Corel Files as objects ("updatable")

Hey,

This is my first time in this forum. I've been using Corel Draw for a while, but I never really got into it. Now, because of work I'm trying to get more out of it.

I hit a rock when I created a business card (in one file) and tried to print 10 copies in one page. So, I found two solutions:

  1. I opened another file and imported my image (.cdr) into that new file. Copied and pasted 10 times, set up positions on the sheet and that's it, I was ready to publish it to .pdf and have it printed.
    • But this method has one problem: let's say that after I did all that I noticed the phone number on the card was wrong. What did I have to do? Either change the phone number in each copy of the business card on the sheet (and make sure I also change the phone number in the original) or delete the file, change the original and create a new file, make new copies, spread them out on the sheet, yada yada yada...
  2. The other is to create the business card and in the "Print Preview", use the "Imposition layout tool" and change the amont of copies horizontal and vertical.
    1. The problem with this method: I can't publish this print layout to .pdf.

 

Does anyone know how to create an object out of a .cdr file, so that every time I change that "class", the objects would change as well? (I'm sorry that's kind of a programmer language, but I didn't know to put this into another words without writing too much. I can always make myself clearer.)

 

Thank you very much,

Dan Dias

  • Dan, let me give you another way to do those business cards, then I'll
    answer the "Class" question.

    To do business cards, nametags, return address labels and other sorts of
    things where you want the same information on a bunch of labels, it's
    easiest to do it by setting up the page layout as a label. The real
    problem with this method is that you need to be able to PRINT to PDF,
    not just use CorelDRAW's Publish to PDF. (At least I've not figured out
    how - yet!) The Print to PDF would probably work for your imposition
    layout too since that's basically what the label templates do.

    Start a new CorelDRAW document, go to Layout/Page Setup, and you get the
    Options dialog box opened to the Page size options. Click the Labels
    radio button at the top and choose the label template you want to use or
    click the Customize Label button and set up your page of labels that way
    (easiest to pick something close to what you want to do to from the
    given templates first to give you a place to start from).

    Once you have the size labels and arrangement on the page the way you
    want them, Click OK and OK out of the Options dialog.

    You'll be left seeing ONE label AS the page you are looking at. Design
    your label or card in that space as if it were the label or card itself.
    When you're done, click Print Preview and you'll see that you get a full
    sheet of that particular label or card.

    From there, Print to PDF using Acrobat or any of the other cheaper (or
    even free) PDF creation software programs out there and you'll get a
    full PDF page of cards.

    To change anything in the information, you only change one card and all
    the rest follow suit.

    NOW, about that "class" thing. There are a couple of things you can do.
    My favorite for this kind of application is to use Symbols. Create that
    first card, group the whole thing, then right click and Convert to
    Symbol. That adds it to your document symbol library. Now you can pull
    instances of that symbol out of the library and add as many as you want
    to the page. Edit your symbol, and they all change.

    Not particularly recommended for text due to some bugs, but you can also
    make clones (from the Edit menu) of your work so when the original
    changes, the clones all change.

    Hope that helps.
    Val P.

    Dan Dias wrote:
    > Hey,
    >
    > This is my first time in this forum. I've been using Corel Draw for a
    > while, but I never really got into it. Now, because of work I'm trying
    > to get more out of it.
    >
    > I hit a rock when I created a business card (in one file) and tried to
    > print 10 copies in one page. So, I found two solutions:
    >
    > 1.
    > I opened another file and imported my image (.cdr) into that new
    > file. Copied and pasted 10 times, set up positions on the sheet
    > and that's it, I was ready to publish it to .pdf and have it printed.
    > *
    > But this method has one problem: let's say that after I did
    > all that I noticed the phone number on the card was wrong.
    > What did I have to do? Either change the phone number in
    > each copy of the business card on the sheet (and make sure I
    > also change the phone number in the original) *or *delete
    > the file, change the original and create a new file, make
    > new copies, spread them out on the sheet, yada yada yada...
    > 2.
    > The other is to create the business card and in the "Print
    > Preview", use the "Imposition layout tool" and change the amont of
    > copies horizontal and vertical.
    > 1.
    > The problem with this method: I can't publish this print
    > layout to .pdf.
    >
    >
    >
    > Does anyone know how to create an object out of a .cdr file, so that
    > every time I change that "class", the objects would change as well? (I'm
    > sorry that's kind of a programmer language, but I didn't know to put
    > this into another words without writing too much. I can always make
    > myself clearer.)
    >
    >
    >
    > Thank you very much,
    >
    > Dan Dias
    >
    > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    > Carpe diem in Christ!
    > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    > http://community.coreldraw.com/forums/p/809/2852.aspx#2852
    >
    • Thanks VERY much Val!!!

      Business Cards/label creation has become so much easier now.

      Thank you very much for the comment on symbols/instances as well. I'll just have to play around a little bit to see how it works if I want to create a symbol library. I also do the bulletim for a church, and sometimes I use things in one week and 3 weeks later I have to use the same thing again. The way I've been doing is to go into every old file to find that one "symbol". This whole library thing would be awesome.

      Again, Thank you!!!

      • You're welcome, Dan! Glad I could help.
        I do the church bulletins too. Unfortunately, I have to do them at the
        church office and they only have MS Word (or Publisher - even worse.) I
        do have a folder of bulletin "pieces" that I can grab various calls to
        worship or other repetitive hunks of text from. If I thought that old
        computer could handle it, I'd install one of my CorelDRAW licenses on
        it, but I'm afraid that would just break everything worse than it
        already is. (Just started this job a couple weeks ago, and soon as I
        can, things are going to be upgraded a LOT!) I brought the return
        address labels home to do last night since I trust CorelDRAW and my
        printer a lot more than the church computer and printer, LOL.

        Have fun!
        Val P.




        Dan Dias wrote:

        > Thanks VERY much Val!!!
        >
        > Business Cards/label creation has become so much easier now.
        >
        > Thank you very much for the comment on symbols/instances as well. I'll
        > just have to play around a little bit to see how it works if I want to
        > create a symbol library. I also do the bulletim for a church, and
        > sometimes I use things in one week and 3 weeks later I have to use the
        > same thing again. The way I've been doing is to go into every old file
        > to find that one "symbol". This whole library thing would be awesome.
        >
        > Again, Thank you!!!
        >
        > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
        > Carpe diem in Christ!
        > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
        > http://community.coreldraw.com/forums/p/809/2862.aspx#2862
        >
      • Val...thank you for the information about creating business cards.  I am also new to Corel Draw, and tried your method.  However, after I click on the Label radio button, there are no pre-set label formats to choose from?  Any ideas?  

        •  So sorry for the delay. Your message got lost in my landslide of email this season.

          My best guess is that the label templates did not get loaded from the CD on installation. If you put the CD in, you should have the option to add features. See if you can find the labels and templates there. They may be buried in a sub/sub directory, so be persistent and keep opening options until you find them.

          Val P. 

          • Hi Val P,

            Thanks for your reply to dan and the rest. I am trying to design a church bulletin. As I am new to Corel Draw, I know the basic stuffs (I think so), But coming up with a design has been impossible so far. I couldn't find any help on the web on bulletin. Do you know of any tutorial / guide on designing a church bulletin on corel"

            Thanks,

            Richard