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.
Yes, Windows updates can cause the most peculiar things to happen.In this case though, It sounds more like Draw has been corrupted somehow.I suggest you try the Repair option from the suite's install routine.Regarding the PDF's getting bigger than normal, I'm pretty sure it is just an export setting.There's a number of things that can make the files grow, like for example bitmap compression.Also remember that some Draw specific effects may be rendered as bitmaps depending on your export settings.
I tried the Repair and no cigar. Reinstall from the disk?FYI, I went ahead and allowed access on the Windows Security box and checked my X8 version and the tools are all there. At least now I can see what all is missing. I tried looking under the 2019 Tools menu/Options/Tools, but the missing tools are not listed. I'm actually missing the whole Objects menu in 2019.
Thank you, Ronny! I was planning on working on all this today. In the meantime, I heard back from Corel Support and their only suggestion was that I create a new user profile named as Test, to check if I'm experiencing the same issue on a new profile. This is also so they can isolate if the issue is with my current user profile, if it's corrupted or not. If it works on the new user account, it could mean that there's something in my original user account that conflicts with the program. It could be a conflict with another program, anti-virus, leftover files, registry entries, or other components and files on the original user account. He gave me the link to view how to do that. The only thing he didn't tell me was what I should do if the Test user profile works.Trying to decide whether to do this first or just go ahead and do the reinstall.
harpluster said:Trying to decide whether to do this first or just go ahead and do the reinstall.
For me, I would try uninstalling/reinstalling CorelDRAW first, to see if that fixed the problem.
Creating a new user profile in Windows would be a "much bigger deal" for me, and thus something I would really hope to avoid.
Eskimo said:
I would try uninstalling/reinstalling CorelDRAW first, to see if that fixed the problem.
I definitely agree.
OK! We managed to find the "corelpdf.ini" file to copy, but not without having to do a search. We couldn't find the "AppData" file anywhere (must be hidden?). And we indicated to remove the user files during the uninstall. We hadn't figured out how to find them to see if the folder was empty or missing before we reinstalled the program. However, there were 4 corelpdf.ini files previously (2 from 2019 and 2 from the X8 version) and now those are still there and there are an additional few. Some are short cuts(?). Not sure what to make of that. Anyway, my tools appear to be back, as well as the Object menu. Hooray!!! I did try unchecking the "Keep Desktop Object on Layer", but it didn't seem to make a difference. When I attempted to make a PDF, it still told me pages 1-12 "contain objects that fall outside the page." Is that something that has to be done upon creating a document? Looking in the Objects docker, it appears that everything that's on the desktop is in the desktop layer. I was hoping to avoid having to ask, but, how do you do it manually? I've never really paid much attention to what layer things were on. I just move things to front or back of page with the Order tool. I just want to get everything that appears on the desktop onto the desktop layer, so they're not ghosted (so to speak) in the PDF. If I can get this sorted out, my web guy will be thrilled...as will I!Thank you, thank you!!
harpluster said:We couldn't find the "AppData" file anywhere (must be hidden?).
A quick way to get there is to type "%appdata%" in the address bar in Windows File Explorer.
More information here: What Is the AppData Folder in Windows?
Thanks, Eskimo! I'm surprised my hubby didn't think of that one. That's a whole lot easier!