{"course":{"slug":"vector-and-print","title":"Vectors, Logos and Things That Get Printed","url":"https://addaly.com/learn/vector-and-print","level":"beginner","track":"create"},"lesson":{"slug":"cdr-is-not-portable","title":"CDR is the most common file in Indian print and the least portable","url":"https://addaly.com/learn/vector-and-print/cdr-is-not-portable","position":63,"of":73,"minutes":9,"answer":"Keep your working file native, send a press-ready PDF by default, and ask the shop which software, version and PDF/X standard they want before you start rather than after you finish.","keyIdea":"Keep your working file native, send a press-ready PDF by default, and ask the shop which software, version and PDF/X standard they want before you start rather than after you finish."},"body":{"format":"markdown","text":"## The situation you will be in\n\nYou designed in Illustrator. The shop runs CorelDRAW. Or you designed in CorelDRAW 2024 and the shop runs X7. Or you used Inkscape and the client's other vendor wants \"the AI file\". Every one of these conversations happens weekly, and getting it wrong costs a reprint.\n\nHere is what each format actually is, and what survives the trip.\n\n## CDR\n\nCorelDRAW's native format. It is the working currency of the Indian print trade, of signage, of garment and screen-print units across South and Southeast Asia, and of thousands of small shops elsewhere. Learning CorelDRAW is a good career decision for that reason alone, and almost no free course teaches it.\n\nIt is also the least portable format in the business. It is proprietary and undocumented, and the internal structure changes between versions. **An older CorelDRAW generally cannot open a file saved by a newer one.** That is the single most common file failure in the trade.\n\nThe fix is in your Save As dialog: there is a **version dropdown**. Ask the shop what they run and save to that version. Saving down may drop newer effects, so check the result rather than assuming.\n\nInkscape can import many CDR files through the libcdr library. It usually gets the geometry and often gets the colours; it frequently gets text, effects and some fills wrong. Useful for rescuing artwork, not for production.\n\n## AI\n\nIllustrator's native format. Since version 9, an `.ai` file is a PDF with Illustrator's private data attached, but only if **\"Create PDF Compatible File\"** is ticked in the save dialog. That checkbox is why other programs can open your AI files at all. Untick it and the file gets smaller and becomes unreadable outside Illustrator. Leave it on.\n\n## EPS\n\nOld, still requested, and worth understanding for one reason: **EPS does not support transparency.** Export something with a soft shadow, a blend mode or a partially transparent object to EPS and it is flattened: chopped into regions, some of them rasterised. That is where the mysterious grey rectangle behind a logo comes from. EPS is fine for flat line art and a poor choice for anything modern. If someone asks for EPS, ask whether a PDF would do.\n\n## SVG\n\nOpen, text-based, a W3C standard, and good. It is the right format for the web and for handing artwork to a developer. But it was designed for screens: **no CMYK, no spot colours, no bleed, no overprint, no output intent.** A print shop asking for SVG usually just means \"send something I can open\". Send a PDF as well.\n\n## PDF\n\nThis is the actual lingua franca, and it is the answer most of the time. A PDF exported with vectors intact opens in Illustrator, Inkscape, Affinity and CorelDRAW with varying degrees of editability, and goes straight to a press when exported as PDF/X, which is the next lesson.\n\n**Practical rule: send a press-ready PDF unless someone specifically asked for something else. Keep your working file in your own program's native format. Ask the shop what they can open before you start designing, not after you finish.**\n\n## What round-tripping loses\n\nMoving a file between programs is lossy in ways that are quiet:\n\n- Inkscape SVG filters do not survive into Illustrator\n- Illustrator gradient meshes and some live effects do not survive into Inkscape\n- CorelDRAW's lens, envelope and contour effects do not survive anywhere unless converted first\n- Text keeps its characters but loses OpenType feature settings, and reflows if the font is missing\n- Live blends, symbols and linked images become embedded or vanish\n\nIf artwork must survive a trip intact, do three things before exporting: convert effects to curves or objects, outline the strokes, and outline the display text. You lose editability and you gain certainty. That is usually the right trade for a file leaving your hands.\n\n## The tools\n\n- **CorelDRAW**: its real advantage is that the shop already has it, but it is also legitimately good at the job: multi-page documents, print merge, imposition, and a workflow built around getting things onto material rather than onto a screen. Paid; Corel has offered both subscription and one-off perpetual licences, so check what is currently sold.\n- **Illustrator**: the reference tool, what agency job ads name, the deepest type and colour handling. Subscription only.\n- **Inkscape**: free, GPL, mature. Drawing, node editing, booleans, type on a path, tracing, DXF and PDF export are all there and all good. Weaker points: colour management for press has historically been thin because it works in RGB internally, though recent releases have added CMYK handling, so check your version rather than trusting this sentence. It also slows down on very heavy files. For the CMYK gap, pair it with Scribus.\n- **Affinity Designer**: reads PSD, AI and PDF, has live non-destructive booleans, and had a one-off price for years. After the Canva acquisition the apps were relaunched in 2025 with free access and a paid tier for some features. Confirm current terms before planning around it.\n- **Penpot**: free, open source, runs in a browser, aimed at UI work rather than print, but usable and it opens on a machine that cannot install anything.\n\nThe fully free press chain works: **draw in Inkscape, place in Scribus, export PDF/X from Scribus.** Nothing in this course requires a payment.\n\n## The message to send the shop\n\nBefore you design anything:\n\n> Finished size, number of colours, material, quantity, and: which software and version do you run, and do you want PDF/X-1a or X-4?\n\nFour lines. It prevents most of what this lesson is about."},"check":{"question":"A designer emails a CorelDRAW 2024 file to a print shop, which replies that the file will not open. The shop runs an older CorelDRAW. What is the best response?","options":[{"text":"Rename the file extension to .cdr from the newer save format, since Corel uses the same container across versions.","correct":false,"tempting":"Imagines the version difference is a labelling issue rather than a change in the stored format."},{"text":"Export to EPS, which every version of every application can read without loss.","correct":false,"tempting":"Treats EPS as universal and lossless, when it flattens transparency and drops modern effects."},{"text":"Ask which version the shop runs, use Save As with that version selected, and in the same message send a press-ready PDF with fonts outlined or embedded so the job can proceed even if the CDR still misbehaves.","correct":true},{"text":"Send the SVG instead, since it is an open standard and carries the print settings with it.","correct":false,"tempting":"Assumes an open format carries print-specific data, when SVG has no CMYK, spot colours, bleed or overprint."}]},"prev":{"slug":"proofs-and-approvals","title":"Approvals, and who pays for the reprint","url":"https://addaly.com/learn/vector-and-print/proofs-and-approvals"},"next":{"slug":"sending-the-job","title":"The covering note, and the file a shop can open","url":"https://addaly.com/learn/vector-and-print/sending-the-job"},"authorship":"Founder and series editor: Dr Mustafa Mun. Written by AI models to a written standard. Exam keys checked blind by a second model: 3,665 of 3,666 agreed. Academic review invited.","review":{"status":"Draft, open for academic review"},"cite":"Addaly (2026) 'CDR is the most common file in Indian print and the least portable', in Vectors, Logos and Things That Get Printed. Edited by M. Mun. Addaly. Available at: https://addaly.com/learn/vector-and-print/cdr-is-not-portable (Accessed: 31 October 2026).","licence":{"name":"CC BY-NC-SA 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/"},"reader":{"schema":1,"title":"CDR is the most common file in Indian print and the least portable","courseTitle":"Vectors, Logos and Things That Get Printed","module":{"index":7,"slug":"the-handover","title":"The handover"},"answer":null,"keyIdea":"Keep your working file native, send a press-ready PDF by default, and ask the shop which software, version and PDF/X standard they want before you start rather than after you finish.","hero":{"kind":"plate","image":null,"alt":null,"caption":null},"blocks":[{"t":"h2","id":"the-situation-you-will-be-in","runs":[{"text":"The situation you will be in"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"You designed in Illustrator. The shop runs CorelDRAW. Or you designed in CorelDRAW 2024 and the shop runs X7. Or you used Inkscape and the client’s other vendor wants “the AI file”. Every one of these conversations happens weekly, and getting it wrong costs a reprint."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Here is what each format actually is, and what survives the trip."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"cdr","runs":[{"text":"CDR"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"CorelDRAW’s native format. It is the working currency of the Indian print trade, of signage, of garment and screen-print units across South and Southeast Asia, and of thousands of small shops elsewhere. Learning CorelDRAW is a good career decision for that reason alone, and almost no free course teaches it."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"It is also the least portable format in the business. It is proprietary and undocumented, and the internal structure changes between versions. "},{"text":"An older CorelDRAW generally cannot open a file saved by a newer one.","b":true},{"text":" That is the single most common file failure in the trade."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"The fix is in your Save As dialog: there is a "},{"text":"version dropdown","b":true},{"text":". Ask the shop what they run and save to that version. Saving down may drop newer effects, so check the result rather than assuming."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Inkscape can import many CDR files through the libcdr library. It usually gets the geometry and often gets the colours; it frequently gets text, effects and some fills wrong. Useful for rescuing artwork, not for production."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"ai","runs":[{"text":"AI"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Illustrator’s native format. Since version 9, an "},{"text":".ai","code":true},{"text":" file is a PDF with Illustrator’s private data attached, but only if "},{"text":"”Create PDF Compatible File”","b":true},{"text":" is ticked in the save dialog. That checkbox is why other programs can open your AI files at all. Untick it and the file gets smaller and becomes unreadable outside Illustrator. Leave it on."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"eps","runs":[{"text":"EPS"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Old, still requested, and worth understanding for one reason: "},{"text":"EPS does not support transparency.","b":true},{"text":" Export something with a soft shadow, a blend mode or a partially transparent object to EPS and it is flattened: chopped into regions, some of them rasterised. That is where the mysterious grey rectangle behind a logo comes from. EPS is fine for flat line art and a poor choice for anything modern. If someone asks for EPS, ask whether a PDF would do."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"svg","runs":[{"text":"SVG"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Open, text-based, a W3C standard, and good. It is the right format for the web and for handing artwork to a developer. But it was designed for screens: "},{"text":"no CMYK, no spot colours, no bleed, no overprint, no output intent.","b":true},{"text":" A print shop asking for SVG usually just means “send something I can open”. Send a PDF as well."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"pdf","runs":[{"text":"PDF"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"This is the actual lingua franca, and it is the answer most of the time. A PDF exported with vectors intact opens in Illustrator, Inkscape, Affinity and CorelDRAW with varying degrees of editability, and goes straight to a press when exported as PDF/X, which is the next lesson."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Practical rule: send a press-ready PDF unless someone specifically asked for something else. Keep your working file in your own program’s native format. Ask the shop what they can open before you start designing, not after you finish.","b":true}]},{"t":"h2","id":"what-round-tripping-loses","runs":[{"text":"What round-tripping loses"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Moving a file between programs is lossy in ways that are quiet:"}]},{"t":"ul","items":[[{"text":"Inkscape SVG filters do not survive into Illustrator"}],[{"text":"Illustrator gradient meshes and some live effects do not survive into Inkscape"}],[{"text":"CorelDRAW’s lens, envelope and contour effects do not survive anywhere unless converted first"}],[{"text":"Text keeps its characters but loses OpenType feature settings, and reflows if the font is missing"}],[{"text":"Live blends, symbols and linked images become embedded or vanish"}]]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"If artwork must survive a trip intact, do three things before exporting: convert effects to curves or objects, outline the strokes, and outline the display text. You lose editability and you gain certainty. That is usually the right trade for a file leaving your hands."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"the-tools","runs":[{"text":"The tools"}]},{"t":"ul","items":[[{"text":"CorelDRAW","b":true},{"text":": its real advantage is that the shop already has it, but it is also legitimately good at the job: multi-page documents, print merge, imposition, and a workflow built around getting things onto material rather than onto a screen. Paid; Corel has offered both subscription and one-off perpetual licences, so check what is currently sold."}],[{"text":"Illustrator","b":true},{"text":": the reference tool, what agency job ads name, the deepest type and colour handling. Subscription only."}],[{"text":"Inkscape","b":true},{"text":": free, GPL, mature. Drawing, node editing, booleans, type on a path, tracing, DXF and PDF export are all there and all good. Weaker points: colour management for press has historically been thin because it works in RGB internally, though recent releases have added CMYK handling, so check your version rather than trusting this sentence. It also slows down on very heavy files. For the CMYK gap, pair it with Scribus."}],[{"text":"Affinity Designer","b":true},{"text":": reads PSD, AI and PDF, has live non-destructive booleans, and had a one-off price for years. After the Canva acquisition the apps were relaunched in 2025 with free access and a paid tier for some features. Confirm current terms before planning around it."}],[{"text":"Penpot","b":true},{"text":": free, open source, runs in a browser, aimed at UI work rather than print, but usable and it opens on a machine that cannot install anything."}]]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"The fully free press chain works: "},{"text":"draw in Inkscape, place in Scribus, export PDF/X from Scribus.","b":true},{"text":" Nothing in this course requires a payment."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"the-message-to-send-the-shop","runs":[{"text":"The message to send the shop"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Before you design anything:"}]},{"t":"quote","runs":[{"text":"Finished size, number of colours, material, quantity, and: which software and version do you run, and do you want PDF/X-1a or X-4?"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Four lines. It prevents most of what this lesson is about."}]}],"check":{"question":[{"text":"A designer emails a CorelDRAW 2024 file to a print shop, which replies that the file will not open. The shop runs an older CorelDRAW. What is the best response?"}],"options":[{"text":[{"text":"Rename the file extension to .cdr from the newer save format, since Corel uses the same container across versions."}],"correct":false,"tempting":[{"text":"Imagines the version difference is a labelling issue rather than a change in the stored format."}]},{"text":[{"text":"Export to EPS, which every version of every application can read without loss."}],"correct":false,"tempting":[{"text":"Treats EPS as universal and lossless, when it flattens transparency and drops modern effects."}]},{"text":[{"text":"Ask which version the shop runs, use Save As with that version selected, and in the same message send a press-ready PDF with fonts outlined or embedded so the job can proceed even if the CDR still misbehaves."}],"correct":true,"tempting":null},{"text":[{"text":"Send the SVG instead, since it is an open standard and carries the print settings with it."}],"correct":false,"tempting":[{"text":"Assumes an open format carries print-specific data, when SVG has no CMYK, spot colours, bleed or overprint."}]}],"order":[3,1,2,0],"why":null},"prev":{"slug":"proofs-and-approvals","title":"Approvals, and who pays for the reprint","minutes":8},"next":{"slug":"sending-the-job","title":"The covering note, and the file a shop can open","minutes":8}}}