【For Beginners】Basic Usage of Corel DRAW | Top 10 Fundamentals

CorelDRAW is well-suited for creating and editing graphics such as logos, illustrations, banners, SNS posts, web content, business cards, and printed materials.

With a user-friendly interface and versatile features, this software is widely used in both business and creative fields. It’s accessible even for beginners.

While Corel DRAW offers various features, you don’t need to learn everything at once. In this article, we’ll explain ten essential operations that beginners can immediately practice.

Corel DRAW Basics

Corel DRAW is a vector graphic software that draws shapes (objects) using coordinates. Vector graphics maintain image quality regardless of size, allowing precise and smooth lines. In contrast, images like photos or digital paintings are raster graphics, relying on pixel-based color information. While they can depict realistic and detailed images, low resolution may lead to pixelation or blurring upon enlargement.

COREL also provides photo editing software like PaintShop Pro and digital painting software like Painter. By strategically using vector and raster formats, users can efficiently work with diverse graphic tasks.

→　Reasons why Vector Graphics (SVG) are suitable for logos and illustrations

→　Differences between Vector and Raster formats

Corel DRAW Basic Screen

Before diving into Corel DRAW, understanding the basic screen layout is crucial for efficient work.

① Menu Bar
The menu bar houses Corel DRAW’s primary functions, including file creation, saving, editing, and display options.

② Standard Toolbar
The standard toolbar features basic tools for common operations like creating new files, opening, saving, cut, copy, paste, ruler display, and snap toggles.

③ Property Bar
The property bar is where detailed settings related to selected objects or tools are adjusted. This includes changing line thickness, color, and font settings.

④ Toolbox
The toolbox contains various drawing tools for basic design operations like drawing lines, rectangles, inserting text, etc.

⑤ Drawing Window
The drawing window displays the document being worked on. Objects and shapes are drawn and edited here.

⑥ Document Palette
The document palette displays color boxes related to the active document.

⑦ Operation Tips
Operation tips display when a specific tool or function is selected, providing hints or shortcuts—a handy feature for beginners.

⑧ Docking Window
The docking window allows users to freely arrange windows for different tools or commands. It includes properties, layers, alignment, etc., enhancing work efficiency.

⑨ Color Palette
The color palette is a tool for selecting colors used when setting line or fill colors. It’s crucial in design, with left-click to fill selected objects and right-click to change line colors.

→ Change desktop colors
Tools → Options → Customize → Appearance

List of Functions Included in the Toolbox

Corel DRAW’s toolbox contains various drawing tools, and basic drawing operations are performed using these icon buttons.

On the left side of the screen (④ Toolbox) are icon buttons with a small triangle mark called a flyout at the bottom right. Clicking it reveals a list of related tools.

Selection  　Freehand Selection Free Transform

Cutting  　Knife Delete Virtual Segment Eraser

Zoom  　Scroll

Freehand  　2-Point LineBezier PenB-SplinePolylinePoint Curve

Artistic Media  　LiveSketch Smart Drawing

Rectangle  　3-Point Rectangle

Ellipse  　3-Point Ellipse

Polygon  　Star Spiral General Shape Impact Tool Graph Paper

Text  　Table

Parallel Dimension  　Horizontal or Vertical Dimension Angle Dimension 
Line Segment Dimension 3-Point Callout

Connector  　Edit Anchor

Shadow  　Contour Blend Distort Envelope Extrude Block Shadow

Color Dropper Tool  　Attribute Dropper

Interactive Fill  　Smart Fill

1.How to Create a New Graphic and Open Existing Graphic Data

After launching Corel DRAW, you can start drawing in the following ways:

• File → New
• Click the New icon in the standard toolbar
• Click the ‘+’ button at the top of the drawing window

New Document Page Setup

In the ‘New Document’ section, you can use ‘Custom’ to freely change the page size, selecting sizes suitable for printing such as Letter size, business card size, A0 to A6 sizes, as well as sizes for web pages, banners, MacBook, iPhone, Facebook, YouTube, Google Business, LinkedIn, Twitch, Pinterest, and other purposes.

You can also choose color profiles and rendering methods in the ‘New Document’ section to customize your preferences.

How to Open Existing Graphic Data

To open existing graphic data

Menu Bar: File → Open

You can also drag and drop the desired data into the drawing window.

2.Straight and Curved Nodes, Segments, and Control Handles

Shapes (objects) can be created by combining straight lines and curves. When you select an object, nodes and segments are highlighted, as shown in the figure.

Squares represent nodes, and the lines (straight or curved) connecting nodes are called segments. Curves have dashed arrow lines (control handles) indicating the direction between nodes.

When working on graphic design with Corel DRAW, editing the positions and directions of nodes and segments for each object is a fundamental operation.
(Freehand, 2-Point Line, Bezier, Pen, B-Spline, Polyline, Point Curve, etc.)

You can add or remove nodes even after creating a straight or curved object. Node positions can be accurately aligned using the ‘Snap’ feature with drawing page or object endpoints (nodes), grids, intersections, lines, perpendicular lines, etc.

3.Drawing Rectangles, Ellipses, Polygons, etc.

You can draw basic shapes like rectangles, ellipses, polygons, stars, spirals, and more.
The figure above shows examples of shapes, and complex operations are not required. You can quickly draw by specifying sizes and dimensions with the mouse.

Additionally, to change the fill color of a shape object, right-click the color box in the toolbox.
To change the outline color, left-click.

4.Inserting and Editing Text

CorelDRAW makes text insertion and editing intuitive.

Inserting Text

To insert text on the page, select the “Text Tool” from the toolbox.
Clicking on the page creates a text box, and the cursor starts blinking. You can input text here.

Editing Text

To edit text, use the Text Tool to select the text box.
You can directly edit the text within the selected text box.

Changing Font and Style

To change font and text style, select the text and use the Property Bar or the “Text” docking window.
You can set font type, size, and style (bold, italic, etc.) here.

Text Alignment and Justification

Select the text box and adjust the text’s position and alignment using alignment and justification tools.
Paragraph settings such as left-align, center-align, right-align, justified, and equal spacing can be efficiently done using the docking window.

Placement on Curves and Shapes

Text can be curved or placed on specific shapes.
Editing and placement adjustments are dynamic, allowing changes to reflect on the text curve even after modifying curve elements.

For those who want to learn more about text:

5.Grouping and Ungrouping Shapes

In CorelDRAW, grouping shapes allows you to treat them as a single entity. Similarly, you can ungroup them to revert to individual shapes.

Grouping Shapes

Select shapes to be grouped by holding down the Shift key while clicking individual objects or selecting them in a range.
Execute the Group command by selecting Group under the Object menu or pressing Ctrl + G on the keyboard.
The selected shapes become a single entity, enabling collective movement, transformation, copying, rotating, etc.

Ungrouping Shapes

Select the grouped shapes to be ungrouped.
Execute the Ungroup command by selecting Ungroup under the Object menu or pressing Ctrl + U on the keyboard.
The group is disbanded, and each shape becomes individually selectable.

6.Aligning and Arranging Shape Objects

When creating website content or printed materials using shape objects or text, you may want to arrange each object to enhance the overall appearance.

In addition to specifying the position of objects using the mouse or snap, the “Align/Distribute” docking window is convenient for aligning vertical and horizontal positions, as well as evenly spacing objects.

7.Combining and Subtracting Shapes (Weld, Trim, Cut, etc.)

For tasks like welding (combining), trimming, or cutting multiple shape objects, there’s no need for complex operations (Boolean operations). By selecting the desired function from the Shape in the docking window, you can achieve the desired effect.

8.Fitting Object Images into Frames

If you want to create a design where photos or landscapes are cropped like a magazine article, you can fit existing images or objects into other objects acting as frames.

After selecting the original object, choose the PowerClip function under Object in the menu, and specify the object you want to use as a frame. This will result in the finished design as shown in the illustration.

The shape of the object serving as the frame can be a rectangle, ellipse, text character, or any other complex shape.

Things you can do with PowerClip

9.Easily Remove “Overlapping Lines” in Line Drawings or Illustrations

Even when creating drawings like manga or illustrations, there’s no need to manually erase overlapping lines while zooming in on the image. Deleting overlapping lines is convenient with the virtual segment deletion.

Corel DRAW processes images using vector data, enabling it to understand the intersections between straight or curved lines (segments) through calculations. Simply clicking on the line you want to remove automatically trims the overlapping lines.

10.Saving and Exporting Documents

Saving a Document

Select “File” from the menu.
Choose Save Alternatively, press Ctrl + S on the keyboard.

Specify the Save Location

Choose the folder and enter the file name to save the document.

Select File Format

Choose the document’s save format. The default is CorelDRAW’s proprietary file format (.cdr), but you can also choose other formats.

Set Options

Set saving options as needed. This may include selecting versions or compression options.

Save

Click the Save button to save the document.

Exporting a Document

Select “File” from the menu.
Choose “Export.”

Choose Export Options

Select the destination and file format for export. Common formats include JPEG, PNG, PDF, SVG, etc.

Set Options

Set export options as needed. Adjust resolution and compression levels.

Export

Click the “Export” button to export the document in the specified format.

Enjoy Vector Graphics!

This article introduced the basics of CorelDRAW, but there are many more useful features to explore. CorelDRAW is an excellent tool for creating vector graphics and bringing creative designs to life.

CorelDRAW can cater to a wide range of design needs, and by utilizing official documentation, online resources, and tutorials, you can further improve your skills. Enjoy the world of design using vector graphics!

I hope you find this article helpful