Where are my tools and why are my PDFs all wonky?

Sometime between 12/9 and 12/13/21, I lost some of my tools (both down the side and above) and the PDFs are generating with about a 1/4 to 1/2" of additional border beyond the prescribed boundaries of the documents. I tried resetting my toolbox to default, but I don't see any difference, and I have no idea what to do about the PDFs. Incidentally, the PDF files have been huge ever since I upgraded to CorelDraw 2019. Whenever I'm doing a 12-page color newsletter, I have to have the guy that posts it dumb it down in the extreme! Before that, I could keep an online document under 20 MB at 150 dpi, but now it's over 50 MB. If I generate one at 96 dpi or below, it comes out fuzzy.

I have read that Microsoft 10 updates have been messing with a variety of programs and I have the dates (above) when it could've happened, but I don't know how to track down which update(s) might be the culprit(s). Years ago, I had an MS update screw up my PageMaker, but I knew the exact date when it happened and there were forum postings on it, so I was able to fix the problem. Thus far, I haven't found any for my issues.

It also occasionally does a bizarre thing on a 12-page newsletter, where it starts flashing little object handles all over the place and eventually, facing pages swap places (I shot a video, but it's too big to post). Every once in a while, it does more than just swap facing pages and I end up with misplaced pages all over the place. I had the same problem with the previous version and the tech had no idea what do about it, and naturally suggested the upgrade. But guess what? It's still doing it! Just not as often...so far.

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  • How do I remove user files?

    During uninstallation, simply choose to Remove User Files.
    You can check after uninstall that the "C:\Users\ <your username> \AppData\Roaming\Corel\CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2019" folder is empty or maybe even missing.
    Remember that the PDF settings, and other settings, are in there so they will be gone too.

    There was a way to save something or other having to do with PDFs, but it wasn't my individual custom settings.

    The "corelpdf.ini" contains all PDF settings, for default presets as well as for your saved presets.

    So the objects will still be viewable when I either uncheck "Keep Desktop Object on Layer" or I move them manually?  Why would doing it manually be preferred?  I have a LOT of extraneous objects!

    Up to and including version 2018, all objects outside the drawing area stayed on their original layers, but not if you
    1. worked in a multipage document and
    2. switched to another page or
    3. saved the document.
    Then they were suddenly automatically moved to the non-printable Desktop layer.
    There was no way around it and it was a pretty unpredictable behavior if you ask me.

    From version 2019 this was changed.
    The default mode kept all objects on their layers, even after switching page or saving.
    It could be changed back to 2018 mode with the "Keep Desktop Objects on Layer" option.

    Why would doing it manually be preferred?

    Simply because I don't like when objects move without me doing anything. 

    I often work in multipage documents where pages may be of very different size.
    Let's say I move an object outside the frame of a small page and then switch to a much larger page.
    With the old behavior, this object will then be moved to a different layer and it will also get a new position to make sure it is outside also this larger page.
    If I then switch back to the first page, the object may be far away from where it used to be, and maybe even out of visible area.
    This may be dangerous because there can be objects that I don't see that will affect the document.

    Moving them manually instead, when needed, is a pretty easy task.

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