File sizes

Try file : save as and then give the document a new name. If the resulting file is smaller, then it may have omitted the clutter.

Alternatively, create a new document and import the old. Again, there's a reasonable possibility that the clutter will not be copied.

If that still doesn't result in a smaller file then open again, delete the images, copy everything else to clipboard and then to a new document.

I took it down to 50dpi

Click to expand...

There's a better way. When you import the image, also tick the "Link Bitmap Externally" box. That way, you can get a 10Mb photo into a 256Kb CDR file. CorelDraw will embed only a low resolution preview but will print it at full resolution.

A consequential advantage is that if you externally link the same image into several CDR files, and subsequently edit the external image, the changes will be reflected in all the files that link to it when you next print them.

[Aside: Why can't Corel do the same for vector objects, ie be able to externally link in other CDR files rather than just images?]

There are some limitations with this. The obvious one being that you must be careful not to delete or move the original image, because otherwise it will not be able to find it when you print. And of course, if you give the CDR file to anybody else you must remember to give them the images too.

Secondly, it doesn't consistently update the previews when you edit the external images. This can be confusing, though the print should be correct.

Thirdly, if your aim is to export rather than print, it would be wise to do a quick test before you create your real document, to ensure that your intended export format does use the external file at its full resolution rather than the preview image.

Try exporting as cmx, import that and then resave. CMX strips out styles which can get corrupted with frequent use. If you are finding a drawing which crashes on open start Draw with F8 pressed and accept factory defaults. If after all of this files are still large it may well be that that is the way it is - images will always inflate file size

*thought* do you use tranparencies and lenses as these can inflate a file size quit considerably.

Alan D