CorelDRAW basics: Zooming in CorelDRAW (6) - More customizations

When you are editing a quite complex drawing in Corel Draw it might be helpful to have the zoom buttons always visible. For this purpose you can activate the Zoom toolbar (I've written about this topic in a previous tutorial). Anyway, if you want to keep your work area organised and "clean" you might not want to open too many panels and toolboxes.

In this case, you might consider placing one or more of the zoom buttons in various toolbars (usually in the Property Bar, so these buttons will become visible every time the Pick tool is selected).

For this tutorial I've chosen the Zoom One-Shot button (this button is not included in the default user interface).

To make the Zoom One-Shot command appear as a button in a convenient place (let's say in the Property Bar) perform the following steps:
1. Click on the Pick tool to open the Property bar. Be sure nothing is selected in the Drawing window
2. Open the Options dialog box (CTRL+J or click Tools => Options) click Workspace => Customization => Commands.
3. From the drop-down menu choose View (see the image below)
4. Select the button you want to place on the Property Bar, drag it to the desired position and release the mouse button

CorelDRAW basics: Zooming in CorelDRAW (5) - How to change the default settings for the Zoom tool and Pan tool

If you use the mouse wheel, the wheel zooms in and zooms out by default. To zoom into a page, push the scroll wheel away from you; to zoom out you have to drag the mouse wheel toward you. If you don't want to use the mouse wheel for zooming, you can change the settings and use it for scrolling: click Tools => Options => in the list of categories, click Workspace => click Display; to specify the default action of the mouse wheel, choose Zoom or Scroll from the Default action for mouse wheel list box (see the image below).

When one of the Pan or Zoom tools is activated you can zoom out by clicking the right button of the mouse (this is the default action). However, if you want to use the right button of the mouse to display the contextual menu (as it is customary when any other tool is activated) you can change the default settings from the Options dialogue box (CTRL+J or click Tools => Options). In the list of categories click Workspace, double-click Toolbox, and click Zoom, Pan tool. To specify the action of the Zoom or Pan tool when you right-click in the drawing window, enable one of the following options:
Zoom out — zooms out by a factor of 2
Context menu — displays a menu of commands that let you zoom to a specific level

CorelDRAW basics: Zooming in CorelDRAW (4) - Customizing the Keyboard Shortcuts

As I've said in the previous tutorial, some of the Zoom tool commands in CorelDRAW have preassigned shortcut keys; if you don't want to use the default shortcut keys (for example, if you are accustomed with other graphic-design programs and you want to use some shortcut keys which are already familiar to you) you can easily change them.

Click Tools -> Options -> Customization -> Commands. Choose View from the drop-down menu at the top-left corner (see the image below).

A list of view items appears below it. In this list, click to select the tool or command you want to change (let's say the "Zoom to selected" tool). The aspect of the "General" tab in the right side of the dialogue box changes to display some basic information about the tool we've selected (Zoom to selected, in this particular situation) - see the image below:

Click on the "Appearance" tab if you want to modify the appearance of tool icons (personally, I don't think you'll ever really need it).

Click the "Shortcut Keys" tab. In the "Current Shortcut Keys" box you can see the Shortcut Key or the key combination that has already been assigned to the currently selected tool; you can select it and delete it. Click in the "New Shortcut Key" text entry box and press the key or the combination that you want to assign as the new shortcut. If you want to use the special keys ("Alt", “Shift” or “Ctrl”) you have to press them on your keyboard; don't type "Alt", "CTRL SHIFT", "Shift+F2", etc. in the text entry box. If the key combination is already assigned to another command, that command is listed in the Currently assigned to box (see the image below: the CTRL+D combination is assigned to the "Duplicate" command). If you click on the "Assign" button, your new assignment overwrites the old one. By enabling the "Navigate to conflict on assign" check box, you can automatically navigate to the command whose shortcut you reassigned and assign a new shortcut.

CorelDRAW basics: Zooming in CorelDRAW (3) - Keyboard Shortcuts

Follow on the links below to read the first two parts of this tutorial:
CorelDRAW basics: Zooming in CorelDRAW X5 (1)
CorelDRAW basics: Zooming in CorelDRAW X5 (2) - The Property-bar

Here is the list of the default zooming-shortcuts available in Corel Draw:
1. Z - this key activate the Zoom Tool. It doesn't work when you are editing text.
2. F2 - zoom one-shot. When you are using a tool and you need to get a closer look to your drawing but you don't want to change the tool you are using, you can use this shortcut. Press F2 and click once in the area you want to magnify; the zoom level will increase and the current tool will switch back to the previous tool you were using before switching to Zoom Tool. This can be very useful especially when you are editing paths.
3. F3 - Zoom out. By using this key your drawing will zoom out to the previous magnification level.
4. F4 - Zoom to all objects - adjust the magnification level to include all the objects (even if they are outside the drawing area). Alternatively, you can use this command by double-clicking the Zoom Tool button in the toolbox.
5. Shift+F4 - Zoom to page - use this shortcut when you need to see the entire page.
6. Shift+F2 - Zoom to selected - magnify only the selected objects. The shortcut can be used only if one or more objects are selected; if no object is selected and you press Shift+F2, nothing happens.

CorelDRAW basics: Zooming in CorelDRAW X5 (2) - The Property-bar

Click on the link below to read the first parts of this tutorial:
CorelDRAW basics: Zooming in CorelDRAW X5 (1)

When you activate Zoom tool you'll notice that the content of the Property-Bar changes automatically in order to display the specific options of the Zoom tool (see the image below).

the default buttons displayed in the Property-Bar when the Zoom tool is activated

The list below contains a brief overview of the default buttons displayed in the Property-Bar when the Zoom tool is activated:
1. Zoom in - allows you to see more details of your drawing
2. Zoom out - allows you to view a larger area of the drawing
3. Zoom to selected - magnify only the selected objects (the Zoom to selected button is available only if one or more objects are selected before you click the Zoom tool; in the image above, because no object was selected, the Zoom to selected button is deactivated)
4. Zoom to all objects - adjust the magnification level to include all the objects (even if they are outside the drawing area)
5. Zoom to page - use this button when you need to see the entire page
6. Zoom to page width - adjust the magnification level to fit the entire page width
7. Zoom to page height - adjust the magnification level to fit the entire page heigth

CorelDRAW basics: Zooming in CorelDRAW X5 (1)

Hello! In this post I'll present you the Zoom function. As you work on an image, you may want to zoom out to see the whole image or to get closer to see details or make small adjustments. Corel DRaw offers you several options for zooming which will make your work a lot easier.

Go to Toolbox and select the Zoom Tool (if you are not editing text, you can access the Zoom tool by pressing the Z key). The mouse cursor changes to the magnifying glass with the plus sign and the Property-Bar displays the specific options of the Zoom tool (the default zooming buttons plus a drop-down list which allows you to choose between various degrees of magnification).

Zoom In - this is the default state while the Zoom tool is selected. With the Zoom tool selected, click in the area you want to look at; clicking once in the drawing window increases your view magnification by twice the current percentage of zoom, starting from the cursor's location on screen.

You can also zoom in by dragging the Zoom Tool around a specific area. Place your cursor at the corner of the area you want to magnify, and then click-drag diagonally to the opposing corner of an imaginary bounding box that defines the area to which you want to zoom.

If you want to view a larger area of the drawing, use the Zoom Out function. With the Zoom tool activated click the right mouse button anywhere in the drawing window or hold the SHIFT key and click on the left mouse button.

If you use a mouse wheel, the wheel zooms in and zooms out by default.

The zoom in / zoom out options are available when you use the Pan tool (double-click or drag anywhere in the drawing window to zoom in, right-click in the drawing window to zoom out).

You can set the magnification level from the Standard Toolbar (see the image below). You can select one of the Zoom-Levels from the list (the box showing the % of magnifications) or you can type the value you need. In this case the zoom levels increase and decrease beginning at the center of the drawing window.

If you want to have a quick access to the Zoom tools you can activate the Zoom toolbar: Window -> Toolbars -> Zoom (see the image below)