CorelDraw

The Basics
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 CORELDRAW (THE BASICS)

Introduction
CorelDraw is a versatile computer graphics program that can be used to produce
most types of documents such as:

Logos

Letters

Letterheads

Notes

Manuals

Notices

Labels

Business cards

Greeting cards

Web pages

PDF documents

and so on Figure 1a
Examples of CorelDRAW files

You do not have to be a graphics artist or computer expert to use CorelDraw,

almost anybody who knows how to use a computer mouse to click can use it.
Although over 12 versions of CorelDraw have been released, however, the basic
mode of operations is the same in most versions. The course note will feature
CorelDraw version 12.

Getting Started with CorelDraw

How to start CorelDraw
 Click Start  All programs  CorelDraw Graphics Suite 12  CorelDraw 12
 If a welcome screen appears, click the new icon
Note: These steps may vary slightly if you are using another version of CorelDraw.

Figure 1a
Samples of CorelDRAW files

Figure 1b
CorelDRAW welcome screen

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CORELDRAW APPLICATION WINDOW

When you launch CorelDraw, the application window opens containing a drawing
window. The rectangle in the center of the drawing window is the drawing page
where you create your drawing. The CorelDraw application window appears below.
A description of its parts follows.

PRACTICE SESSION 1: YOUR FIRST DRAWING

Figure 2b
Exercise #1

Figure 2a
CorelDRAW application window

A good way to get started with CorelDraw is to practice.

Hence, let us produce a very simple cover page.

1. click text tool (on the toolbox)

2. click anywhere on the drawing page

3. type ‘CorelDraw’ and press Enter key

4. type ‘for’ and press Enter key

5. type ‘Beginners’

6. click pick tool (on the toolbox)

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7. Ensure that text ‘CorelDraw for Beginners’ is highlighted otherwise click

on it

OR

8. Click Font Size List drop down arrow

(Located on the Property bar) (8)

9. Click 100) (9)

10. Click Horizontal Alignment button

(Located on the Property bar) (10)

11. Click Horizontal Alignment button

(Located on the property bar) (11)

12. Click Center Alignment (12)

13. Click Arrange item on the menu bar (13)

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14. Click Align and Distribute (14)

15. Click Center to Page (15)

16. Click any of the ‘color wells’ (color wells are boxes on the color palette)

Congratulations! – You’ve completed your first drawing.

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Basic Concepts
COMMONLY USED TOOLS

A. The Rectangle tool

Click on the Rectangle tool whenever you want to draw a box. Double-click the
Rectangle tool to create a ‘page frame’ (a page frame is a box that covers the
entire drawing page).

PRACTICE SESSION 2: DRAWING A SIMPLE BOX

1.) Click the Rectangle tool hold down left mouse button

2.) Click and hold down your left-mouse-button on

an Drag mouse pointer diagonally

Empty space within your drawing page (2)

3.) Drag your mouse pointer diagonally while holding release mouse button

Down your mouse button (3)

4.) Release the mouse button (4)

Label figure
PRACTICE SESSION 3: CREATING A PAGE FRAME Figure 5a
Drawing a simple box
(A page frame is a box that covers the entire page.
Page frames may be used as borders or page
backgrounds)

1.) Double click the Rectangle tool

2.) Click any of the color boxes on the color palette

(this makes the presence of the rectangle
apparent)

Figure 5b
A page frame

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B. The Pick tool

Click on the Pick tool whenever you want to highlight or select an object or text.
An object or text must be selected whenever you want to perform an operation on
it. For example, if you want to change an object’s color or delete it, you have to
first select it with the Pick tool.

HANDLES
Whenever an object or text is selected, handles appear around the object. You
can switch back and forth between the selection handles and the rotate handles
by clicking on an object or text repeatedly.
The eight (8) square shaped handles are the selection handle. The selection

handles may be used to adjust the size of an object. We would consider the rotate
handles later.

PRACTICE SESSION 4: USING HANDLES TO MANUALLY ADJUST THE

SIZE OF A RECTANGLE
1.) Draw a box (see practice session 2)
2.) Ensure that the box is selected otherwise click on it (2) (an
object is selected if the eight square shaped appear around
it)
3.) Move your mouse pointer to any of the square-shaped
handles (3)
(Ensure that the mouse pointer changes to an arrow with
two heads)
4.) Hold down your left mouse button
5.) Drag outwards (away from the center of the box) to
increase the box’s size
Or inwards to reduce it
6.) Release the mouse button when you are satisfied with the
size.

CORNER HANDLES AND CENTER HANDLES

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As earlier mentioned, eight (8) selection handles appear whenever an object is

selected. The handles numbered in the following illustration 1, 3, 5, and 7 are
corner handles while the handles numbered 2, 4, 6, 8 are center handles:

Center handles
Corner handles

Whenever you use the mouse pointer to any of the four (4) handles at the corners
an arrow with two heads that has a diagonal orientation appears. You can use any
of these four (4) corner nodes to increase or reduce both the width and height of
the object at the same time.
However, when you the mouse pointer to any of the four (4) center handles an
arrow with two heads that has a vertical or horizontal orientation appears. You

can use any of these four (4) center handles to increase or reduce either the width
or height of the object.

PRACTICE SESSION 5: SETTING A SPECIFIC SIZE FOR A BOX

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Using CorelDraw, you may want to design a business card that measures 3.5 inches
by 2.0 inches such as the sample business card shown bellow. Hence it is important
to know how to set specific width and height for a box.

1.) Click an empty

space within the
drawing
window
2.0 inches (This is to ensure
that nothing is
highlighted)
Figure 8a
A sample business card 2.) Click the Units
Selector drop
down arrow
3.5 inches (On the Property
bar - See Page 2)

3.) Click Inches

4.) Draw a box (see practice session 2)
5.) Ensure that the box is selected otherwise
click on it

Ensure that the No proportional Scaling/Sizing

Ratio Lock on the Property bar lock is OPEN
otherwise click it (note: if the lock is open,
leave it - do not click it)

6.) Type 3.5 and 2 into the first and second

object size
Text boxes respectively.

NOTES:

The resultant box will measure 3.5 inches (width) by 2 inches. This can be
verified by looking at the left side of the Status bar at the bottom of the
window

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Ensuring that the No proportional Scaling/Sizing Ratio Lock on the

Property bar is OPEN allows you to freely size objects. If the lock is CLOSED
you would not be able to set precise figures for BOTH width and height.

2.0 inches

Figure 9a
A rectangle measuring 3.5 inches by 2 inches

3.5 inches

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WORKING WITH COLORS

You may apply any colors on selected or text in your drawing using the color
palette.
You may also choose to make an object or text transparent. Always ensure
that the object
That you want to apply a color to is selected before you click any of boxes on
the color palette. If nothing is selected before you click a box on the color
palette the following dialog box would appear:
Click the Cancel button when this
occurs and then ensure that you use
the Pick tool to select the object
that you want apply a color on
before choosing a color from the
color palette.

What if you click the OK button?

Well, do not worry, you computer
will not explode. If you click the OK
button, the color you click becomes
the default color. The default color
is the color that CorelDraw
automatically applies on new
objects.
TRANSPARENT OBJECTS
A transparent object is an object that is filled with no color, not even white.
The first box of the color palette (1) can be used to make an object
transparent. As illustrated bellow, the box labeled - B is an example of a
transparent object whereas box C is filled with color white.

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EXPANDING THE COLOR PALETTE

Click the color palette expander (2) to display additional columns of colors.

OBJECT OUTLINE COLOR

An object’s outline color is the color of its edge or frame. You may decide apply
an outline color that differs from its fill color. The color palette can be used to
apply both fill and outline colors. While the left mouse button used to apply fill
color, the right mouse button is
Fill color used for outline color.

PRACTICE SESSION 6:
Outline color

WORKING WITH OUTLINE

1.) Draw a box

2.) Ensure that the object is selected
As illustrated (2)
3.) Right-click the any of the boxes on
The color palette
4.) Click the Outline Tool on the toolbox
(A fly out toolbar will appear (4)

5.) Click 24-Point outline (5) (this would

make the outline color more noticeable)
If an object is selected, it’s fill color,
outline color and outline width is displayed
at the far right side of

the status bar (6).

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WORKING WITH ROUND SHAPES

The Ellipse Tool (1) on the toolbar can be used to draw round
shapes.
It can be used to draw ellipses or prefect circles.
Use the Ellipse Tool the same way you use the Rectangle Tool:

PRACTICE SESSION 7: DRAWING AN ELLIPSE

1.) Click the Ellipse Tool on the toolbar

2.) Move your mouse

pointer to an empty space on the Drawing Page
3.) Click and hold down your left mouse button
4.) While holding down the left mouse button, drag the mouse pointer away from
your starting point until it is a size that you want.
5.) Release the mouse button.

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PRACTICE SESSION 8: DRAWING A PERFECT CIRCLE

1.) Click the Ellipse Tool on the toolbar
2.) Move your mouse pointer to an empty space on the
Drawing Page
3.) Hold down the CTRL key (on your keyboard)
4.) Click and hold down your left mouse button
5.) While holding down the left mouse button and the
CTRL key on the keyboard, drag the mouse pointer
away from your starting point until it is the size that
you want.
6.) Release the mouse button
7.) Release the CTRL key

That was tough, wasn’t it? Why hold down the

CTRL key

USING CTRL AS CORELDRAW’S CONSTRAIN KEY

CTRL key can be used as a constrain key in CorelDraw. The following are examples
of instances when you can use CTRL as a constrain key:
a.) If you want to draw a perfect circle (as in practice session 8)

b.) If you want to draw a perfect square using the Rectangle tool

c.) If you want to draw a straight line using the Freehand tool

Other instances when you can use CTRL as CorelDraw’s constrain key would be
considered later.

SELECTING OBJECTS
The Pick tool can be used to select one or more objects. Selecting several
objects at the same time enables you to work or such objects as a group instead of
working on them individually. Let us consider two (2) methods of selecting several
objects.

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MARQUEE SELECT
Marquee select is to highlight objects by dragging the Pick tool diagonally while
holding down the left mouse button and enclosing objects in a marquee box with
dotted lines as illustrated below:
Whenever several objects are
selected the status bar usually
indicates the number of objects
that are selected (1).

CorelDraw deals with a group of

selected objects as a single block
with eight handles appearing
Around the entire block.
For instance, if you click on one of
the color boxes of the color
palette while
several objects are selected, they would

all be give the color you choose.

If you press the DELETE key on your keyboard while several objects are
selected, they would all disappear.

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SELECTING SEVERAL OBJECTS USING THE SHIFT KEY

An alternative method of selecting several objects is using the SHIFT key. To
accomplish this, press and hold down the SHIFT key while you click the items to be
selected one after the other (while holding down the SHIFT key). Release the
SHIFT after you have selected the last item.

SELECTING ALL OBJECTS IN A PAGE

It is also possible to select all objects in your drawing at once using any of the
following methods:
1. Double click the PICK TOOL or
2. a.) Click EDIT on the menu bar,
b.) Click SELECT ALL
c.) Click OBJECTS

INTRODUCTION TO TEXT
The Text tool allows you to add text (words) to your drawing. Whenever you are
working with text, text formatting buttons and selectors appear on the property
bar:

These can be used to change the appearance, size and alignment of text. To add
text to you drawing, simply take the following steps:

1. Click the Text tool (or press F8)

2. Click where you want the text to appear on the Drawing Window
3. Type your text
4. Click the Pick tool (in order to select the typed text)

SELECTING / HIGHLIGHTING TEXT

Text must be selected / highlighted in order to perform text formatting
operations such as changing font (lettering style), text size, text alignment and
text color. You can highlight an entire block of text using the Pick tool . You

can also highlight some of the words in block of text using the Text tool – this
would be demonstrated in our next practice session (9).

PRACTICE SESSION 9: WORKING WITH TEXT

1.) Click the Text tool

2.) Click on an empty space on you drawing page (1)
3.) Type “Sample text line 1” and press the Enter key
4.) Type “Sample text line 2” and press the Enter key
5.) Click the Pick tool
( At this point, the entire block of text should be highlighted
with eight square handles. If this is not the case, click on the
text block) (1)

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6.) Click Text Size selector on the property bar

7.) Click 72
8.) Click the Text tool
9.) Move your mouse pointer to the beginning of the
second line (2)
10.) Press and hold down the left mouse button
11.) Drag the mouse pointer towards the right side
of this second line until the entire line is
highlighted (ensure that the first line is not
highlighted) (2)
12.) Click RED color well on the color palette.
13.) Click the Pick tool (to remove the text highlight and make the color format more
noticeable.)

COMMENTS ON PRACTICE SESSION # 9

Whenever the entire block of text is selected using the Pick tool, whatever
format operations that are performed affects the entire block of text.

Whenever a section of text block is selected (such as the second line of our
practice session #9) whatever format operations that are performed affects
the selected section only.

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MOVING AN OBJECT OR TEXT FROM ONE POINT TO THE OTHER

The Pick tool can be used to move an object from one position to another by
‘dragging’ the object whenever it is selected. But why would you want to move an
object or text from one position to another? The following are examples of
instances when you may want relocate objects or text:

Moving an object from outside the Drawing page into the Drawing page
because whatever is outside the Drawing page will not be printed whenever
you decide to produce a hard copy of your drawing. (1)

(1)
Sample text
Sample text

(2) U&I

U&I

Placing text that was typed outside a rectangle inside as in the case of
designing a business card. (2)

MOVING OBJECTS USING THE ARROW KEYS

The arrow keys on the keyboard can also be used to move an object or text from
one position whenever it is selected and the eight square handles appear around
it.
Pressing any of the arrow keys on the keyboard whenever an
object or text is selected, move the selected object in the
direction of the arrow key.

However, how far will a selected object move when you press
the arrow key? - This depends on the nudge offset setting. To illustrate, if the
nudge offset is set to 2 inches, then selected objects will move downward by 2
inches whenever you press the down arrow key on you
keyboard. It is recommended that you set your nudge offset
to a small value such as 0.1 inches so that selected objects do
not move too far whenever you press the arrow keys.

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Sample text
2 inches

Sample text

HOW TO SET THE NUDGE OFFSET VALUE

1.) Click the Pick tool
2.) Click an empty space on your Drawing window

3.) Select inches from the Drawing Units selector of the Property bar
4.) Type 0.1 into the Nude Offset box
5.) Press the Enter key on the keyboard

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DRAWING LINES AND CURVES

The Freehand tool (1) is used to draw lines and curves.

PRACTICE SESSION 10: HOW TO DRAW A LINE

1. Click the Freehand tool (1) on the toolbox
2. Click the point where you want your line to start
On you drawing page (do not hold down you mouse button)
3. Click the point where you want the line to end

Figure 19a Figure 19b

Drawing a simple line A simple line

PRACTICE SESSION 11:

USING THE CTRL KEY TO DRAW A VERTICAL OR HORIZONTAL LINE
1. Click the Freehand tool (1) on toolbox
2. Press and hold down the CTRL key on the keyboard
3. Click the point where you want the line to start (while still
holding down the
CTRL key)
4. Click the where you want the line to end
5. Release the CTRL key

Figure 19d
Figure 19c
A horizontal straight line
Drawing a horizontal straight line

Figure 19e Figure 19f

Drawing a vertical straight line A vertical straight line

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PRACTICE SESSION 12: HOW DRAW A CURVE

1. Click the Freehand tool on the toolbox
2. Click the point where you want the curve to start (do not release the mouse
button)
3. Drag and draw the shape that you want your curve to take (while still holding
down the mouse button)
4. Release the mouse button

 Note: Use the right mouse button to click on any of the color boxes on the color palette
whenever you apply color on lines and curves. Please ensure that the curve or line is
selected with the Pick tool before you do this.

Figure 20a
Drawing a curve Figure 20b
A curve drawn with the freehand tool

TOOLS FLYOUT
Some tool buttons on the toolbox buttons have arrows at their bottom right
corners.

Examples of Tools with flyouts: note the arrows at their bottom right corners Examples of Tools without flyouts

If you click this arrow a ‘fly out’ appears that displays a number of related
tools. Whenever the ‘fly out’ appears, you may select any of these related tools
by clicking on it. For example, the Outline tool ‘fly out’ can be used to set
how thick you want you rectangle, circle, line or curve to be.

Figure 20c Figure 20d

Outline tool flyout menu Lines with varying outline widths

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THE ZOOM TOOL

The term ‘Zoom’ means to reduce or magnify the view of a drawing. You can
zoom in to see details or zoom out for a broader view using the Zoom tool. (1)

HOW TO USE THE ZOOM TOOL

1.) Click the Zoom tool (1)
2.) Draw a rectangular marquee around the object(s) that you want to
magnify (2)
3.) Right click the mouse button to ‘zoom out’ (i.e. reduce magnification)

USING KEYBOARD FUNCTION KEYS FOR ZOOM OPERATIONS

Locate the twelve function keys on your keyboard (F1 to F12).
F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 F9 F10 F11 F12

Some of these keys can be used as shortcut keys for zoom operations:

F2 F2 can be used to activate the zoom tool. So whenever you need to use
the zoom tool, simply press function F2 instead of clicking the zoom tool.

F3 F3‘zoom out’ function reduces magnification for a broader view.

F4 F4‘zooms to all objects’, i.e. displays all objects.

 Shift F2 ‘Zoom to selected’ i.e. to make selected object(s) occupy the

entire screen

 Shift (Zoom to page) to shows the entire page

F4

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REMOVING UNWANTED TEXT OR OBJECTS

Unwanted text or objects can be selected and then deleted. You may choose to
delete individual objects or a group of selected objects.

To delete an object

1. Click the Pick tool

2. Click the object to be deleted (in order to select
it)
Delete
3. Press key on the keyboard

To delete two or more objects

1. Click the Pick tool

2. Marquee-Select the objects to be deleted by
using the pick tool to draw rectangle around them
Delete
3. Press key on the keyboard

To delete an entire block of text

1. Click the Pick tool

2. Click the object to be deleted (in order to select
it)
Delete
3. Press key on the keyboard

To delete part of a word

1. Click the Text tool

2. Click the text to be edited
3. Use the arrow keys of the keyboard to
move to the section of the text that you want to
delete
4. Press on the keyboard repeatedly until all the
characters that you want to remove have been
deleted.

THE ‘UNDO’ COMMAND

I don’t know of anyone in this world who does not make mistakes. Do you? We are
all prone to making mistakes. So, what happens when you make a mistake when
using CorelDraw or maybe you changed you mind after performing an operation
such as deleting and object or changing an object’s color?
The UNDO command can be used to reverse operations that we perform in
CorelDraw. There are three (3) methods of selecting
this command:
A.) USING THE MENU BAR
1.) Click Edit on the menu bar

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2.) Click Undo

B.) Click the Undo button of the Standard bar

Ctrl Z
C.) Press on the keyboard

REVERSING SEVERAL ACTIONS

Using the Undo button’s drop down arrow (3), you
can reverse several operations.

You can also reverse several operations by

Ctrl Z
pressing Press on the keyboard
repeatedly.

FILE HANDLING OPERATIONS

‘SAVING’ A FILE
Whatever is designed in CorelDraw temporarily resides in the computer’s volatile
memory. This temporary memory is not capable of storing data whenever power
fails. Hence, the need to transfer such data to a permanent storage device that
can keep such information even when power fails. A typical permanent storage
device is the hard disk inside the computer. The process of transferring data from
the memory into the hard disk is called ‘saving’

HOW TO SAVE A FILE

1.) Click the Save button (1) on the Standard bar (If
Figure 24a
this is the first time that you are saving the file, the Save button on the Standard bar
Save Drawing dialog box will appear requesting for a
file name See Figure 24b)

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2.) Type a descriptive name (2) (e.g. ‘cover page’)

3.) Click the Save button (3) in the dialog box

Figure 24b
Save Drawing Dialog box

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UPDATING A SAVED FILE

CorelDraw does not automatically save whatever changes you make to your work to
the hard disk. Hence, you need to update whatever changes you make to you file

by clicking on the save button on the Standard bar from time to time. This
will ensure the copy of your work that is in the permanent storage (hard disk) is as
current as the one that you looking at on your screen.

Click Save button from time to CorelDRAW automatically Design your work
time in other to transfer data transfers data into the or make changes to
into non-volatile permanent volatile temporary existing file
memory (hard disk) memory

Alternative methods for saving a file are:

1. The SAVE command of the FILE menu or
Ctrl S
2. The keyboard shortcut key combination
These methods can be used to save a file for the first time (during which a name is
assigned) and also to update the hard disk with changes made to the file in the
memory.

OPENING A SAVED FILE

Files are saved so that they can be opened in the future. You open a file when you
want to
1. View its content,
2. Make changes to it or
3. Print it.

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HOW TO RETRIEVE A SAVED FILE

1. Click the OPEN button (1) the Standard bar

2. Click the icon (i.e. picture) of the file that you

want to retrieve (2)
Figure 24a
3. Click the Open button (3) Open button on the Standard bar

Figure 24b
Open Drawing dialog box

Note: If there are several CorelDraw files on your computer and you are not sure
which of the files contain the work that you are looking for, you can use the
PREVIEW option (4) of the Open dialog box. This option gives you a thumbnail view
(preview) of files without opening them. In order to use this option, ensure that
Preview checkbox is marked (or ticked).

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FONTS
A font is a computer lettering style. Some fonts are simple or Commonly used fonts
plain, some are formal-looking, while some are cursive / • Arial
artistic. • Arial Black
•
The type of font that you apply on your text should be
dependent factors such as:

Desire for Clarity

Type of Job

Your taste / creativity

The Property bar can be used to apply or change text font whenever text is
selected. The font selector shows a preview of the font you select.

APPLYING FONTS
Fonts may be applied to an entire block of text or to some of the words or letters
within a block of text.

HOW TO APPLY FONT TO AN ENTIRE

BLOCK OF TEXT

1. Click the Pick tool

2. Click the text block (to select it) (2)
3. Click the Font selector (1) on the Property bar
4. Click your preferred font

HOW TO APPLY FONT TO SOME OF THE WORDS OR LETTERS

IN A BLOCK OF TEXT

1. Click the Text tool on the toolbox

2. Move your mouse pointer to the beginning Of the word that you want to work
on
3. Press and hold down the left mouse button
4. Drag the mouse pointer towards the right side of This word until it is
highlighted (1)
5. Click the Font selector on the Property bar

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