Art
CorelDraw offers a wide range of clip art, all of which can be altered
to suit your wishes just like any other CorelDraw object. Because
these take up a large amount of disk space, they are accessed from
CD-ROM, and not installed on the hard disk. With the CD-ROM in
the drive:
In the Standard Toolbar, select the Scrapbook icon. The
Scrapbook Rollup will appear.
Click the Corel tab in the rollup. You should see the Clipart
folder as illustrated. Double-click to open it.
Select the appropriate folder, then click and drag your
chosen image onto the CorelDraw drawing area.
For an index search, scroll down to the bottom of the window,
and youll find a file called Keywords.txt. Double-click to
open this text file so you can search the list for what you want.
Whatever software the file opens in, a Search command will
be available from the Edit menu.
29
Special Effects
If you have reached the point where you feel reasonably confident at
all the operations already described in this document, finding out by
yourself how to use the special effects which CorelDraw provides
should be within your capabilities. These pages introduce just some
of them.
Blending
Create two objects and apply different fills a rectangle and a
circle were used in the example.
In the Toolbox, click on the Interactive Blend Tool, then
click and drag from one object to the other.
Your two objects should now have blended, and the Property Bar
will change to display a set of blend control tools. From here, you
can change the number of steps in your blend, blend direction, and
more besides.
However, you may find the Blend Roll-up provides easier ways of
handling things:
Select the two objects you want to blend. From the Effects
menu, select Blend. Remember that you need to click on the
Apply button before the blend will take effect.
However you create a blend, it can be modified later:
Try selecting the blend. If you select by clicking on an
intermediate step, the selected object will be described in the
status bar (bottom of CorelDraw window) as a blend group.
With the blend group selected, you can size it, scale it and
move it. Click on the blend outline to enter Rotate and
Skew mode (page 6), and try the effects.
You can still select your initial two objects independently
from the blend. These are now described in the status line as
control objects. Try the effects on your blend of moving,
scaling and otherwise modifying either of your control
objects. Then try some different settings in the blend rollup.
The path can be made invisible once

the blend is as you want it to be.
30
To fit a blend along a path: create a blend, create a path object, then
select the Interactive Blend Tool. Using the right mouse button,
drag the blend group over the path. When you release the button, a
popup menu should appear. Select Fit Blend to Path. Change the
path, and the blend will reroute, just as when you fit text to a path.
(Page 16.)
Extruding
If you found playing with blends slightly addictive, extruding is still
more dangerous.
Create an object with an interesting shape to extrude, and
select it.
From the Effects menu, select Extrude. Notice that this
shares the same window as the Blend rollup if this is already
open, select from the picklist at the top.
From the rollup, you can control depth, lighting, colour.
Experiment with every setting, and different combinations.
Some things will not have any good effects at all it all
depends on what kind of object youre extruding. Online help
is quite useful.
Remember you need to click on Apply before your
settings take effect.
Welding and trimming
Create some overlapping objects, as in the example.
Select the objects. From the Arrange menu, select Weld.
The Weld Rollup will open. Click on Weld To, then on one
of your selected objects.
A single object will now be created, with the same outline and fill as
the object you selected to Weld To. You can trim one object with
another by a similar process:
Create some overlapping objects, and select them.
From the Arrange menu, select Trim. Or, if the Weld Rollup
is open, select it from there.
Click the Trim button, then on the target object the one you
want trimmed.
Move away or delete the object you used to trim with.
Mirroring
Select an object or objects, then click the horizontal or vertical
mirror button in the Property Bar.
If you want a mirrored copy, rather than replacing the original object:
From the Arrange menu, select Transform, then Scale and
Mirror. Click the mirror buttons as required, then click Apply
to Duplicate.
Just as you would do simple stretches with the mouse, you can also
mirror objects by clicking and dragging:
Select an object or objects, and drag one of the side handles
over and through to the other side.
31
Making objects transparent

Any object, whether created in CorelDraw or an imported bitmap,
can be made transparent.
Select the object to which you want to apply transparency.
In the Toolbox, click the Interactive Transparency Tool.
The cursor changes to a wineglass icon. Click and drag
across the object and transparency will be applied.
Once you have applied transparency to an object, the Property Bar
will change to give you access to a range of tools for specifying
exactly the transparency you want. Experiment!
Making a specified colour transparent

Using the Bitmap Color Mask Rollup, you can hide colours (e.g.
white or black) within a bitmap, so that they are treated as
transparent. This is especially useful to make single-colour
background areas transparent, so giving a "cutout" effect.
Select your bitmap. From the Property Bar or Bitmaps menu,
select Bitmap Color Mask. A rollup will appear.
Make sure the top bar in the colour mask is selected. (A blue
marker will show to its right.)
Click on the eyedropper icon, top left of the rollup.
While the cursor is an eyedropper shape, click within your
bitmap on the colour you want to be transparent.
Adjust tolerance if you want to hide not just a single colour
shade, but a range of shades within that colour.
If you want more than one colour to be transparent:
Make sure the next bar down in the colour mask is selected,
then repeat the steps described above.
When you have chosen all the colours you want:
Click the Apply button.
Move the bitmap on top of something else to check that the
desired transparent effect is achieved.
When you import a multi-layered Photoshop (.psd)
file into CorelDraw, it will consist of a group of
objects, with one object corresponding to each
layer. If you want to use just one layer, ungroup the
object, then move the layers away from each other.
Delete the ones you don't want. This is useful if
you've made a cutout on a layer in Photoshop and
want to carry the cutout effect into CorelDraw.
32
Creating your own patterns

Any bitmap image can be used as the basis for creating a tiled fill.
Create the shape you want to fill with your own pattern.
In the Toolbox, click the Fill tool, then Pattern Tool (third
from left). The Pattern Fill dialog box will open. Select
Bitmap type, then click Load. The Import dialog box will
open. (Page 24). Select the file you want to use for your
pattern, and OK.
You will now be returned to the Pattern Fill dialog box. Set
tile size as you require, and OK.
To control pattern offset: Click the Tiling button in the
Pattern Fill dialog box and select from the options available.
Powerclips
Powerclip lets you quickly clip a bitmap image to any shape. Any
vector object - including text objects - can be used as the "container".
Import the bitmap you want to clip. (Page 24)
Create the shape you want to contain the bitmap.
Select the bitmap, then click and drag with the right mouse
button until the bitmap is in the correct position in relation to
the container shape. When you stop dragging and lift your
finger from the mouse, a popup menu should appear. Select
PowerClip Inside, and the bitmap will be clipped to the
required shape.
To reposition the bitmap inside the container: from the
Effects menu, select Powerclip, then Edit Contents.
When you've done, select Finish Editing from this menu.
Perspective effects
Select the object to which you want to apply perspective.
From the Effects menu, select Add Perspective, then click
and drag the object nodes to create the perspective you want.
If you want to edit the perspective, first select Clear
Perspective from the Effects menu, then repeat the process.
Envelopes
Any vector object can be distorted to any shape by applying an
envelope, which controls the shape of the distortion.
You can select from the preset

choices, then edit as you want.
Select the object you want to distort.

From the Effects menu, select Envelope. The envelope rollup
will appear. Click Add New or Add Preset, then click and
drag on the object nodes to pull the envelope to the shape you
want. Nothing happens till you click the rollup Apply button!
33
Printing from CorelDraw

When you're ready to print:
Save your file just before you print in case you have a crash.
If more than one printer is available to you: from the File
menu, select Print Setup, and choose the printer you want.
From the File menu, select Print Preview.
Always Print Preview before you print. Check that
your whole design fits within the printable area of
the page this is shown as a dotted border in Print
Preview mode.
You'll sometimes want to scale your whole design at the printing
stage either to fit within the printable area, or to print on a different
paper size from the size you designed at. To do this either:
Click and drag on the handles around the image area.
Click the Options button. The Print Options dialog box will
open. From Layout, select Fit to Page.
Fit to page may have unexpected results if you have objects in
your drawing area outside the page limits. Sometimes you
may not have realised they were there. To check: 1) Close
Print Preview. 2)From the Zoom tool, select Zoom All Objects
(top right). 3) Click Select All in the Edit menu.
When all is as you want: click the Print button in the toolbar
to print one copy of the whole file; or select Print from the
File menu to print specific pages or multiple copies.
Printing to Postscript printers
Convert to curves
button
Many high-quality laser printers use the Postscript page description

language. As vector software has developed, its capabilities have
outstripped those of Postscript. Some types of object may not print at
all, or will print only partially, on a Postscript printer. Potential
problems you should look out for and "workarounds" include:
Complex grouped objects try ungrouping before you print.
Text objects to which complex fills, perspectives or
enveloping have been applied, particularly if the object has an
outline as well as a fill. Possible workarounds are 1) Convert
problem text to curves select, then click the Property Bar
button. 2) Convert to bitmap select, then choose Convert
to Bitmap from the Bitmaps menu. Both these procedures will
involve quality loss. (1) isn't always effective, but (2) can
produce very large files.
Many printers can run in both Postscript and an
alternative mode. Use the alternative if possible.
34
Printing from CorelDraw
Making the most of CorelDraw help

If you have worked your way through this document, you are well on
your way to becoming a competent CorelDraw user. You have been
introduced to many of CorelDraw's capabilities, and you should have
begun to get a feel for the more general computer graphics concepts
which you most need to understand.
Once you have reached this stage, you're at the point where you can
really benefit from online help. Beginners often find online help
frustrating rather than useful you need some basic confidence and a
familiarity with the jargon before you can make the most of what it
offers.
What's Tutorials Hints

This?
Corel Tutorials
Getting Started
Working with Text
Changing the
appearance of objects
Special effects
Publishing &
Internet
However, CorelDraw does provide three easily-accessed help tools

on its standard toolbar which new as well as experienced users will
often find useful.
What's This? Click on the tool, then click on the item (for
instance, tool in the toolbox or property bar) you want help
with. An information box will popup. Right-clicking on the
item then selecting What's This from the popup menu has the
same effect.
Tutorials. Click here to run the Corel Tutor. When the
opening screen has loaded, click on one of the hyperlink
pictures down the left of the tutorial window. The list of
tutorials to select from will change to reflect your selected
area of interest. Most tutorials include "Show me"
demonstrations these can be useful if you're having
difficulty with a particular feature.
Hints. This help option provides context-sensitive help which
you can keep "always on top". Once you've clicked the hints
button, the content of the Hints window will change
depending on the tool and/or object you have selected.
From the Help menu, Help Topics allows you to search for
help via a Contents page, an Index, or by a Search. The Search
option involves building up a database of words from the
CorelDraw help files and this results in a very slow initial
process when you first use it. Unless you're regularly using
CorelDraw on your own computer, you're unlikely to find this
worthwhile.
If you have Internet access on your computer, you can link
straight to Corel's Web site, and to Corel newsgroups, from
the Help menu Corel on the Web option.
Making the most of CorelDraw help
35
Index
Aligning Objects
Artistic Text
Bezier tool
Bitmaps, concepts
Bitmaps, altering
Bitmaps, cropping
Bitmaps, exporting to
Bitmaps, importing
Blending
Bulleted text
Clip Art
Cloning
Closed objects, creating freehand
Colour, applying
Colour settings, bitmap
Column layout
Combined objects
Copying objects
Copying outline and fill attributes
Copying and pasting text
Copying text formatting
Curve segment, deleting
Default settings, changing
Deleting objects
Dimensioning tools
Distorting objects
Drawing units, setting
Drop capitals
Duplicating objects
Ellipse Segment, creating
Ellipses, creating
Envelopes
Extruding
File formats, bitmap
Fill defaults, changing
Fill tool
Fill, changing
Freehand drawing tool
Fountain fills
Grid, using
Grouping objects
Guidelines, creating
Handles
Help tools
Interactive Fill Tool
Layers,
Lines, drawing
Line length and direction, modifying
Line segment, deleting
Line segments, connecting
Linked text
Magnification levels
Mirroring
Moving objects
Multi-page capabilities, limitations
Multi-page documents
Natural Pen tool
Object Manager
Online Help
Ordering Objects
Outline and fill attributes, copying
Outline pen tool
Outline, changing
Page setup
36
23
14
12
1
25
24
26
24
30
16
29
28
11
9
26
19
22
3
8
10
17
28
13
13
20
7
12
33
4
16
27
13
6
33
31
26
20
10
9
11
10
23
22
23
7
35
10
22
11
13
13
11
18
5
31, 8
7
19
18
12
7
35
22
10
9
9
4, 19
Pages, inserting and deleting

Paragraph Text
Pasting
Pattern fills
Patterns, creating your own
Pen defaults, changing
Perspective
Pick tool: Selecting objects
Polygons, creating
Postscript printers, problems
Powerclip
Printing
Property bar
Properties, copying
Rectangles, creating
Refreshing the Screen Display
Resolution
Right mouse button
Rollups
Rotating objects
Saving files
Scaling objects
Selecting objects: pick tool
Settings, saving for new documents
Shape tool
Skewing objects
Snapping options
Spellcheck
Spirals, creating
Status bar
Stretching objects
Symbols
Text defaults, changing
Text tool
Text, copying and pasting
Text, fitting to a path
Text, importing
Text, linked
Text, wrapping round objects
Toolbox
Tool tips boxes
Transparency in bitmaps
Transparent fills
Trimming
Tutorials
Typeface, changing
Typing options, changing
Undoing actions
Vector, concepts
Welding
Zoom tool
19
15
27
10
33
20
33
7
6
34
33
34
3
28
6
5
26
3
9
8
4
8
7
21
13
8
23
21
6
3
8
29
20
14
17
16
17
18
25
2
3
32
32
31
35
15
21
6
1
31
5
Index

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Sheffield Hallam University, Corporate Information Systems

Corporate Information Systems

Curving corners on a Rectangle

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Creating & modifying simple objects.........................................................................6

Using the Text tool .....................................................................................................14

Changing default settings...........................................................................................20

Ordering grouping & aligning objects ...................................................................22

Importing and exporting bitmaps...............................................................................24

CorelDraw bells & whistles .......................................................................................27

Printing from CorelDraw...........................................................................................34

Sheffield Hallam University, Corporate Information Systems

CorelDraw is the leading PC package for commercial artists. It

Sheffield Hallam University, Corporate Information Systems

The CorelDraw Toolbox

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Right mouse button

Sheffield Hallam University, Corporate Information Systems

Setting up your file

From the Menu, select File, then Save.

Sheffield Hallam University, Corporate Information Systems

Using the Zoom tool

Refreshing the Screen Display

Sheffield Hallam University, Corporate Information Systems

Creating & modifying simple objects

Creating & modifying simple objects

Sheffield Hallam University, Corporate Information Systems

The Pick tool: Selecting objects

Creating and modifying simple objects

Sheffield Hallam University, Corporate Information Systems

Click and drag

Select the object or objects you want to size or move.

Creating & modifying simple objects

Sheffield Hallam University, Corporate Information Systems

Changing an objects Outline and Fill

Using the Outline pen tool

Select the object or objects you want to colour.

Select one of the objects you have created.

A flyout toolbox will appear, to provide a range of tools for

Creating and modifying simple objects

Sheffield Hallam University, Corporate Information Systems

Using the Fill tool

Select one of the closed objects you have created.

Click on the Fill tool. A flyout will appear.

Click on the Special Fill rollup (right of flyout). This gives

Click on the different icons and scrollbar arrows in the

Copying outline and fill attributes

Select another object to which to apply this fill.

In the Special Fill rollup, click on the eyedropper. The cursor

The Interactive Fill Tool

In the Toolbox, click on the Interactive Fill Tool.

Creating & modifying simple objects

Sheffield Hallam University, Corporate Information Systems

Using the freehand drawing tool

Click and drag to draw a freehand line or curve.

To draw a straight line: click where you want the beginning

To constrain the straight line to 15o increments: hold down

Connecting line segments

Creating and modifying simple objects

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Using the Bezier tool

The outline boxes show the curves nodes, which can be

Creating & modifying simple objects