One of the most useful features in CorelDRAW is the option for creating a Barcode. Just go to the Object menu > Insert Barcode and enter the numbers of the barcode for an instant result.  Sometimes we need to modify the barcode later on. The result is a ‘Barcode Object’ that can easily be edited, but it's only black and white and it's in the RGB color mode. If you need to output as CMYK pure black you should enable the "pure black" option under Tools > Color Management > Default Settings, otherwise it will output composed of the 4 CMYK colors.  

But sometimes we might need to use another color, such as Blue or use the barcode as a negative (white bars and text over a dark background). Also, you can't rotate barcodes. If you group the barcode with other objects for example and rotate all, the barcode doesn't follow the rotation.  That's why we will customize our barcode. 

Creating a barcode:

Go to the Object menu > Insert Barcode, and input the numbers. (Note: the position of the Insert Barcode item could differ according to your CorelDRAW version and also according to the Workspace that you're using. On the Default CorelDRAW X7 Workspace it is under the Object menu).

I’m presuming that you already know the values of the barcode, because if one number is wrong, the barcode will not be valid. Some barcodes, such as EAN-13, require that you input the first 12 digits, and the last one is then automatically generated (the last digit is called "the control digit" because it confirms that the previous values are correct). In this example, we will use an imaginary barcode (Select CodeBar from the Industry Standard Formats list), with the sequential numbers 12345678.

The Barcode Wizard will offer several options for each barcode type, but since this is not the subject of the present tutorial, we will use default values, and choose "Next" on the first dialog page and "Finish" in the following dialog.

After this step, we will have a barcode, ready to use, but at this point, we can't change the colors or rotate it.  We must now go to the Edit menu and choose Cut (Ctrl + X), and now go back to Edit menu again and choose Paste Special.

In the Paste Special dialog window, we will choose Picture (Metafile). The result will be a group of objects, which we can ungroup and modify. Take care that you don’t change the distance between each line, or deform the barcode. You can change the font and also the font size.  Remember too, that not all colors can be read, especially warm colors.  You can also crop the height of the barcode, rotate, and enlarge or reduce it proportionally.

Tip Provided by Ariel Garaza Díaz, CorelDRAW Master and Graphic Designer.