Right-Button Menu Customization Gone?

[Not Ziggy]

Here at the print shop where I work, we've just received our first Corel 10 file (believe it or not) and so we've just upgraded. (We've waited until now because, as near as I can tell, there are no improvements at all in 10 aimed at prepress professionals like myself. Version 9's built-in pagination capabilities are extraordinarily productive for us here--it's the reason we do all our typesetting and page layout in Draw--and I'm disappointed to see that they're left unimproved in 10.)

But here's my problem: to the best of my knowledge, right-click menus are no longer customizable in Version 10 as they were in Version 9. Is this true? I've extensively customized mine in 9, and I would sorely miss that feature. When I look in Help on this issue, they tell how to customize the main menus only, not the right-button menus. Am I missing something, or am I, as usual, the only person on Earth who cares about something as obscure as this?

Also, is there any way to get a custom workspace from 9 into 10? I suspect that it can only be done from 8 to 10, because of Corel's traditional leapfrog approach to even/odd revisions, but I'd love to be wrong.

I'm tempted to continue using 9 for new work, and to keep version 10 only to back-save files to 9 for editing and output.

[Not Ziggy]

Here at the print shop where I work, we've just received our first Corel 10 file (believe it or not) and so we've just upgraded. (We've waited until now because, as near as I can tell, there are no improvements at all in 10 aimed at prepress professionals like myself. Version 9's built-in pagination capabilities are extraordinarily productive for us here--it's the reason we do all our typesetting and page layout in Draw--and I'm disappointed to see that they're left unimproved in 10.)

But here's my problem: to the best of my knowledge, right-click menus are no longer customizable in Version 10 as they were in Version 9. Is this true? I've extensively customized mine in 9, and I would sorely miss that feature. When I look in Help on this issue, they tell how to customize the main menus only, not the right-button menus. Am I missing something, or am I, as usual, the only person on Earth who cares about something as obscure as this?

Also, is there any way to get a custom workspace from 9 into 10? I suspect that it can only be done from 8 to 10, because of Corel's traditional leapfrog approach to even/odd revisions, but I'd love to be wrong.

I'm tempted to continue using 9 for new work, and to keep version 10 only to back-save files to 9 for editing and output.

[Peter Clifton]

Ziggy

You have been missed, glad to see you back.

This from Rick Altman who posted in the Corel Draw 10 newsgroup 15th June 2001

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Loren, there is little that is intuitive about it, so don't beat yourself
up. Ultimately, however, it is much more powerful in 10 than in previous
versions. Here is how it goes:

1. Go to Customize and click Command Bars.

2. Activate Context Menu Bar.

3. Click Commands in the left pane to get a list
of every command known to CorelDRAW kind.

4. Drag any desired command to the Context Menu Bar.
As you do, the various menus will drop down to
show the current configuration. You can drop the
command anywhere you want to, and/or drag an
unwanted command off of it.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I haven't seen any posts that answer the question can you import a previous Draw version workspace. However for what it's worth Corel have implemented an import/export workspace feature in Draw 10, for future versions.

I've also noticed that Gary Garvin is posting in the newsgroups, I don't have a copy of Draw 10 yet so haven't spoken to him there.

Hope this helps

Peter

[This message was edited by Peter Clifton on July 09, 2001 at 01:19.]

[Not Ziggy]

Thanks, Peter. Yep, that works. And Rick's right: it's actually easier to use and more powerful than the old way, once you find it.

I would add that, once you have that gizmo onscreen, you can open the various context menus and remove items, as well as add them. Removing is half the reason to customize, since operator performance is improved by having as short a list to read as possible.

And thank you, Corel programmers. I apologize for forgetting that a) you love to put every possible feature into Draw, and b) you also love to hide them.

[Not Ziggy]

Alas, I just tried to customize the context-sensitive right-button menus in Photopaint and as near as I can tell it cannot be done. If you go through the same procedures in PP 10 that work in Draw 10, the hourglass comes up and stays there as long as you care to wait. Maybe I'm missing something? I'm doing this while facing East and wearing wool socks. Could that be the problem?

[Peter Clifton]

Ziggy

Don't recall seeing any menu customization questions/problems in the Photo-Paint10 newsgroup.

Just to check, You do have the Draw10 suite service pack 1 installed?

Several posters through out the newsgroups have noticed a greater interaction between virus scanners and Draw/Paint, especially when accessing the options menu.

Finally the old faithful answers like hold down F8 whilst launching the program, to reset the workspace and also try holding down F9 to disable VBA also seem to be doing the rounds a lot more these days.

To be honest, I am particularly worried by the amount of traffic generated re: problems in the Corel newsgroups since this product version's release, many long standing and respected users have a long list of bugs that can be laid at Corel's door. I don't ever recall it being this bad, I was pretty vocal about the Draw 9 suite problems in the early days but maybe since service pack 2 my memory has assumed rose tinted status. Though not enough to tempt me to ever again purchase a new version of Draw until at least service pack 1 or the newsgroup messages settle down.

The Draw 10 suite can run well (mostly on Win NT and 2000) but seems to affect and be affected by more applications and other stuff than previous versions. I get the feeling this is true with a lot of current generation software products from many companies and makes me wonder if the Microsoft development environment for Windows might not have something to do with it.

Peter

[Not Ziggy]

Peter,

Yes, I have SP1 (and incidentally, I'm alarmed at the list of serious flaws it fixes: Didn't they have twice the usual amount of time to write 10?). I didn't install Visual Basic.

My system here at work is NT4 SP6 with 384 Megs RAM and no virus software or anything else in my Sys tray. I never let the number of installed fonts exceed 150, etc. I'm an arch-conservative when it comes to operating systems.

That's interesting to hear that this issue hasn't shown up on the newsgroups, but what about you? Would you mind trying to drag something onto or off of a right-button menu in Photopaint?

[Peter Clifton]

Ziggy

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> That's interesting to hear that this issue hasn't shown up on the newsgroups, but what about you? Would you mind trying to drag something onto or off of a right-button menu in Photopaint?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

There's a small problem with that, I don't have a copy of Draw 10 [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img] (I squirelled the comment away in the last paragraph of my first reply in this thread)

Menu customization issues do crop up, but so far as I can tell only in the Draw10 newsgroup, not the Photo-Paint10 newsgroup. I read / catalogue the newsgroups everyday, but only answer questions in Draw 9 and older ones.

I know Mr Priester has a copy, perhaps you can tempt him away from Xara X to check this out for you?

Peter