Ask John!

And the winner is.....

2009-11-18T21:17:00Z

First off, thanks to all of you who submitted your questions for the special "Ask and Win" contest. It will take me a while to get through all the questions, and I will post responses to the more popular questions (and those that I can or am allowed to answer :) ) over the coming weeks.

So with that said, I have randomly drawn a name from all those who submitted questions, and the winner is Stephen Peltonen of Hearst, Ontario, Canada. Stephen gets his very own copy of the Anniversary Edition of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4! Congratulations, Stephen!

Thanks again to everyone for your support.

John

Only 4 days left to Ask John and Win!

2009-11-11T15:33:00Z

Just a reminder that you have until midnight 15 November (Eastern Standard Time) to submit your question and be entered into a draw to win your very own copy of the CorelDRAW Anniversary Edition (I'll ship it right to your door)! This limited edition includes a Wacom Intuos 3 A6 Wide (4x6) tablet, along with a full version of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite. What are the ground rules? It has to be a legitimate question about CorelDRAW Graphics Suite (anything like questions on features, tips, who uses the product, etc. etc.).

So click the "Contact" link on the right to ask me a question, and you just might win a piece of CorelDRAW history! I will announce the winner in the last 2 weeks of November.

Cheers, and good luck!

John

Ask John…and Win!

2009-10-27T13:49:00Z

As we draw nearer to the close of 2009, and with it the 20th Anniversary year of our beloved CorelDRAW, I thought I'd take the opportunity to share in the celebration with one of you. Here's the deal: Ask me a question, and from all the people who submit a question between now and November 15 (inclusive, Eastern Standard Time :) ), I will randomly draw one winner who will receive their very own copy of the CorelDRAW Anniversary Edition (I'll ship it right to your door)! This limited edition is no longer available in most markets around the world, and includes a Wacom Intuos 3 A6 Wide (4x6) tablet, along with a full version of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite. What are the ground rules? It has to be a legitimate question about CorelDRAW Graphics Suite. That's it!

So click the "Contact" link on the right to ask me a question, and you just might win a piece of CorelDRAW history! I will announce the winner in the last 2 weeks of November.

Cheers, and good luck!

John

Starting from the same template file each time...

2009-09-28T15:58:00Z

One user recently mentioned to me that they design business cards day in and day out, and they always start with the same business card file with certain objects and guidelines already in place. They'd like to know how they can get CorelDRAW to open that same business card template each time without them having to find the file.

Well, there's no perfect way to launch a specific file each time upon startup without using a macro, but that can be complicated (of course there are many experts on this site that can help in that regard, talk to Jeff!). You can set CorelDRAW to "Open the Last Edited Document", but that will end up being a different file each time in the above scenario. There is a way to at least save a few clicks each time when using a specific template. Start by creating a CorelDRAW template file (.CDT extension) of the business card template. The file should be placed somewhere in the user profile folder structure on your system drive (such as your Desktop, or under My documents in XP, or Documents in Vista). Then, you can change the Tools/Options in CorelDRAW: under Workspace/General, and On CorelDRAW start-up, choose Select a Template. Then each time you launch CorelDRAW, the New From Template dialog will automatically open. If you select My Templates in the bottom left, the template you created should appear in the thumbnail list, along with any designer notes and other specifics about the template you may have added upon saving the template. While this still isn't the perfect solution for the above scenario, it opens up options if you want to have a few different templates of your own to start with, in that you can get to the location of those templates much more easily.

Thanks!

John

-To ask me a question, just click the "Contact" link on the right to send me a note.

Barcodes in CorelDRAW

2009-09-04T14:58:00Z

I received an interesting question about the barcode feature in CorelDRAW. For those of you who aren't aware, CorelDRAW's barcode wizard is a very powerful feature that allows you to insert barcodes into your designs (think packaging design, etc.). The question was around changing the colour of a barcode in CorelDRAW - can it be done?

Well the answer is yes, well sort of. You can change the color, but by "cheating" a bit, by transforming your barcode into a regular group of curved objects. You can do this by:

-Creating the barcode (Edit menu / Insert Barcode, and then follow the wizard)
-Select the barcode object you just created
-From the Edit menu, select Cut
-From the Edit menu, select Paste Special
-Choose "Picture (Metafile)" from the available choices
-The barcode is now technically no longer a barcode, but just a group of objects, which can be ungrouped (Arrange menu / Ungroup) and then the colors changed as you wish

An important thing to remember is that changing the color of a barcode may render it unreadable by certain barcode scanning devices. I'm not fully up to speed on barcode standards, but it's something to think about. Either way, for those of you who weren't aware of the barcode capabilities, now you are!

Cheers,

John

Anyone in New Orleans?

2009-09-04T14:53:00Z

Okay, so this isn't a response to a user question, but I'll frame it that way. The question would be "John, are you going to be in New Orleans on behalf of Corel any time soon?" Well yes, as a matter of fact I will! In all seriousness, I will be at SGIA in New Orleans on October 7th and 8th. If you're a CorelDRAW Graphics Suite user who uses the product as a key part of your workflow for your business, and your place of business is in or very near New Orleans, I'd love to meet you while I'm there and learn how you use the suite. Drop me a line. Thanks!

John

External File Support

2009-07-29T20:09:00Z

I was recently asked in "Ask John!" about external file support in CorelDRAW Graphics Suite. Specifically, what's the word on CorelDRAW (and Corel DESIGNER for that matter) support for XPS and DWG/DXF formats?

One of the biggest strengths over the years for both CorelDRAW and Corel DESIGNER has been our vast file support. The ability to import/export hundreds of different file types really makes our products stand out and is a great help to our users in their workflows.

In the case of XPS, it's definitely something we have looked at. What it comes down to at this point is priorities and level of effort. We can only do so much for each new release of the product, and we have to prioritize each new feature relative to the others. In the case of X4, it would have taken significant work, and we didn't feel that it was higher priority than other features that made it into the release.

In the case of DWG/DXF, we already do support those formats in both CorelDRAW and DESIGNER. However, because CorelDRAW is geared more towards creative graphics, and DESIGNER is made to address technical illustration, the support is more advanced in DESIGNER. Look for us to continue to advance our support of DWG/DXF in the future for both products.

As a matter of regular practice, each time we release a new version of either CorelDRAW Graphics Suite or Corel Designer Technical Suite, we always update our import/export filters to support what we believe are the most industry-relevant ones out there, balancing that of course with other new features and enhancements. In some cases, this involves updating existing support to a newer version that was released since our last version release. In other cases, it involves support for the first time. So rest assured that with future versions of both CorelDRAW Graphics Suite and Corel DESIGNER Technical Suite, we will continue to evolve our external file support!

Thanks,

John

How to find list of known issues

2009-07-24T17:00:00Z

One question I've been asked on more than one occasion is how can someone find a list of known bugs/issues with the software.

A great place to check for known issues is the Corel Knowledgebase (http://corel.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/corel.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php?p_sid=GtpGDEDj). This is kept up-to-date by the Corel support team with commonly reported issues, and allows you to search on all current Corel products. You can also contact Customer Support from the knowledge base, or directly via corel.com.

Additionally, the readme file, which gets installed with the application, provides insight into certain known issues, and also provides other important information.

Of course another great way to find out about challenges you might be having with the product, including how to use certain features, is here on coreldraw.com, by either searching the forums and existing posts, or by starting a new post. Nothing beats the insights of other users and Corel employees who use the product everyday in so many creative ways!

Cheers,

John

Just ask!

2009-07-16T20:54:00Z

Hi everyone,

I've decided to take an interesting (and hopefully inviting!) approach to my blog, to make sure I get a chance to reach out and make myself as accessible as possible to the community. So please go ahead and ask me any questions you might have about CorelDRAW Graphics Suite. Now let me manage expectations a bit here :). Even though I'm the Product Manager, the goal isn't to provide technical support (that is best left with our Technical Support team or to the community as a whole) or to offer tips on the best techniques for achieving certain design goals (again, best left to the community as a whole). But that said, I want to give everyone a direct line into Corel for things like product features and trends, target industries, wish-lists, etc. If you're unsure, just ask! I will do my best to either answer your question myself, or chase down the answer from one of the other folks here at Corel. I won't be able to answer every question (we have lawyers and other rules that I need to follow and there is only so much time!), but I will post answers to some of the more popular and interesting questions each week.

To ask me a question, just click the "Contact" link on the right to send me a note.

Thanks!

John

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 now released in 6 new languages!

2008-04-24T23:12:00Z

Last week, I attended the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 product launches in Poland and Russia. They were great events with both press and partners attending. Why am I mentioning this? Well, quite simply, to say that we've now proudly launched X4 in a whole new set of languages! The latest include Russian, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Swedish, and Finnish. Add this to those already released in January, and users speaking 13 different languages can now enjoy our exciting new version. This is one of the coolest things, in my mind, about CorelDRAW Graphics Suite - that so many users from so many different countries and cultures, speaking so many different languages, can all use the same tool for graphic design, illustration, and bitmap editing. Okay, I'm biased, but what a cool thought!

And for those of you that I may have met in Warsaw and Moscow, thanks for your great hospitality. The passion and interest (and graphic design talent) in your countries is incredible!

John

Upcoming Event

2008-02-16T20:18:00Z

Now that the dust is settling on our release of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 (wow, it's been quite a ride so far!), I wanted to let you all know that I will be attending the Graphics of the Americas event in Miami from February 28 to March 1 of this year. Corel will be exhibiting in booth 1620, where we will be showcasing CDGSX4, as well as Corel Painter X, and I expect it will be quite an exciting event. If you'll be in Miami at that time and can make it to the show, please drop in and say hi and I'll show you the new suite. For more info on the event, check out www.graphicsoftheamericas.com.

See you there!

John

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4...at last!

2008-01-23T01:44:00Z

Wow...what a rush! It's been a long haul, but we've done it. As I'm sure everyone is now aware, today we released our long anticipated CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4! It's been an incredible team effort from so many people here at Corel, and I couldn't be prouder than I am of everyone. It was such an exciting time as we prepared for today's big announcement, and today I felt like a kid in a candy store :)!

There's a lot that goes in to launching a product like CorelDRAW Graphics Suite, but I have to say, launching in 7 languages at the same time is even more challenging. But what makes it so worthwhile is having users from around the world getting to share in the excitement of the new release, all at the same time. For those that don't know the details, we released in English, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese.

There are so many exciting new things in X4. I sincerely hope you get as much out of the new version as we did putting it together. Try out the integrated online tools from CorelDRAW ConceptShare and Whatthefont. Enjoy the RAW support, the live text formatting, the new Welcome screen, and all of the other new and enhanced features.

Now that the dust is settling on this exciting release, expect to see a lot more of me here on CorelDRAW.com. Please drop me a line anytime about X4, or any other CorelDRAW Graphics Suite questions, or heck, just to say hi. I look forward to hearing your feedback and also seeing the wonderful designs and illustrations now that you'll have the best version yet at your fingertips. Enjoy! :)

Upcoming events

2007-07-09T01:23:00Z

Hello again! I just wanted to drop a line to say that I'm planning to be at a couple of events in August. I will be at Siggraph (www.siggraph.org/s2007/) in San Diego on August 7, and also at the NBM event (www.nbmshows.com/g4lb/index.html), which is actually 3 shows in one (The Printwear Show, The Sign Business & Digital Graphics Show, and The Awards & Custom Gift Show), in Long Beach from August 9-11. If you're planning to be at either of these events, drop me a note ahead of time, and we can meet and talk graphics! Or drop by the Corel booth at Siggraph or the Digital Art Solutions booth at the NBM event and say hi.

Cheers,

John

Hello everyone, and welcome to my blog!

2007-05-30T20:36:00Z

For those of you that don't know me, please allow me to introduce myself. I'm the Product Manager for CorelDRAW Graphics Suite, here at Corel headquarters in Ottawa, and I have the good fortune of getting to work with the many talented people here at Corel (including those who are starting to participate in this site). I have been a part of the Corel team since last summer, and am very excited at what I have seen so far as I delve into the industries and events, and meet people who use CorelDRAW Graphics Suite in their day-to-day lives. Since last summer, I have met some of you in person, some by phone, some by e-mail, and there are many of you I haven't met at all. I look forward to getting to know you all, and to learning about how and why you use CorelDRAW (okay, I'll sometimes refer to just CorelDRAW instead of the full name of the suite - it's easier to type!). I will try to share my insights, my experiences, reports on my travels, and other interesting information that I come across related to CorelDRAW and the graphics industry. I'll also talk about CorelDRAW users I meet along the way, the work they do, and try to share as many other cool things as I can think of, or that I come across!

I am so excited to see the participation in the coreldraw.com community site to this point. It speaks to the level of passion and enthusiasm that you, our extended family, have for the product. Please feel free to contact me at any time if you have any thoughts, questions, or insights that you'd like to share. I'd love to hear from you.

Cheers!

John