CorelDraw application is trendy among designers and creative people. Naturally, as an artist, you would panic if something went wrong, and a document becomes unopenable. How much time did you spend creating it, hours, days, or maybe weeks? Did you draw everything from scratch? However, besides losing time, you had to wait for inspiration, so it is more complicated than first believed.
In case something happens like a power failure, CorelDraw software issues, or another problem—a graphic project file could become unopenable—but it is not the end. No need to worry right now, let us try to fix the issue, it may not be as complicated as you think. If it does not help, we can try Recovery Toolbox for CorelDraw – https://coreldraw.recoverytoolbox.com/. This specific tool helped me. But let us do it in the right order.
Contents
Free Recovery of *.cdr Files
So, a graphic project in *.cdr format becomes unopenable, what should you do? First of all, we need to start any ZIP archiver and try to unpack the document. If the archiver cannot somehow open the archive, rename CDR to ZIP and use Recovery Toolbox for ZIP if needed to restore the archive. If a miracle took place and you did it—great! Look for the content folder and check it for the presence of riffData.cdr. Also check, if there are some files in the data folder? If the file can be decompressed and the required documents are present, need to do these steps:
Step 1: Open the CorelDraw application and create a new document.
Step 2: Open the document as an archive and remove the following folder: content.
Step 3: Paste the folder content from the old file.
Step 4: Open the document in CorelDraw.
The process does not look to be too complicated. I think an artist can do it if he can use a computer for drawing. It is not that difficult. This solution does not work in all cases, only when the source file is not heavily damaged. Try, maybe it will work?
Free Preview of Corrupted *.cdr Files
That’s easy: the demo version of Recovery Toolbox for CorelDraw allows previewing *.cdr file contents. For this purpose, there is no need to register the program. There is no need to pay for the program just to open a recovered document to preview and find there is no possibility of repairing it. The demo version is needed to check the recovery efficiency.
If an image in the preview window is openable without serious problems and all elements are successfully restored, data can be easily exported into a new file of CorelDraw format. For this purpose, there is no need to download a new software version. You just need to provide a registration key, to remove all demo version limitations. As you may guess, you need to pay for this key, but there are no other ways if the free options are useless. Let me explain with more details. If you have read up to here—I think that’s because a free service did not help.
How Does Recovery Toolbox for CorelDraw Work?
I have used the program only one time, but I can briefly explain how it works. Besides, it works intuitively, that is why, most likely, you do not need instructions. So, to recover a corrupted file in the CorelDraw format, you need to do the following:
Step 1: Download Recovery Toolbox for CorelDraw from the developer website: https://coreldraw.recoverytoolbox.com/
Step 2: Install the program and start it using the desktop shortcut.
Step 3: Choose a corrupted file in the *.cdr format and start the analysis.
Step 4: Preview results and evaluate the work efficiency.
Step 5: Save a recovered document.
Step 6: Keep on using the recovered file in CorelDraw.
Note: To export recovered data into a new project, we need to have CorelDraw installed.
From my point of view, the program is not fast. I think it is due to some service particularities. However, it recovers data steadily, even when dealing with serious issues. Just do not lose patience and wait until it finishes. By the way, it works faster on more powerful computers, so choose a more powerful machine to install the software, if it is possible.
What If the Server Sends My Masterpiece Somewhere Else?
I have a question, do you think that someone needs it? Correct me if I am wrong, but pictures are not something important and confidential. Sure, it could be a new Apple logo, and they are ready to spend millions for it, but, after all, it is an exception. At the same time, the program is safe, and all operations are performed on the user’s local computer. Recovery Toolbox for CorelDraw does not need the Internet at all. However, I am not talking about the offline version only. Other methods of *.cdr file recovery cost less by the way.
Online Version of Recovery Toolbox for CorelDraw
That’s correct, besides the option of offline image recovery, the developer suggests trying the online service version: https://coreldraw.recoverytoolbox.com/online/, it does not require any installation on your computer. It means that the restoration of *.cdr files with graphic projects is possible not only from Windows workstations but from any device connected to the Internet: any tablet, computer, or even mobile phone. It does not matter which operating system you are using; you just need to have an Internet browser that is all.
I think the majority of users do not consider images to be some kind of confidential information. Therefore, in case the data is somehow intercepted (despite all safety guarantees from the service), it should not cause losses. The essential is that a one-time service use costs cheaper than the full license purchase for Recovery Toolbox for CorelDraw. Do the following to use the service:
Step 1: Follow the link https://coreldraw.recoverytoolbox.com/online/
Step 2: Choose a file of *.cdr format to upload to the server;
Step 3: Provide a correct email address and Captcha;
Step 4: Pay for the service of data recovery;
Step 5: Download a recovered file.
Maybe, it will be easier to “re-draw” everything from the very beginning. It’s up to you and depends on how you value your time. In general, such incidents represent an excellent lesson, users start thinking about safety and, sometimes, they do backups. Therefore, I think you most likely need the online recovery service. I do not believe you have many chances to encounter the same issue in the future.
Conclusion
Despite some free options of CorelDraw file recovery, they are useless for me. Moreover, I have spent much time trying to find a free solution. I could spend it better. Why should I spend hours trying to find a program that does it for free? I could recreate a minimum of one-third of the corrupted image by memory or do something more productive.
After the installation of Recovery Toolbox for CorelDraw, I found many programs to recover documents of various formats, from the same developer. You can recover anything. But do not corrupt documents intentionally, use it as a last resort, when other options are useless. I hope you will never encounter it.
