Corel Draw (cdr) to anything edittable.

[Robin Laing]

Frederick Alexander Thomssen wrote:
> On Friday 04 March 2005 17:10, Robin Laing wrote:
> 
>>P Jones wrote:
>>
>>>On Fri, 04 Mar 2005 07:39:23 -0700, Robin Laing
>>>
>>><Robin.Laing at drdc-rddc.gc.ca> wrote:
>>>
>>>>Hello,
>>>>
>>>>I was tasked last night to recover some archived files and came across
>>>>the problem of using proprietary file formats.
>>>>
>>>>I have 44 Corel Draw files that I need to convert to something that I
>>>>can either view or actually edit such as OOo Draw.
>>>>
>>>>Has anyone come across a solution other than the obvious, find a
>>>>Windows computer, find a copy of Corel Draw and install Corel Draw?
>>>>
>>>>I searched for over 2 hours and tried everything that I could.
>>>>
>>>>I have also posted a message to the ImageMagick list as well.
>>>>
>>>>Thank you.
>>>>--
>>>>Robin Laing
>>>
>>>Hi Robin;
>>>
>>>If you find anything on this please let the list know (or at least me
>>>;-) ). I've looked for years for a linux solution to CDR files, and
>>>have never found anything. I have several hundred CDR files that I'd
>>>like to convert, and the only solution I've come up with is a file by
>>>file conversion to some other format (WMF or CGM) from within a
>>>Win/CorelDRAW installation.
>>>
>>>-P
>>
>>In my searches last night I did come across one software package that
> 
> 
> *mhhh and which software package?
> 
> 
>>in the OLD documentation listed cdr files but I tried it and no joy.
>>It was late at night and I was tired.
>>
>>There are a couple of WWW based conversion sites that do it by size
>>and number of files.  Mine are all for a volunteer organization with
>>no money resources.
>>
>>I am going to ask our IT people if there is a computer with Corel Draw
>>on it that I can use.  Time is a problem for me.
>>--
>>Robin Laing
> 
> 
> freddy

Just as an update to those that run into the same problem.

I had to get Corel Draw on a machine to do the conversions.  It didn't 
go smoothly though.

I took every file and converted it to a pdf as a reference.  This 
wasn't perfect as the Windows machine did not have all the necessary 
fonts that were used in the original.  At least there is a copy.

I tried various export features and had problems with any export that 
had a bitmap and vector diagrams within it.  I could export as a 
bitmap but this did not allow future editing.  Most of the documents 
this was not an issue.

On the ones that converted nicely I ended up using *.cgm files for the 
conversion.  I then opened them in OOo Draw and saved them as 
drawings.  No problem.

On the ones that were a headache, I saved all the bitmaps as 
individual files.  I then saved all the vector diagrams as individual 
files.  With the PDF's, it will take a bit of time to recreate 
anything that needs to be edited.

Now onto the wpd documents.  Going to try OOo2.0 Beta for this. 
Otherwise it is Abiword.

Hope this helps someone.
-- 
Robin Laing