Quick links to procedures on this page:
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CorelDRAW supports OpenType fonts so you can take advantage of their advanced typographic features. OpenType features allow you to choose an alternate appearance for an individual character (also referred to as a glyph) or a sequence of characters. For example, you can choose alternate glyphs for numbers, fractions, or ligature sets.
You can access OpenType commands and options in the Character area of the Object Properties docker. You can also let CorelDRAW prompt you which OpenType features you can apply by enabling the Interactive OpenType option. When you select text, an indicator arrow appears below the text if an OpenType feature is available. You can click the indicator to access a list of the most popular OpenType features that are available for the selected text.
Clicking the Interactive OpenType indicator arrow (1) expands a list of the most popular OpenType features that are available for the selected text.
The OpenType font specification was created jointly by Adobe and Microsoft. Based on Unicode, OpenType fonts extend the capabilities of older font technologies. The most notable advantages of OpenType are:
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cross-platform support (Windows and Mac)
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extended character sets that offer better language support and advanced
typographic features
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coexistence with Type 1 (PostScript) and TrueType fonts
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support for a larger glyph limit (64k)
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The following table describes the OpenType features that you can apply in CorelDRAW provided that the feature is included in the font.
In addition, CorelDRAW also provides synthesized versions of some Caps and Position OpenType features. For example, if a font does not support a feature, such as Small Caps, CorelDRAW produces its own version of the glyph by scaling the font.
OpenType feature
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Description
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Example
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Caps
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Changes the case of text, which is useful for inserting titles and acronyms
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Small caps |
Position
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Displays characters as superscript or subscript, which is useful for inserting footnotes or mathematical symbols. If you select an OpenType font that does not support subscript and superscript, or a non-OpenType font, you can apply a synthesized glyph.
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Superscript |
Number styles
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Includes features for controlling the appearance of numbers
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See examples below |
Number styles — Proportional lining
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Displays numbers of varying width, which is best suited for inserting numbers in body text. However, the numbers have a fixed height, which generally matches the height of capital letters.
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Number styles — Tabular lining
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Displays numbers of equal width, spacing, and height, which is useful for aligning text and displaying text in a table
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Number styles — Proportional Old Style
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Displays numbers of varying width and height. The style is best suited for blending numbers with mixed text case.
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Number styles — Tabular Old Style
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Displays numbers of equal width, but varying height
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Fraction
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Displays numbers separated by a slash as fractions. The number of available fractions vary from font to font. Apply this feature only to the numbers that you want to display as a fraction.
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See examples below |
Fraction — Numerator
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Displays a numerator, such as 456/, as a fraction glyph. This is useful for displaying a non-standard fraction, such as 456/789, as a fraction. Use the Numerator feature in conjunction with the Denominator feature to display non-standard fractions as fractions.
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Fraction — Denominator
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Displays a denominator, such as /789, as a fraction glyph. This is useful for displaying a non-standard fraction, such as 456/789, as a fraction. Use the Denominator feature in conjunction with the Numerator feature to display non-standard fractions as fractions.
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Fraction — Fraction
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Displays standard fractions as fraction glyphs
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Fraction — Alternates fraction
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Displays a fraction by using a horizontal dividing line instead of a slant or slash
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Not available |
Ordinals
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Displays ordinals by using a number and a suffix in superscript. For example, you can display “first” as 1st or “second” as 2nd. Apply this feature only to the text that you want to display as an ordinal.
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Slashed zero
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Displays zeros with a diagonal slash, which makes them easy to distinguish from the letter O. This feature is useful for displaying numbers in financial reports.
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Ornaments
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Substitutes a character with an ornament that was created by the font designer to match the font’s motif
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Not available |
Stylistic alternates
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Applies an alternate design to characters
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Stylistic sets
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Applies an alternate design to a text selection
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Swash Variants
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Inserts calligraphic-type decorative characters
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Contextual alternates
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Lets you fine-tune text by applying an alternate design to a single character, or a sequence of characters, based on its surrounding characters. For example, you can apply this feature to script-based text so that it flows more naturally.
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Not available |
Case-sensitive forms
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Shifts the position of punctuation marks so they align with capitalized text or lining numbers
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Not available |
Standard Ligatures
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Replaces a letter pair (or a sequence of letters) with one glyph, which is called a ligature. Many OpenType fonts include standard ligatures for fi, fl, ff, ffi, and ffl. Their purpose is to improve text readability.
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Discretionary Ligatures
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Replaces a non-standard letter combination with a ligature. Discretionary ligatures designed to be decorative and are not supported by the majority of OpenType fonts.
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Contextual ligatures
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Inserts a glyph that best suits the surrounding characters. Contextual ligatures are designed to increase readability by improving the joining behavior between the characters of a ligature.
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Not available |
Historical ligatures
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Substitutes a letter pair, or a letter sequence, with a ligature that is based on historical usages. Historical ligatures are designed to be ornamental and are not supported by the majority of OpenType fonts. The most commonly-used historical ligatures are the letter s combined with another character, such as sh si sl ss, and st.
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Not available |
Historical forms
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Substitutes modern characters with characters that were commonly used in historical documents. Historical forms are useful for recreating historical text.
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Not available |
To apply an OpenType feature to text |
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Using the Text tool
, a single character or a sequence of characters.
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If the Object properties docker is not open, click Window Dockers Object properties. |
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In the Object properties docker, click the Character button
to display the
character-related options.
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In the Character area of the Object properties docker, click an OpenType feature
button, and, if applicable, choose a feature from the list.
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Some OpenType fonts may appear to support features that are unsupported.
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To enable the onscreen OpenType feature indicator |
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Click the Text tool
, and then click the Interactive OpenType button
on the
property bar.
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If an OpenType feature is available for the selected text, an arrow
displays below the text. |
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