If I open a 4-page PDF in CorelDraw, I can edit anything in it. But if I save my changes, it saves as a 4-page cdr file. But I want to save the changes to the PDF. Is the only way to save the changes to the pdf file to re-publish the whole 4 pages to PDF again and have it replace the old one when asked? Wouldn't this further compress any jpgs? Re-publishing the whole thing and changing the settings to no compression (and remembering to reset them back again later!) seems very inefficient......The question, of course applies to single page pdf's as well, but I'm thinking of eg deleting or adding a page or changing page order.
Janet
In general, you should always keep the originals of anything you convert if there is any possibility that you might ever want to go back later to whatever format you converted it from.
PDFs are meant to be for distribution and printing, not for further editing. The included jpgs are just one example where degradation is expected and guaranteed, but there are also likely to be minor niggles. PDFs disintegrate your blends into individual steps, making them harder to edit. Text will break down into chunks, losing any linking between frames or the ability to rewrap around objects. And probably many other effects that are supported while in CorelDraw but become irreversibly simplified once they go into a PDF.
Think of your CDR files as the master copy and the PDF as the copy that you distribute to other people. I definitely wouldn't recommend deleting the CDR file if there is any possibility that you might want to change it later.
harryLondon: In general, you should always keep the originals of anything you convert if there is any possibility that you might ever want to go back later to whatever format you converted it from.
I use PDF files in order to send my CorelDraw file 'brochures' to clients. So the source file is a CorelDraw file--I would never in a million years even think of deleting them...:-)...! I use them for editing and then republish to pdf over/in place of the old version.
harryLondon: PDFs are meant to be for distribution and printing, not for further editing. The included jpgs are just one example where degradation is expected and guaranteed, but there are also likely to be minor niggles. PDFs disintegrate your blends into individual steps, making them harder to edit. Text will break down into chunks, losing any linking between frames or the ability to rewrap around objects. And probably many other effects that are supported while in CorelDraw but become irreversibly simplified once they go into a PDF.
All my pdf's seem to open perfectly in CorelDraw, maintaining everything...:-)....! Perhaps that is because all my pdf's were created in CorelDraw.... In this particular case I wanted to make a single pdf of two separate pdf files (each made from its respective cdr file). It was intriguing to realize that I could do this within Corel--without a pdf editor.
Foster D. Coburn IIIFacebook * Twitter * Free Graphics Blog * CorelDRAW Book * 1400+ CorelDRAW Brushes * CorelDRAW Clipart * 1400+ Seamless Textures
FosterCoburn: Corel is a company, not a software product!
Yes, I'm aware of that...:-)....It was a shortcut for CorelDraw--I'm a poor typist, so it saves me a lot of time...:-).....
FosterCoburn: While you may be able to combine multiple PDF files into a single PDF file using CorelDRAW, it should not be used for that. There will be degradation
Interestingly enough, I have not had any degradation---perhaps because my pdf's are made from CorelDraw files with CorelDraw...You do have to make sure all your settings are right.....
FosterCoburn: and it is so easy to do correctly with a PDF editor.
...not if you don't have a pdf editor...:-).....This all started because I had to do a reinstall of my pdf editor (Expert PDF by Visagesoft) and the serial code was not working. While waiting to hear from Visagesoft, I needed to combine the two pdf's, so I suddenly realized I could do it within CorelDraw. Then I started thinking, perhaps I don't need a separate PDF editor. PDF XChange Viewer (free) has excellent annotation and viewing abilities, and since all my work is done in CorelDraw, I figured it would be nice to do pdf stuff there too. I never cease to find unexpected treasures in CorelDraw--things I hadn't known it could do...!
FosterCoburn: While I have not used Corel’s PDF Fusion, it would give you inexpensive software that should be able to combine multiple files together very easily.
I actually have a free merger/splitter. I was just exploring the possibilities of CorelDraw.....I thought that maybe I could do away with having to export each cdr file separately to pdf, and then open another program to combine them. Just a matter of elegance (in the mathematical sense)...:-)...
FosterCoburn: So what you are asking to do just isn’t a function of CorelDRAW, though you may be able to do it with varying levels of success.
So what you are asking to do just isn’t a function of CorelDRAW, though you may be able to do it with varying levels of success.
I also used to think that editing pdf's was not a function of CorelDraw....and was delighted to find that it tends to do it perfectly....for me, at least...:-)....I am referring to pdf's which were created by CorelDraw, so that might be the limitation....but still, that's pretty incredible! I will report back if it does not work for pdf's not of my making....
First, many thanks for your second link, which will be very useful for me!!
FosterCoburn: I can’t stress enough that you shouldn’t do what you are doing with PDF files. They may have worked perfectly, but the reality is they probably have a lot of problems. [My emphasis.] Works perfectly but in reality has a lot of problems...:-)....??? I think the only sense that this could possibly be meaningful is if I need to do with the file things that you usually need to do but which I never need...:-)....That's why a blanket "you shouldn’t do what you are doing" is almost never in place in such matters...:-).... I assume you speak as a professional graphic artist who regularly has work printed by others. You probably do complex things which make use of many of CorelDraw's extraordinary features. I am not a graphic artist, but rather a goldsmith. I use CorelDraw for design work and for promotional 'brochures' which I use mostly for email (to clients) in the form of pdf's and to print myself on my desktop printer. Never send out work to agencies, etc. for printing. My multiple-page brochures are mostly photo images with drop shadows accompanied by minimal text. Period. They are all made in CorelDraw. I edit my pdf's cdr files in CorelDraw, but for adding, deleting, or changing the order of pages--which is what I needed in a pdf editor--I have now discovered (to my great surprise) that these functions are done easily in CorelDraw as well! So although your advice is undoubtedly good for (many) graphic artists, in my particular case, CorelDraw's pdf features seem to eliminate my personal need for a separate pdf editor (given that I do my 'heavy editing' in CorelDraw and republish to pdf)..:-)...! Your first link basically seems to raise the issue of pdf's which are created in one app and imported into a different app. It seems obvious to me that problems may arise here--especially when the two apps do not support the same features! I would imagine that this is the main source of pdf problems. I can only say that in my personal experience, pdf's created in CorelDraw seem to edit well in CorelDraw. Which somehow seems reasonable, especially given the almost-infinite pdf settings offered by CorelDraw for pdf creation...! Perhaps it works well because of my limited use of features. However, drop shadows are considered tricky with pdf's, and CorelDraw seems to handle them fine..... FosterCoburn: ....... I can’t stress enough that CorelDRAW is NOT a PDF editor and you are asking for problems doing what you are doing. ...... Years ago I was on a medication that I was supposed to take for the rest of my life. I didn't like the idea, so I very gradually lowered the dose until I was off it. And I was fine! When I saw my doctor for a checkup, he smiled and said: "You can't argue with success!".....:-)....... P.S. How can I change font size in a post??
Works perfectly but in reality has a lot of problems...:-)....??? I think the only sense that this could possibly be meaningful is if I need to do with the file things that you usually need to do but which I never need...:-)....That's why a blanket "you shouldn’t do what you are doing" is almost never in place in such matters...:-).... I assume you speak as a professional graphic artist who regularly has work printed by others. You probably do complex things which make use of many of CorelDraw's extraordinary features. I am not a graphic artist, but rather a goldsmith. I use CorelDraw for design work and for promotional 'brochures' which I use mostly for email (to clients) in the form of pdf's and to print myself on my desktop printer. Never send out work to agencies, etc. for printing. My multiple-page brochures are mostly photo images with drop shadows accompanied by minimal text. Period. They are all made in CorelDraw. I edit my pdf's cdr files in CorelDraw, but for adding, deleting, or changing the order of pages--which is what I needed in a pdf editor--I have now discovered (to my great surprise) that these functions are done easily in CorelDraw as well! So although your advice is undoubtedly good for (many) graphic artists, in my particular case, CorelDraw's pdf features seem to eliminate my personal need for a separate pdf editor (given that I do my 'heavy editing' in CorelDraw and republish to pdf)..:-)...!
Your first link basically seems to raise the issue of pdf's which are created in one app and imported into a different app. It seems obvious to me that problems may arise here--especially when the two apps do not support the same features! I would imagine that this is the main source of pdf problems. I can only say that in my personal experience, pdf's created in CorelDraw seem to edit well in CorelDraw. Which somehow seems reasonable, especially given the almost-infinite pdf settings offered by CorelDraw for pdf creation...! Perhaps it works well because of my limited use of features. However, drop shadows are considered tricky with pdf's, and CorelDraw seems to handle them fine.....
FosterCoburn: ....... I can’t stress enough that CorelDRAW is NOT a PDF editor and you are asking for problems doing what you are doing. ......
Years ago I was on a medication that I was supposed to take for the rest of my life. I didn't like the idea, so I very gradually lowered the dose until I was off it. And I was fine! When I saw my doctor for a checkup, he smiled and said: "You can't argue with success!".....:-).......
P.S. How can I change font size in a post??
FosterCoburn:you will need a PDF editor designed for that purpose.
Looks like there's now also a free cloud based solution called CutePDF Editor.
/Ronny
“The ability to think differently today from yesterday distinguishes the wise man from the stubborn” John Steinbeck
FosterCoburn:PDF is NOT a native file format. I will say it over and over again that CorelDRAW is not meant to assemble multiple PDF files as you are doing.
Jpg's, tif's, doc's, etc etc are also file formats NOT native to CorelDraw. But all can be edited in CorelDraw. Or do you perhaps mean that pdf's are a special sort of format which is not native to any program?
FosterCoburn:While they may look fine, they ARE NOT THE SAME as they were before creating the PDF file
FosterCoburn: If you use my tip to assemble multiple CDR files into a single PDF, great. That works perfectly. But if you are going to try and put PDF files together, you will need a PDF editor designed for that purpose.
Brute-Fish:efore buying Acrobat, I used PDFill PDF Tools.
Another recent free thing is PDF Architect, it comes with PDF Creator.
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