Converting a CorelDRAW X3 image for use in X7

I just purchase the full version of X7, because my CorelDRAW X3 was too old to qualify for the upgrade. Unfortunately the very first time I attempted to open one of my older images I received this beautiful error.

This file was last saved in version 3.0. Files from CorelDRAW 5 and earlier versions are no longer supported and cannot be opened or imported in CorelDRAW version 17.0.

I cannot find any discussions or information on how to migrate these images. I still have my X3 installation, so I suppose I can export the image into a compatible format of some type. However, I am really irritated that Corel doesn't seem to have this documented in an easy to find location. I seem to remember having this problem back when I bought X3 and having to use a third party tool to migrate my older Corel images. Is there such a tool available today? (I found one that would convert them to AI format.)

Note to Corel: This is really unprofessional. You said I couldn't get a discount to upgrade older software, but did not mention that the images would be incompatible and not importable.

0 Bobby Henderson over 9 years ago

It's kind of surprising CorelDRAW X7 would simply not try to open those kinds of files at all. On the other hand recent versions of CorelDRAW (X6 and X7) have had increasing levels of trouble trying to open files more than a few versions old.

I have a bunch of work files from the late 1990's and early 2000's saved in CorelDRAW 9.0 format. Some of these were saved down to version 9 using CorelDRAW 12 or X3 for backward compatibility with other computers that weren't running the latest version. Whenever I try to open one of these CDR 9 files it causes at least one reoccurring error: a font on my system Abadi Condesned Light gets uninstalled. In X6 I usually have to restart the computer to get the font to come back properly. In X7 on my Win 7 machine at home Abadi Cond. Light will come back once I close the old CDR 9 document.

I guess it would be a good idea to keep an ancient Win XP machine with X3 on it around for opening up old CDR files. Just don't connect it to the Internet.

Adobe Illustrator can open some old CDR files. But some of the results are a bit unpredictable and even risky. A little over a year ago I had to factory reset my work computer after attempting to open a CDR file directly in Illustrator CC. Illustrator crashed and would not re-launch after rebooting or re-installing. If I need to open Corel-generated artwork in Illustrator I always save .AI files from CorelDRAW rather than opening .CDR files in Illustrator.
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0 Stefan Lindblad over 9 years ago

Hi

Have you tried to publish to PDF pre press in X3 and open that PDF in X7?
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0 Stefan Lindblad over 9 years ago

Please read the error message again. It says version 3.0 and not X3. X3 = 13.0. So question is if your file is not really a 3.0 instead of X3/13.0
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0 van_cleef over 9 years ago in reply to Stefan Lindblad

> Please read the error message again. It says version 3.0 and not X3. X3 = 13.0.

Running X3 and opening the file, the file information doesn't tell you what version the file is... However, it says it was last modified in 1993! (Since I pulled it out of a tar archive, it thinks the create date was yesterday. :) )

However, if I go to save it, it clearly states that it is version 13.0. Which means the error message is incorrect.

> Have you tried to publish to PDF...?

Out of the long list of formats show in "Save As", is there one that will maintain the vector formats and still be readable by Corel X7? Normal PDF format doesn't seem like a good candidate, however Adobe Illustrator might be.

I want to use the components of my old images as part of updating my web site to add support for mobile devices. It would really suck if I had to change the look and feel of the site just because Corel engineers were too incompetent to maintain image support across multiple generations or provide an image migration tool.

It blows my mind that they didn't even bother to change the file extension to indicate that things have evolved. What is up with that?

The one team that should be able to write a file conversion format, because they understand the internal workings of the software, is the Corel team. Why haven't they done just that? And why don't they have clear documentation somewhere, describing format compatibilities and how to deal with them? I now remember why I started to play around with GIMP2.
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0 van_cleef over 9 years ago in reply to van_cleef

For the record: I exported is as an AI file in CorelDRAW X3 and opened it in CorelDRAW X7 without any problems, quickly made the changes that I needed for the website update and saved it as a CDR file. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have a working copy of X3.

How is it the Adobe team knows how to maintain format compatibility over the years, but the Corel team doesn't?
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