Workspace tour

Welcome to CorelDRAW, a comprehensive vector-based drawing and graphic-design program for

the graphics professional.
In this tutorial, you will become familiar with the terminology and workspace of CorelDRAW.

What you will learn

In this tutorial, you will learn how to

use CorelDRAW terminology and concepts

navigate the CorelDRAW application window

identify the CorelDRAW workspace tools

customize the CorelDRAW workspace

CorelDRAW terminology and concepts

Before you get started with CorelDRAW, you should be familiar with the following terms.
Term

Description

object

An element in a drawing, such as an

image, shape, line, text, curve, symbol, or
layer

drawing

The work you create in CorelDRAW: for

example, custom artwork, logos, posters,
and newsletters

vector graphic

An image generated from mathematical

descriptions that determine the position,
length, and direction in which lines are
drawn

bitmap

An image composed of grids of pixels or

dots

docker

A window containing commands and

settings relevant to a specific tool or task

flyout

A button that opens a group of related

tools

artistic text

A type of text to which you can apply

special effects, such as shadows

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Term

Description

paragraph text

A type of text to which you can apply

formatting options, and which can be
edited in large blocks

CorelDRAW application window

When you launch CorelDRAW, the application window opens containing a drawing window. The
rectangle in the center of the drawing window is the drawing page where you create your drawing.
Although more than one drawing window can be opened, you can apply commands to the active
drawing window only.
Title bar

Toolbar
(standard)

Menu bar

Property
bar

Toolbox

Drawing
window

Docker

Drawing
page

Color
palette
Ruler
Document
navigator

Status bar

Navigator

The application window contains the following main parts:

Part

Description

Menu bar

The area containing drop-down menus

with commands grouped by category

Property bar

A detachable bar with commands that

relate to the active tool or object. For
example, when the Text tool is active, the
text property bar displays commands that
let you create and edit text.

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Part

Description

Toolbar

A detachable bar that contains shortcuts to

menu and other commands. The standard
toolbar contains shortcuts to basic
commands, such as opening, saving, and
printing.

Title bar

The area displaying the title of the

currently open drawing

Rulers

Horizontal and vertical borders that are

used to determine the size and position of
objects in a drawing

Toolbox

A detachable bar with tools for creating,

filling, and modifying objects in the drawing

Drawing window

The area outside the drawing page

bordered by the scroll bars and application
controls

Drawing page

The rectangular area inside the drawing

window. It is the printable area of your
work area.

Color palette

A detachable bar that contains color

swatches

Docker

A window containing commands and

settings relevant to a specific tool or task

Status bar

An area at the bottom of the application

window that contains information about
object properties such as type, size, color,
fill, and resolution. The status bar also
shows the current mouse position.

Document navigator

The area at the bottom left of the

application window that contains controls
for moving between pages and adding
pages

Navigator

A button at the lower-right corner of the

drawing window that opens a smaller
display to help you move around a drawing

CorelDRAW workspace tools

Application commands are accessible through the menu bar, toolbars, property bar, dockers, and
toolbox. The property bar and dockers provide access to commands that relate to the active tool or
current task. The property bar, dockers, toolbars, and toolbox can be opened, closed, and moved
around your screen at any time.

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Toolbars
Toolbars consist of buttons that are shortcuts to menu commands. The standard toolbar, which
appears by default, consists of commonly used commands. The table below outlines the buttons on
the standard toolbar.
Click this button

To
Start a new drawing
Open a drawing
Save a drawing
Print a drawing
Cut selected objects to the Clipboard
Copy selected objects to the Clipboard
Paste the Clipboard contents into a
drawing
Undo an action
Restore an action that was undone
Import a drawing
Export a drawing
Start Corel applications
Access the Corel Graphics Community
Web site
Set a zoom level

In addition to the standard toolbar, CorelDRAW has toolbars for specific kinds of tasks. For example,
the Text toolbar contains commands relevant to using the Text tool. If you use a toolbar frequently,
you can display it in the workspace at all times.
The following table describes toolbars other than the standard toolbar.

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Toolbar

Description

Yahoo! Toolbar

Lets you access services on Yahoo.com,

such as Calendar and Mail, and use
Yahoo! Search to search the Web. You
need an Internet connection to use the
Yahoo! Toolbar.

Text

Contains commands for formatting and

aligning text

Zoom

Contains commands for zooming in and

out of the drawing page by specifying a
percentage of the original view, clicking the
Zoom tool, or selecting a page view

Internet

Contains commands for Web-related tools

for creating rollovers and publishing to the
Internet

Print merge

Contains commands for print merge items

that combine text with a drawing, such as
creating and loading data files, creating
data fields for variable text, and inserting
print merge fields

Transform

Contains commands for skewing, rotating,

and mirroring objects

Visual Basic for Applications

Contains commands for editing, testing,

and running VBA commands

Property bar
The property bar displays the most commonly used functions that are relevant to the active tool or
to the task youre performing. Although it looks like a toolbar, the property bar has content that
changes depending on the tool or task.
For example, when you click the Text tool in the toolbox, the property bar displays only text-related
commands. In the example below, the property bar displays text formatting, alignment, and editing
tools.

Dockers
Dockers display the same types of controls as a dialog box, such as command buttons, options, and
list boxes. Unlike most dialog boxes, you can keep dockers open while working on a document, so
you can readily access the commands to experiment with different effects.

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An example is the
Object properties
docker. When this
docker is open, you
can click an object in
the drawing window
and view the
properties of the
object, such as fill,
outline, and
dimensions.

Dockers can be either docked or floating. Docking a docker attaches it to the edge of the application
window. Undocking a docker detaches it from the edge of the application window, so it can be easily
moved around. You can also collapse dockers to save screen space.
If you open several dockers, they usually appear nested, with only one docker fully displayed. You
can quickly display a docker hidden from view by clicking the dockers tab.

Left: Docked and nested dockers. Right: A floating docker. To dock a floating docker,
click the dockers title bar, and drag to position the pointer on the edge of the drawing
window. To close a docker, click the X button at the upper-right corner; to collapse or
expand a docker, click the arrow button at the upper-right corner.

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Status bar
The status bar displays information about selected objects, such as color, fill type, outline, cursor
position, and relevant commands.

Color palette
A color palette is a collection of color swatches. You can choose fill and outline colors by using the
default color palette, which contains 99 colors from the CMYK color model. The selected fill and
outline colors appear in the color swatches on the status bar.
The following table describes how to choose a color from the default color palette.
To

Do the following

Choose a fill color for a selected object

Click a color swatch.

Choose an outline color for a selected

object

Right-click a color swatch.

Choose from different shades of a color

Click and hold a color swatch to display a

pop-up color picker, and click a color.

View more colors in the default color

palette

Click the scroll arrows at the top and

bottom of the color palette.

Toolbox
The toolbox contains tools for editing, creating, and viewing images. Some of the tools are visible by
default, while others are grouped in flyouts. Flyouts open to display a set of related tools. A small
arrow in the lower-right corner of a toolbox button indicates a flyout: for example, the Shape edit
flyout . Clicking a flyout arrow opens a set of related tools. Clicking and dragging the grab handles
at the end of the flyout sets the flyout in its expanded form.
The following tables provide descriptions of the flyouts and tools in the CorelDRAW toolbox.
Flyout
Shape edit

Description
Lets you access the Shape, Smudge
brush, Roughen brush, and Free
transform tools

Crop tool

Lets you access the Crop, Knife, Eraser,

and Virtual segment delete tools

Zoom

Lets you access the Zoom and Hand tools

Curve

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Lets you access the Freehand, Bzier,

Artistic media, Pen, Polyline, 3 point
curve, Interactive connector, and
Dimension tools

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Tutorial: Workspace tour

Flyout

Description

Smart tools

Lets you access the Smart fill and Smart

drawing tools

Rectangle

Lets you access the Rectangle and 3

point rectangle tools

Ellipse

Lets you access the Ellipse and 3 point

ellipse tools

Object

Perfect Shapes

Interactive tools

Eyedropper
Outline

Fill

Lets you access the Polygon, Star,

Complex Star, Graph paper, and Spiral
tools
Lets you access the Basic shapes, Arrow
shapes, Flowchart shapes, Banner
shapes, and Callout shapes tools
Lets you access the Interactive blend,
Interactive contour, Interactive
distortion, Interactive drop shadow,
Interactive envelope, Interactive
extrude, and Interactive transparency
tools
Lets you access the Eyedropper and
Paintbucket tools
Lets you access the Outline pen and
Outline color dialog boxes, a selection of
outlines of various widths, and the Color
docker
Lets you access the Fill color, Fountain
fill, Pattern fill, Texture fill, and
PostScript fill dialog boxes, and the
Color docker

Interactive fill

Lets you access the Interactive fill and

Interactive mesh fill tools

Tool

Description
The Pick tool lets you select and size,
skew, and rotate objects.
The Shape tool lets you edit the shape of
objects.
The Smudge brush tool lets you distort a
vector object by dragging along its outline.
The Roughen brush tool lets you distort
the outline of a vector object by dragging
along the outline.

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Tool

Description
The Free transform tool lets you
transform an object by using the Free
rotation, Angle rotation, Scale, and
Skew tools.
The Crop tool lets you remove unwanted
areas in objects.
The Knife tool lets you cut through
objects.
The Eraser tool lets you remove areas of
your drawing.
The Virtual segment delete tool lets you
delete portions of objects that are between
intersections.
The Zoom tool lets you change the
magnification level in the drawing window.
The Hand tool lets you control which part
of the drawing is visible in the drawing
window.
The Freehand tool lets you draw single
line segments and curves.
The Bzier tool lets you draw curves one
segment at a time.
The Artistic media tool provides access to
the Brush, Sprayer, Calligraphic, and
Pressure tools.
The Pen tool lets you draw curves one
segment at a time.
The Polyline tool lets you draw lines and
curves in preview mode.
The 3 point curve tool lets you draw a
curve by defining the start, end, and center
points.
The Interactive connector tool lets you
join two objects with a line.
The Dimension tool lets you draw vertical,
horizontal, slanted, or angular dimension
lines.
The Smart fill tool lets you create objects
from enclosed areas and then apply a fill to
those objects.

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Tool

Description
The Smart drawing tool converts the
freehand strokes that you draw to basic
shapes and smoothed curves.
The Rectangle tool lets you draw
rectangles and squares.
The 3 point rectangle tool lets you draw
rectangles at an angle.
The Ellipse tool lets you draw ellipses and
circles.
The 3 point ellipse tool lets you draw
ellipses at an angle.
The Polygon tool lets you draw
symmetrical polygons and stars.
The Star tool lets you draw perfect stars.
The Complex star tool lets you draw
complex stars that have intersecting sides.
The Graph paper tool lets you draw a grid
of lines similar to that on graph paper.
The Spiral tool lets you draw symmetrical
and logarithmic spirals.
The Basic shapes tool lets you choose
from a full set of shapes, including
hexagram, a smiley face, and a right-angle
triangle.
The Arrow shapes tool lets you draw
arrows of various shape, direction, and
number of heads.
The Flowchart shapes tool lets you draw
flowchart symbols.
The Banner shapes tool lets you draw
ribbon objects and explosion shapes.
The Callout shapes tool lets you draw
callouts and labels.
The Text tool lets you type words directly
on the screen as artistic or paragraph text.
The Interactive blend tool lets you blend
two objects.

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Tool

Description
The Interactive contour tool lets you
apply a contour to an object.
The Interactive distortion tool lets you
apply a Push or Pull distortion, a Zipper
distortion, or a Twister distortion to an
object.
The Interactive drop shadow tool lets
you apply a drop shadow to an object.
The Interactive envelope tool lets you
distort an object by dragging the nodes of
the envelope.
The Interactive extrude tool lets you
apply the illusion of depth to objects.
The Interactive transparency tool lets
you apply transparencies to objects.
The Eyedropper tool lets you select and
copy object properties, such as fill, line
thickness, size, and effects, from an object
on the drawing window.
The Paintbucket tool lets you apply object
properties, such as fill, line thickness, size,
and effects, to an object in the drawing
window after you select these properties
with the Eyedropper tool.
The Outline tool lets you set outline
properties.
The Fill tool lets you set the fill properties.
The Interactive fill tool lets you apply
various fills.
The Interactive mesh tool lets you apply a
mesh grid to an object.

Customizing the workspace

You can customize your application by creating a custom workspace to suit your needs. For
example, you can create custom toolbars and color palettes.

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Using multiple workspaces
A workspace is a configuration of settings that specifies how the various command bars, commands,
and buttons are arranged when you open the application. You can always reset the current
workspace to the default settings.

To reset the current workspace

Hold down F8 while the application is starting.

Customizing toolbars
You can customize toolbar position and display. For example, you can move or resize a toolbar, and
you can choose to hide or display a toolbar.
Toolbars can be either docked or floating. Docking a toolbar attaches it to the edge of the application
window. Undocking a toolbar pulls it away from the edge of the application window, so it floats and
can be easily moved around.
You can customize toolbars by adding, removing, and arranging toolbar items.
When moving, docking, and undocking toolbars, you use the grab area of the toolbar.
For a

The grab area is

Docked toolbar

Identified by a double line

at the top or left edge of the
toolbar

Floating toolbar

The title bar. If the title is

not displayed, the grab
area is identified by a
double line at the top or left
edge of the toolbar.

To customize toolbar position and display

To

Do the following

Move a toolbar

Click the toolbars grab area, and drag the

toolbar to a new position.

Dock a toolbar

Click the toolbars grab area, and drag the

toolbar to any edge of the application
window.

Undock a toolbar

Click the toolbars grab area, and drag the

toolbar away from the edge of the
application window.

Resize a floating toolbar

Point to the edge of the toolbar and, using

the two-directional arrow, drag the edge of
the toolbar.

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To

Do the following

Hide or display a toolbar

Click Tools menu ` Customization, click

Command bars, and disable or enable the
check box next to the toolbar name.

Reset a toolbar to its default setting

Click Tools menu ` Customization, click

Command bars, click a toolbar, and click
Reset.

To add or remove an item on a toolbar

1 Click Tools menu ` Customization.
2 In the Customization list of categories, click Commands.
3 Choose a command category from the top list box.
4 Drag a toolbar item from the list to a toolbar in the application window.
If you want to remove an item from a toolbar, drag the toolbar item off the toolbar.

To arrange toolbar items

1 Click Tools menu ` Customization.
2 In the Customization list of categories, click Commands.
3 On the toolbar in the application window, drag the toolbar item to a new position.
If you want to move a toolbar item to another toolbar, drag the toolbar item from one toolbar to
the other.
Creating custom color palettes
Custom color palettes are collections of colors that you save. Custom color palettes are useful when
you frequently choose the same colors, or when you want to work with a set of colors that look good
together.
When you create a custom color palette, the color palette is empty; however, you can edit it by adding
the colors you want to include, as well as changing, deleting, sorting, and renaming colors.

To create a custom color palette

1 Click Window menu ` Color palettes ` Palette editor.
2 Click New palette

3 Type a filename.
4 Click Save.

To edit a custom color palette

1 Click Window menu ` Color palettes ` Palette editor.

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2 Choose a palette from the list box.
3 Modify any colors.
To

Do the following

Add a color

Click Add color. Click a color in the color

selection area, and click Add to palette.

Change a color

In the color selection area, click the color

that you want to change, click Edit color,
and click the new color in the color
selection area.

Delete a color

Click a color in the color selection area,

and click Delete color.

Sort colors

Click Sort colors, and click a color sorting

method.

Rename a color

Click a color in the color selection area,

and type a color name in the Name box.

From here ...

You can explore CorelDRAW on your own, or you can learn more by completing other
CorelTUTOR tutorials.
For more information about the topics and tools discussed in this tutorial, refer to the Help. To access
CorelDRAW Help, click Help menu ` Help topics.

Copyright 2002-2005 Corel Corporation. All rights reserved. All trademarks or registered trademarks
are the property of their respective companies.
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