I've been seeing CorelDRAW 2019 crash (the whole application window just disappears) when merely opening files. I've also seen it crash while manipulating objects in an open CDR document. Build number 21.3.0.755. The file open errors are bad enough that once CDR 2019 crashes while opening that specific file it's not going to open it again, even with a re-boot of the system. The fallback is opening the file and finish editing within an older version of CorelDRAW -a version that's not so freaking buggy.
I've had the very occasional crash...CorelDraw just goes away randomly, "see ya" poof!. Usually its after the spinning blue donut does its thing for awhile. As I said this is very infrequent.
Because I am the only one in the company that doesn't have a Mac or Illustrator I do get the occasional freeze when opening an ai file. I had a project with 6 different designs all the them in ai, out of the 6, there were two that refused to open. I had them export to a pdf and it was ok.
Not to change the subject to ai files CorelDraw ought to simply give up exporting to Illustrator. So many times I have a simple file less than 5MB and I'm waiting and waiting only to find the ai file is like 120MB!! Holy crap batman! I just export to a pdf and everyone is happy as Larry. (Who is Larry and why is he happy?)
Cheers
I disagree with the idea Corel should do away with the Illustrator export filter from CorelDRAW. I personally move a lot of artwork between both CorelDRAW and Adobe Illustrator for various purposes in sign production. We use both applications extensively for unique strengths each one has and also because we receive a lot of client-provided art in both formats (more often Adobe formats than CorelDRAW though). Illustrator has a lot of issues with opening CorelDRAW CDR files and likewise CorelDRAW has limitations at importing Illustrator files. When you know what features and effects won't "break" when exporting to the rival format it makes importing and exporting a good bit easier.
The problem with AI import to CD or Visa versa is the CD user does not understand what features in both applications do not travel to the other.
This is compounded by the very poor and complicated methods used to create files in both applications.
If you want another color create it using color dialogs, applying transparency to a color to simply achieve a new color is an example of poor and complicated file building method.
It's annoying at times to get what could be called "Messy Marvin" artwork. The act of laying a transparent object over the top of another to achieve a new color, rather than just changing the fill value on the actual object, is just one example of many that make up Messy Marvin habits.
So many users (amateurs & hobbyists in particular) develop lots of bad habits and build mistakes into their layouts because they rarely have to export artwork to other applications in a production environment. They only want to use that one single application. Worse, they'll expect one piece of software not designed for a certain task to do that task anyway -like people expecting Adobe Photoshop to have a lot of type layout capabilities despite the fact Photoshop is not meant at all for that.
I've always had to "finalize" artwork as much as possible and think as I designed with vinyl cutters or routing tables in mind. Any "live" effects that could be converted to curves, broke apart, expanded, flattened, etc would be to make the artwork more export friendly. That even goes for most type objects. Not only does it make exporting the artwork easier, but it makes it more reliable to open/import many years later. Unfortunately most users do not work like that. In our case, with having to handle lots of client files, that means working with both CorelDRAW and Adobe Illustrator.
The messy file creation mentioned, (using transparency to create a color) has serious implications on output. Transparency in live form is only supported in true PDF RIPS and as some form of flattened transparency in other RIPS will output differently in nearly every device.