[CDR Import]

I have been using Corel Draw since version 5. It has always been overall the best vector program till version 12 which broke a lot of things and also became rental software, so that if Corel Corp went away, I would no longer be able to install it on a new or upgraded computer since they started requiring internet authorization. So I went back to version 11, the best version they ever made, and have used that till now.

Unfortunately, our IT people are requiring everyone to "upgrade" to Windows 10 "for security reasons" and Windows 10 refuses to allow version 11 to be installed (that makes it a downgrade in my world). So I am being forced to use the current version of Corel Draw which is a stripped down shadow of what I am used to with 11. It has gotten so complicated and awkward to do simple things and so cluttered with useless handles, cryptic icons, hard to read and badly arranged interface, and worthless options stacked on top of useful ones, that all it does is get me angry and make me feel like I am wasting half my day nursing its deficiencies.

I contacted our IT department about getting me a trial version of Illustration's current version, thinking it could not be as bad as current Corel, but someone told me to try Affinity Designer instead. Watching some tutorials on YouTube I can see that it will probably do what I need and be easy to learn, but I do have 40 years of .CDR files that I would want to be able to convert to Affinity whenever one was needed, and probably 100 or so that I would need to convert right away. If I could import them directly into this program I would buy it today without further research. I know I am not alone in feeling abandoned by the current idiots in charge of Corel Corp.

So, for now, I will keep looking for information others have posted on the ether about moving from Corel to Affinity. Thanks to everyone for information.