Features:

  • ALL-IN-ONE - creating greeting cards, calendars, photo projects, social media images is a snap; illustration, layout, photo-editing, tracing, web images made fun and affordable
  • EASY TEMPLATES - loaded with built-in tools, learning materials, and sample projects so you can learn quickly and complete your project right the first time
  • YOU'RE IN CONTROL - manage your projects faster and smarter with tools like the NEW Objects Docker. Take the hassle out of controlling every design element
  • HIGH QUALITY PHOTO EDITING - enhance your photos on Corel PHOTO-PAINT with easy-to-use tools like Healing Clone tool and Perspective Correction
  • LATEST COMPATIBILITY - Save, print or share using popular file formats while taking advantage of Windows updates, stylus improvements, multi-monitor viewing, and Ultra HD 4K displays
awesome

I used Corel years ago when I had a sign business. I've been talking it up so much recently that I finally just got it. I love it (again) and now am going to get my daughter using it for some of her projects she's got going!! Love how easy it is to use, the nice tutorials and so so much online help available.

Great Bang for the Buck

I’ve used CorelDraw and Corel PhotoPaint for more than 25 years. Back in the early 1990s, I first bought them (Versions 3.0, IIRC) because they were equally capable, but much cheaper, alternatives to Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop, which were the high-end, professional-grade, most-widely-used drawing and image processing programs at the time. I’ve upgraded at almost every opportunity through the years, and now run Versions X5 of Draw and PhotoPaint on my Windows 10 system. But I’m always willing to try out new software, so I eagerly ordered CorelDraw Home & Student 2019 when it showed up as a Vine selection. Back in the day, Corel used to cram so much additional content—extra applications, vector and bitmap art, stock photos, templates, fonts, utilities, etc.—into its products that they were called “shovelware” or “bloatware.” The current version isn’t that loaded, but you can (and should) download more content, both free and paid, from Corel’s website after you install the software. Anyway, since I was very familiar with earlier versions of both programs, I jumped right in to using them. Both are very similar to the X5 versions that I’ve been using. I didn’t do a feature-by-feature comparison, but in my testing I didn’t find a single task that I typically perform in Draw or PhotoPaint X5 that I couldn’t do in the H&S 2019 version. Some functionality may be pared down compared to the full-blown software, but I didn’t find any examples of it. I think the majority of users will find everything they need here. The programs are extremely capable right out of the box, but there’s a lot more under the bonnet than meets the eye if you delve a little deeper into the menus and options. The programs are highly customizable. If you explore the menus a little, you’ll find that you can configure the workspace exactly as you want it, even down to the level of changing the icons on the toolbar buttons. The default workspace works fine for me, with just a few tweaks, but the capability is there to make major modifications. New users might want to choose the simplified “Lite” workspace options that hide much of their complexity. If you’re new to using drawing and/or image processing software, you will, of course, find that there’s a learning curve. But you can access video tutorials via the HELP menus, and there’s no shortage of on-line advice on how to perform certain tasks. As is typical these days (and unlike some earlier versions that came with phonebook-sized printed manuals in the box), all you get with this suite is a CD-ROM and a serial number. CorelDraw Home & Student 2019 is a highly capable, relatively intuitive, reasonably priced software package that should be just the thing for almost everyone who needs drawing and/or image processing programs. I recommend it enthusiastically and without reservation.

Excellent package for photos & design

I've used Photoshop, Canva, GIMP, CorelDraw X5, Publisher, and a couple of other free programs for everything from design to photo editing, and find Corel to be the best value for the money. This edition is a good interface upgrade from X5, and also offers a lot of tutorial help and online tools for beginners. One of the biggest advantages to CorelDraw over programs like Canva, GIMP, et. al. is that it makes professional printing very easy, with good control over CMYK colors and file export options. Most free or low-cost tools only allow for RGB colors at best, so the results are seldom very good when sent to the printer. There are a couple of low-cost programs that allow for CMYK, but Corel is much, much easier to use. It's also great that I can edit photos and then easily drop them into new documents (like for designing business postcards, newsletters, etc). The advantage over Photoshop is obviously price. I despise Photoshop's required-subscription model, which ends up costing an arm and a leg for those of us who are light users. I very much appreciate that I can buy a copy of CorelDraw for a flat price, and upgrade only when I need to. And since CorelDraw does everything Photoshop does, it's a no-brainer. For those new to CorelDraw, the program opens with a huge amount of context-based tutorial along the right side of the screen. (It's easy to turn off if it gets annoying) I found these hints to be extremely useful, even though I'm not a beginner - I've learned plenty about faster ways to do things, or just how to use this new version more effectively. In addition to the hints, there are links to online tutorials, videos, and webinars - all right on the same Hints page so you don't have to go hunting around in the Help files or online to find relevant material. So while there's a real learning curve, Corel has done a nice job of making it as easy as they can. For those considering upgrading from earlier versions, I'd say this version is actually a true upgrade from my (very old) X5. The interface is cleaner and easier to read, the tools are more logically laid out, and the Hints add a lot to usability. It's also a smidge faster at saving, but this is a minor point. I haven't used anything more recent than X5, so I don't know how it might compare to more recent versions. For anyone who needs to edit photos and needs a good design tool, I'd definitely recommend this over the alternatives.

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