CorelDraw X5, Lots of problems

I am a longtime CorelDraw user (beginning with ver 8 and most recently ver X3) and recently moved to the Win 7 OS (64 bit) and CorelDraw X5.  I am seriously considering moving back to Win XP and CorelDraw X3 however, because my experience with X5 has been a complete disaster.  I have the ability to open several files edited in X5.  They contain the same number of bytes as before, but when they are opened I get nothing but a blank screen within the X5 window.  I also have had repeated unrelated crashes (never had a problem with X3).  Also, there appear to be problems with just saving files CorelDraw files (at times nothing is saved) and problems with file path and descriptors during exports to 'tif' files from CorelDraw.  At this point X5 is largely unuseable for me because I never can be sure when I will lose a file.

I wish Corel would release a hot fix or service pack to correct the current batch of serious problems instead of waiting until "later this summer" and adding more functions.  I have never seen a major piece of software with such numerous and serious bugs.  I imagine tha the  changes MS put into Win 7 are the root problem and also imagine that MS is less than forthcoming in making the details available to competitors, but that does not change my current need for workable graphics software, for which X5 does not currently qualify.

Jack

  • rasthedog said:
    Also, there appear to be problems with just saving files CorelDraw files (at times nothing is saved) and problems with file path and descriptors during exports to 'tif' files from CorelDraw.

    One idea: There are problems with CorelDRAW's export dialog and PP's batch dialog with the Windows Classic theme (in case you use it, as I do). Corel is aware.

  • Hi.

    The basic consensus is:

    If your in a hurry, or got a fast approaching deadline, don't choose X5 to get the job done.

    Many professionals I know are anxiously awaiting the service pack this summer so we can blow the dust off x5 and start employing it.

    -John

  • I have never seen a major piece of software with such numerous and serious bugs.  I imagine tha the  changes MS put into Win 7 are the root problem and also imagine that MS is less than forthcoming in making the details available to competitors, but that does not change my current need for workable graphics software, for which X5 does not currently qualify.

    Personally, I don't believe windows 7 is at fault for the X5 bugginess. My goal is to move to 64-bit windows 7 so I can finally utilize larger amounts of RAM, but for now I'm still on 32-bit vista. I know plenty of people hate vista, but it's been running x3 and x4 flawlessly for a couple years now since I moved from XP. I use X3 daily sometimes for 12 hours a day and work with huge files between 1 and 1.9 GB in size monthly.

    I've been using corel since version 3 (though I skipped versions 9 and 11.) I encountered a file corruption bug in version 6 that lost a week's work, but other than that things have been very good for me with corel. I love coreldraw. I really like photopaint.

    But X5 has been a disappointment for me. I've already crashed it several times just looking at the features, probably more than x3 which I've used every day for the past couple of years. And I haven't even stressed x5 yet.

    I suppose every version has bugs which affect different people, and maybe X5 just isn't "my" version, but this has been the first version where something basic has been unworkable for me in a long long time. For me, it's the fact that I simply can't print my projects with facing pages in drawx5, and I can't open my tiff files in photopaint x5. So I'm still using x3.

    I think the concepts of X5 are good, really good, like multithreading. But I'm disappointed that the new things introduced broke existing basic functionality. (e.g. introducing multipage tiff support and now any tiff from my nikon camera/software will open only a tiny thumbnail of the image so it's totally unworkable... except for using a previous version of photopaint.)

    The multitheraded save still isn't as fast as the x3 format for me, but it should be noticably faster than the X4 save. But I don't like the fact that it doesn't give you any status, or that at some point ~2 GB you will simply not be able to open your file any longer. This existed in different forms with previous versions, but it would have been good to see stability/safety included with the performance tweaks of x5.

    I suppose another way to look at it is that for my work x3 worked very very well, so I should be happy with x3. I do have a concern though in that corel only officially states x5 is even compatible with windows 7, so if I want to move foward to 64-bit I'm hoping x5 can become at least as stable, usable, and fast as x3 if not more so. And then the new features will be icing on the cake.

  • "I have never seen a major piece of software with such numerous and serious bugs."

    Well, that's because you have not used Corel version 5 (that the version that included Ventura 5). Using that version I often lost a days work, sometimes even more, and finally a complete directory. Still I got my work done, and learned to save very often, but only working overtime late nights. Version 8 of both Corel and now the separate Ventura were much better, even good. It seems that Corel is every now and then releasing total crap, and it's a lottery whether you get a good or a bad version. And then, of course, no support is offered for the older versions, in the hope that you will again re-buy a new version.