Import CDR in AI

[ujjwal.jt]

How to import CDR Files into Illustrator ?

The option doesn't come up and if I use online converters like zamzar etc, the files isn't always the same as it was on CorelDraw. 

[Mylenium]

There is no such thing as a perfect conversion and you have to live with it. They are completely different programs and specific features simply work completely differently. That and of course you have things backwards - you do not import a CDR into AI, you export an AI from the Corel Suite.

Mylenium

[Kurt Gold]

Which version of Illustrator are you using?

Illustrator used to be able to open (import) .cdr files, but only up to a certain .cdr version (I seem to remember that it was .cdr version 10).

Newer .cdr versions are probably not supported, but as Mylenium already stated you can export .ai files in Corel Draw. The export quality used to be very good (for example, Corel Draw's gradient meshes were (almost) correctly transfered to Illustrator gradient meshes).

All depends on what your .cdr files contain. It may be a 100 percent success or rather a little disappointment.

[ujjwal.jt]

Thank you for your response.

I've had a similar experience that the files gets imported sometimes and sometimes they just won't.

Your point about version of CDR must be the issue to look into.

We do events and I generally get heavier files with the entire graphic sequences and I have to use parts of them.

The other teams providing us with those files are not always that supportive so as to export an AI just for me.

[ujjwal.jt]

And I'll have to check the exact version.

But I have CC, so I keep updating as and when Adobe comes out with an update.

[Monika Gause]

If you don't have access to CorelDRAW, you can upload the file to Dropbox or the like and then post a link in here.

[ujjwal.jt]

Thank You for your support.

But I am looking to learn something new or find a way to solve my problem. 

Sending my CDR file to you everytime I need to import it to AI isn't an effective solution.

[Monika Gause]

My offer was for a single file anyway.

If you get CDR files regularly, then your only solution must be: get a copy of CorelDRAW. Even if Illustrator could import the current version of CDR files, it will always only be an import. You cannot know if what you are seeing is a good and complete import.

The other possiblity: make your clients send you PDF instead or make them export AI files. CorelDRAW can do that pretty well - but again that would be a translation and it also has flaws. The upside would be that your client checks whether the file is OK before sending it to you.

[ujjwal.jt]

I appreciate the gesture. But I don't exactly have a file to convert right this moment as social gatherings aren't allowed and so... no events are happening these days.

I am just trying to learn new things and find solutions for the problems I generally face.

Thank you for your support.