A Signs Tips - Scanning & Tracing in Corel

With CorelDRAW some of the text options are just not sign maker friendly. Thankfully, since version 7 of Corel DRAW you have been able to customize the program to the way you work. A few simple modifications can make working with Text in Corel so much easier. In fact, once you customize some of the Text options, Corel DRAW ends up having some of the most powerful and user friendly text handling tools of any graphics or sign making application. Corel DRAW has many options set as default that can sometimes frustrate the sign maker. In particular it will capitalize the first letter of each sentence as well as replacing abbreviations with complete words. An example of this is when you type "& Co." it automatically replaces them with "and Company".
To remove these automatic text replacement options follow the instructions below. In Corel Draw 7 click on the Tools menu and choose Options. Next click on the Type Assist Tab. Uncheck all options and click on the OK button. In Corel Draw 8 click on the Tools menu and choose Options. Next click on the + sign in front of Text (on the left hand side) to expand options. Next click on the Type Assist word. Uncheck all options and click on the OK button.
In Corel Draw 9,10, 11 or 12 click on the Tools menu and choose Customization. Next click on the + sign in front of Text (on the left hand side) to expand options. Next click on the QuickCorrect word. Uncheck all options and click on the OK button. Another issue in Corel DRAW is the Text size which is set a small point size for typing on an A4 or letter page. Because sign makers use a much larger page, it is recommended that the text default size is set to a much larger size so that you can see what you are typing. To change the default font size as well as the default font, follow the instructions below. In Corel Draw 7 click on the Tools menu and choose Options. Next click on the Toolbox Tab. In the Toolbox Scroll down box click on the Text Tool, followed by the Font drop down and choose a font that you use frequently. Next click on the Size drop down and type in 300 and click the OK button.
In Corel Draw 8 click on the Tools menu and choose Options. Next click on the + sign in front of Document (on the left hand side) to expand options. Next click on the Styles word. Click on the Default Artist Text (in the middle column) to expand options. Next click on the top Edit button, followed by the Font drop down and choose a font that you use frequently. Next click on the Size drop down and type in 300 and click the OK button. In Corel Draw 9, 10, 11 or 12 click on the Tools menu and choose Customization. Next click on the + sign in front of word Document (on the left hand side) to expand options. Next click on the Styles word.

Click on the Default Artist Text (in the middle column)
to expand options. Next click on the top Edit button,
followed by the Font drop down and choose a font
that you use frequently. Next click on the Size drop
down and type in 300 and click the OK button.

Many people have asked why I recommend 300
points as the default font size. The reason is that most
fonts with 300 point size have a capital letter height
of around 75mm (3 inches), which apart from being
easy to see on a large page, it is also a common
size for sign making and can be edited quickly.