4. In the Object Manager docker, click-and-drag your shape icon (not the shape on the
page) from its current page and layer to any position under the Guides layer on the
Master Page. As you drag, notice a horizontal I-beam cursor appears, shown next,
indicating the shape’s current position as it is dragged. When your cursor is over a
layer—ideally, the layer you want to move the shape to—you’ll see the default cursor
replaced with a horizontal arrow “holding” a symbol of graphics content. The following
illustration also shows a “before and after” of a star shape when it’s moved to the Master
Page Guides layer. Unlike guidelines you drag from rulers, the look of a user-defined
guide doesn’t have the dashed lines; it’s a solid line with no fill.
Ill 7-13
Generally, after moving a shape to the Guides layer, it’s a good practice to lock the
layer, as described earlier. A guide that moves when you don’t intend it to is as
useful as a crepe paper umbrella in a storm.
Using Guideline Presets
CorelDRAW’s Guidelines feature comes with a group of presets that generate scripts to
instantly add guidelines to your document. To use these scripts, press
CTRL+J (Options);
click to expand the tree directory under Document | Guidelines; and then click Presets,
194 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide
Cursor between objects in docker indicates
current position during the drag action.
shown here. Click Apply Presets (you can add as many as you like in one fell swoop), and
you have instant preset guides on the page. Basic Grid is a very useful preset because unlike
with the Grid feature, you can move, and thus customize, any of the guidelines.
Ill 7-14
Many of the presets are page margins, many are timesavers, but you can also create your
own preset. To define guidelines that automatically populate the page, choose the User
Defined Presets option in the Presets page of the Options dialog. This displays a collection
of options for you to create your own custom Margins, Columns, or Grid guidelines. To
activate any or all of these preset guideline effects, choose the corresponding options and
customize the associated preset values.

When using the 3-point callout tool, you produce two elements: a line composed of two
segments (the callout, as it’s displayed on the status bar), and the control text. Callouts are
not bound to an object; they can be moved anywhere on the page. But the text and the line
are linked and cannot be moved independently of one another. You have a number of options
on the property bar when the tool is active and also when a callout is selected (after one has
been drawn):
●
Outline width By default, you always begin a callout with a 0.5-point line width
in black. It is not recommended to adjust the width before drawing a line; doing so
triggers an attention box that asks whether you want the default line width—for any
object you draw, not just callouts—to be changed. Instead, create your callout, and
then adjust the width while the callout is selected. Because the callout belongs to the
general class of line objects in CorelDRAW, you can change the color of the callout
line by right-clicking a color well on the Color Palette while the line is selected.
●
Start arrowhead This drop-down list will seem familiar if you’ve ever applied an
arrowhead to a line by using the property bar. The same basic styles are available as
on the Start arrowhead collection. You can even use an arrow tail for a callout.
●
Line style Like any other line you draw with the Pen or other drawing tool, the
callout can be solid, dashed, a series of dots—choose a style by clicking the pop-up
box, and then click a style thumbnail.
196 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide
Dimension Tool Group
Parallel dimension tool
Horizontal or vertical dimension tool
Angular dimension tool
Segment dimension tool
3-point callout tool
●

Start Arrowhead
Line Style Callout Symbol
Character Formatting (
CTRL+T)
Offset
Drag (arrowhead
added here)
Click
Click to finish and
type text callout.
Calling Out a Bowling Shirt
1. Open League Shirt.cdr. The layer with the illustration is locked so nothing can
accidentally be moved.
2. Choose the 3-point callout tool from the Dimension Tools group on the toolbox.
3. Click-drag from “The Kingpins” logo on the back view of the shirt, and then release
the mouse button inside the green bubble graphic. Doing this sets the first of two
segments for the callout line.
4. Click below the shirt, and then type Your Team logo.
5. Choose the Pick tool. You cannot press ENTER to toggle to it, because technically,
the Artistic text tool is being used by your cursor.
6. Select the callout line; notice that the options for the callout are now available on the
property bar.
7. Choose 4 pt. from the Line Width pop-up list, and then choose a dashed line from
the Styles pop-up.
8. Choose the third from the top symbol style for the callout. Depending on how the
last node is positioned on the page for the callout, your text might have the bar for
the symbol to the left or above it. Either is fine in this experiment, and you’ll see
shortly how to change the symbol’s orientation.
Ill 7-17
198 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide

Dimension Style This option is used to set decimal, fractional, or standard
measuring conventions, the default of which is decimal.
●
Dimension Precision This option is used to set a level of precision. While using
Decimal as the measuring style, precision may be specified up to ten decimal places.
While using Fractional, precision may be specified using fractions up to 1/1024 of a
selected unit measure.
●
Dimension Units Use this option to specify the measurement unit with which to
display your text labels. You can choose any of the unit measures supported by
CorelDRAW X5.
●
Show/Hide Units This is a toggle button. If you don’t want units appended to a
dimension, leave the button turned off before you create a dimension line.
●
Prefix/Suffix For Dimension With this feature, you can enter your own text so
that it appears before and after the text label for your dimension line. For example,
styles of merchandise, such as “Plastic” or a “Children only” sized garment, are uses
for this option. Prefix and Suffix text may be any character you want and may be
applied before or after the dimension line has been drawn.
200 CorelDRAW X5 The Official Guide
FIGURE 7-13 The four Dimension tools each share a common set of options.
Style (Decimal,
Fractions )
Precision
Show/Hide Units
Unit Style
Prefix Suffix
Show Leading Zero
Dynamic

is to size: it’s 6 ¾" tall in the real world. Your assignment is a response from the antique
dealer that she wants to know the overall height of the urn, the height of the neck, and the
angle of the bottom decal on the bowl of the urn, as measured from tip of the bowl where it
meets the neck. Moreover, she wants the drawing marked with fractional values and thinks
metric amounts are for nerds and scientists. People go a little overboard when it comes to
cataloguing antiques, but your success is ensured because you have these steps to guide you.
Using Dimension Lines
1. Open the Urn While You Learn.cdr file, and then select the Horizontal or Vertical
dimension tool from the toolbox.
2. On the property bar, set the Style to Fractional.
3. Click-drag from the top of the urn to its bottom, where you release the mouse
button. With this tool, direction is set to vertical or horizontal by the direction in
which you first drag.
CHAPTER 7: Measuring and Drawing Helpers 201
7
4. Move the cursor to the left without holding either mouse button. Doing this defines a
position for the control text, so make sure your cursor position is not over the urn
drawing.
5. Click. You’re done and the number value is called out now.
6. Choose the Parallel dimension tool; the neck of the bottle is slightly slanted, so this
is the appropriate measuring tool.
7. Click-drag from the top of the neck (below the lip) to the part that joins the neck
with the bowl; release the mouse button at this point.
8. Move the cursor to the right, away from the drawing, and then single-click to add the
dimension line and number value.
9. Choose the Angular dimension tool.
10. Click-drag from the junction of the neck and bowl, and release the mouse button
when your cursor is to the left of the bottom decal on the bowl.
11. Move your cursor to the right so it touches the right side of the decal.
12. Click. You’re not finished yet. You now have the opportunity to set the position of

CHAPTER 7: Measuring and Drawing Helpers 203
7
Marquee-select nodes
Move and then
click to finalize.