Converting CDR file to AI Illustrator

[Sukhi34547816zm8k]

I am trying to convert a CDR (CorelDraw) file to AI (Illustrator) but each time i convert it using CorelDraw it doesn't seem to open in Illustrator. The latest version I can convert it to using Corel is Illustrator CS6 and the file is over 500mb. 

Could someone please offer any suggestions? 

[davescm]

Hi , I've moved your post from the Photoshop forum to the Illustrator forum where you are more likely to get help with your issue.

[Monika Gause]

So you have an older version of CorelDRAW?

What's in the file?

[Sukhi34547816zm8k]

CorelDraw 2022 version 24.0.0.301

The file is a full marketing book created in Corel which is why the size is so large. When converting I have had to do it in 2 parts as it only allows 100 pages per time 

[Monika Gause]

It's a particularly bad idea to continue editing this kind of work in Illustrator.

Do yourself a favour and output this as a PDF and then use something like this (this is not free) to get your file into InDesign https://markzware.com/products/pdf2dtp/  

[Oluokun5E44]

You can try exporting each page as SVG File open new file on Adobe Illustrator then paste them there, its time cosuming though if you're working with multiple pages of documents but it literarilly solve the problem.

[Bobby Henderson]

I don't recommend using SVG as an intermediary exchange format to pass content from CorelDRAW to Adobe Illustratror. Lots of things in the artwork will break. For one thing SVG has no native support for CMYK. Certain kinds of other fills can effects will be expanded, flattened or even turned into pixel-based objects.

Currently the only approach that works (sort of) for exporting CorelDRAW artwork into Illustrator is using Corel's Illustrator AI export filter and choosing CS6 format. The filter can export a multi-page CorelDRAW document into Illustrator with the pages on multiple art boards.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Have you tried:

Simply opening it in Illustrator? It can open CDR files.

Exporting it from CorelDRAW. (If this is what you tried, do you use the Open menu in Illustator or simply double-click the file?)

Export as PDF and open in Illustrator?

[Bobby Henderson]

Adobe Illustrator cannot open or place CDR files. Several versions ago (I don't remember exactly when) there was a time, briefly, when Illustrator could open/import CDR files. I remember the import filter crashing my installation of Illustrator so badly I had to completely uninstall all of my Creative Suite apps, clean any references of the apps and then reinstall just to get things operational again. That CDR import filter in Illustrator vanished not long after that.

AFAIK, Inkscape is the only vector graphics application outside of CorelDRAW that can import CDR files. And its capabilities at importing CorelDRAW artwork are somewhat limited. OTOH, it can import early version CDR files made before CorelDRAW 6, which is something modern versions of CorelDRAW strangely cannot do.

For the time being anyone trying to move artwork from CorelDRAW into Illustrator has to use Corel's Illustrator CS6 export filter. The problems don't end there either.

The past few builds of Illustrator, including the current version (29.5.1) and beta build (29.6.180) will not open an Illustrator file exported out of CorelDRAW if the file has any live text objects in it. The familiar "Illustrator could partially open this file" error box will be displayed; all that will open is a blank document. The only work-around for this is by having a version 28 build of Illustrator installed. The Corel-exported AI file has to be opened in that version of Illustrator and then re-saved in order for it to open successfully in a version 29 build of Illustrator.

And then even in an Illustrator 28 build, an AI file made by CorelDRAW will still have some problems. Live text objects often have line spacing utterly corrupted. The trick around that is by creating a new Illustrator document and making text objects similar to those in the Corel-exported AI file. Copy the fresh text objects with proper line spacing into the Corel-exported document. Use the eyedropper tool to copy the properties of the good text objects over the bad ones.

PDF files exported from CorelDRAW are not very edit-friendly. Sometimes the live text objects will open with line spacing and tracking looking proper. But the text strings may be broken apart in many separate segments. Third party plugins like Vector First Aid can fix those problems to some degree.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

>>Adobe Illustrator cannot open or place CDR file.

_Technically, it can, but only up to DRAW version 10. (I could not test it since I don't have a version 10 file.)

Which is useless for most versions of DRAW. My 2024 version can only save down to version 15.

However, I did have success saving as an AI file. (My drawing was very simple, though.)

[Bobby Henderson]

I guess I overlooked that since any attempts to import a CDR file would be met with a message box saying the file was an unsupported format. Version 10 of CorelDRAW was released nearly 25 years ago (Nov 13, 2000). As you said, the farthest version back anyone can save a CDR file in a current version of CorelDRAW is version "X5." In certain cases there are good reasons to be able to save graphics files down to very early file versions. Adobe Illustrator allows this with AI and EPS files.

I don't understand what kind of rationale the developers at Corel have in place. If I was running that company I would require a current version of CorelDRAW to be able to open CDR files from any prior version all the way back to 1.0. Longtime CorelDRAW users can't open CDR files made in versions 5 or earlier in any recent release of CorelDRAW. Those only support CDR files made in version 6 and above. It makes me wonder if they'll cut off support for CDR files made before version 9 or 10 and then maybe keep moving the goal posts beyond that. Meanwhile the current version of Adobe Illustrator can open AI and EPS files made in any prior version of Illustrator. The only technical hang-ups will involve type objects in obsolete font formats (Type 1, Type 1 Multiple Master).

Even if current copies of CorelDRAW could save CDR files in vintage versions, such as the popular 9 or 3 releases, so many features and effects from current era CDR files would break when saved back that far.

It would be nice if Adobe Illustrator had a more up to date CorelDRAW CDR import filter. But I have no idea how large the user base of CorelDRAW may be. The company has been privately held for more than 20 years; they don't publicly report earnings, user numbers, etc. Judging by how little CorelDRAW has been updated the past several years it doesn't make me feel optimistic. I can barely tell any difference at all between the 2025 release and 2024.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Not to get too off track, but it would be nice to have some of DRAW's features in Illustrator. Some are sloooowly creeping in, such as dimensioning, but DRAW does have some nice features. 

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

I stopped working with CorelDraw back with v11, but that being said, the Sangam file filter in Illustrator is a bit 'dumb" in recognizing the version of CDR. i.e. It actually WILL open CDR 11 files if you change one byte in the header (needs a hex editor, of course).

I just tested that with 29.5.1 and it still works.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Brad @ Roaring Mouse Do you have a link to the byte change?

I was playing around (wasting time I didn't have) and tried to find out what version could save back to v10. Wikipedia's CorelDRAW page was wrong--I had to go all the way back to version X6. 

Even then, Illustrator would not open the file. 

[Bobby Henderson]

I'm tempted to try installing CorelDRAW 9 to see if it can run in Windows 11, perhaps by using compatibility mode. I still have the old CDs and service packs. My main concern is that it could hose another newer CorelDRAW install on the same PC.

Speaking of application features, yes, CorelDRAW has some good ones not found in Illustrator. And vice versa. I've been using both applications alongside each other since the 1990's, taking advantage of the strengths in both.

One thing I like in CorelDRAW is how it automatically locks in place the last object clicked into a selection for align/distribute functions. Its keyboard shortcuts for aligning and distributing objects is the best I've seen in a vector graphics application. That combination lets me fly through certain kinds of technical drawing tasks very quickly. Illustrator requires an extra click to set a key object and there aren't any keyboard shortcuts for aligning/distributing objects.

OTOH, I hate the pen ("Bezier") tool in CorelDRAW. The Pen tool in Illustrator is so much better, thanks to its keyboard shortcuts for editing anchor points while the path is being drawn as well as zooming in/out and hand-panning the view.

I prefer the gradient fill annotator in CorelDRAW and Affinity Designer over the one in Illustrator. You can easily grab either end of the gradient bar and move it to any desired position, including snapping it to other objects, guidelines or the grid. That allows multiple gradients on multiple objects to be stacked on each other accurately for more complex effects. Illustrator doesn't allow that. Rotation is done on one end; adjusting the length is done on the other end. The gradient annotator tends to jump around. It's just frustrating to use. I really wish Adobe would create an option in Preferences to change the gradient annotator to that easier to use behavior.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Just a caution about installing DRAW 9... I had to uninstall my newer versions before X6 would install. Then I had to remove the 2015 Visual C++ files and reboot. 

I orginally looked at Wikipedia and it had wrong "save as" info. So I ended up installing and uninstalling 2019, then 2017, then X8 before I got to X6. (I didn't have to uninstall 2024 for the first three trys, just X6.)

I uninstalled X6 and will reinstall 2024 when I get a chance. (Spent waaay too much time with testing...)

[Bobby Henderson]

Just a caution about installing DRAW 9... I had to uninstall my newer versions before X6 would install. Then I had to remove the 2015 Visual C++ files and reboot. 

By @Dave Creamer of IDEAS

My understanding is each old version of CorelDRAW has its own can of worms that opens when someone attempts to install one of those versions in either Windows 10 or Windows 11. For instance I think version X3 just won't work at all; it has to be installed in an older PC running WinXP or Win7 (or maybe in a virtual machine running the old OS). If I do try to install CorelDRAW 9 I might try loading it onto an old 2011 era Dell XPS notebook I still have. But it has Win10 on it. The machine originally came with Win7 Ultimate installed. But I'm not sure if I could install that OS on that notebook again since I think the OS has to be activated and MS probably shut down those servers. Win10 is about to hit EOL.

[Kurt Gold]

"… and there [in Illustrator] aren't any keyboard shortcuts for aligning/distributing objects."

That had been true in the past for a very long time, Bobby.

I hope you allow me to nit-pick a bit when it comes to recent versions of Illustrator: You actually can assign custom keyboard shortcuts for both aligning and distributing objects (according to the commands in the Object menu).

[Bobby Henderson]

I hope you allow me to nit-pick a bit when it comes to recent versions of Illustrator: You actually can assign custom keyboard shortcuts for both aligning and distributing objects (according to the commands in the Object menu).

By @Kurt Gold

I'm aware of Illustrator allowing custom keyboard shortcuts. I've tried to create a complete "recipe" of align/distribute keyboard shortcuts in Illustrator to mimic those in CorelDRAW. Unfortunately every key combination assignment idea I've tried runs into conflicts. Even if I can arrive at something that works reasonably well there is still the matter of Illustrator requiring that extra click to assign a key object. 

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

"Do you have a link to the byte change?"

Specifically, not sure which byte in this string did it, but If you have a v10 file, you can probably just copy and paste everything up to the 3 bytes of 00 00 00, and replace the corresponding bytes in the v11 file. That being said, it doesn't ALWAYS work; If the v11 had something new that v10 couldn't do, it would still error out.

btw: this was a Corel Mac file, so not sure if the bytes in a windows file would correlate.

Historically, I always found Exporting as Illustrator worked best, as Corel was doing the heavy lifting in attempting to make their objects into something Illustrator could use, whereas the Corel filter in Illustrator would import what it could and skip/mess up the rest. In fact, exporting EPS was even better (plus you could export a multipage document, although to separate files) and Illustrator was just as happy.

[Bobby Henderson]

Exporting EPS files from CorelDRAW to open in Illustrator doesn't work all that well lately. Graphics objects and basic fills usually convert okay. Live text objects get corrupted in various ways. I think the problem is the EPS filter in CorelDRAW is outdated. I doubt it has proper support for OpenType fonts, much less Variable Fonts.

The Illustrator CS6 export filter in CorelDRAW is currently the least bad option for exporting art into Illustrator.

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

Re: EPS. I agree. What I found is, over the years, if you realllly had to convert a CDR to Illustrator, it might take a multi-prong approach and assemble the best bits form each way.

Yes, the "best" is exporting to Illustrator from CorelDraw.

The next best is exporting a high-res full PDF and opening that in Illustrator.

The worst (in my experience) was opening CDR in Illustrator. Too many objects did not come in.

But between the three, you might get all the pieces you need. The first two require having CorelDraw, of course, so you are very limited if all you have at your disposal is Illustrator's old import filter. 

EPS is the fallback, but of course that requires flattening, (and can take forever to export) which will create a very complex file of many little bits, and color management issues, but it WILL look like the printed result. Still. not what you want to work with going forward.

Personally, for the complex CDR, I would separate the true vector items (like text that needs edits, etc) from the more illustrative parts, then render that portion as a bitmap and make a base layer out of that.

In my role as a pre-press guy, what we would often do with supplied files is literally export them as a high-res (600 dpi) TIF from CorelDraw and be done with it! 🙂

[Bobby Henderson]

I hope Adobe can do something about the current problem where Corel-exported Illustrator AI files containing live text objects won't open in the current or beta version of Illustrator. I have Illustrator 28 installed alongside version 29 to get around that problem, but I don't know how long I'll be able to keep version 28 installed.

Illustrator will open PDF files generated by CorelDRAW, but any live text objects are affected by various issues. Any variable fonts in the PDF will get outlined. That's also a big drawback for Affinity Designer; it can't really import Illustrator AI files. It just imports PDF data that may (or may not) be present in the AI file. Variable fonts aren't supported in PDF files. I haven't used Affinity Designer all that much; I just have a copy of it just in case I receive any customer provided art made in that application.

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

"Variable fonts aren't supported in PDF files"

Yes they are. However, since there's only one or two outlines for an entire family (e.g a Regular and an Italic), you will get several subsets (with the same base name) for all the different weights, all with custom encodings so there's no overlap.  There's no way for these to be read back as live text, even if you have the font on your system, so they need to be outlined.

"Any variable fonts in the PDF will get outlined"

Not just VF... any font using a large Unicode glyph set if one is using contextual alternates/ligatures etc have to be outlined as well. This causes two subsets... one for the "regular" glyphs and another custom encoding for extended glyphs. Text using the first can be read back into Illustrator as live text, but the other cannot be and is outlined.

[saiyed_0747]

ok