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.
harpluster said:P.S. If you're not a Corel technician, you should be!
Thank you. I have been working with Draw for thirty years, whereof at least twenty professionally, so I guess I've picked up a few things over the years. I know the parts I use very well, while there are huge gaps in other areas.Luckily I still want to learn so if I find something interesting but don't know the answer, I like to troubleshoot until I know what's going on, if I have the time.That was how I found out about the Facing pages issue, by the way.
I actually did get a bit more help from a good Corel technician and managed to get my file size down to 110 MG after saving it as a CMX and then resaving it as a CDR. I had tried that maybe a year ago and the file came out all squirrelly, but this time it worked. The PDF generator still says there's stuff on the desktop, but the PDF went down to a miniscule 5,886 KB! I decided to clear just about everything off the desktop for this issue, as it was a tangled mess. If I can find the time, I'd like to make separate collections of the graphics that I use for the 4 seasons and another page for text boxes of various configurations that I use, depending on the amount of space I have to deal with, so I don't have to keep pulling up past issues for what I need.Again, much thanks!-Donna
harpluster said:after saving it as a CMX and then resaving it as a CDR
Could it be that there was a huge number of styles in your document perhaps?I believe there was a time when these had a bad habit of multiplying until the document got totally overloaded with styles.Not sure, just a thought since the CMX roundtrip seems to have cleaned something up.
Text styles? Hmmm...there is a stack of a couple of words that I was trying different fonts on, that I left there, so I wouldn't have to look them up, should I care to change it from issue to issue. Not that I have, as yet, but... Other than that, I haven't messed around with any other kind of styles, whatever those might be. Showing my lack of tech saavy, once again.
I'm not using styles much myself and am in no way an expert, but there are Object Styles (Styles, Style Sets but also the Default Object Properties that we all need) and Color Styles.Both these have dockers so you should be able to see if there are unnecessary styles that can be removed.Another thing you can try is to create a new document, check for styles (just out of curiosity) and then go to Tools > Save Setting As Default...In the dialog, uncheck "Document Styles", except maybe the "Default Object Properties".This should at least make new documents cleaner.