CorelDraw X3/X4 to X5 Color Issues: Solved (For Me)

I recently decided to pull the trigger and upgrade from CorelDraw X4 to X5. One issue that immediately jumped out at me was that of color display. Over 90% of the graphics I produce are for the web, so I don’t need, nor care about, color management, paper type, spot colors, etc. All I wanted were my graphics to look on the screen in X5 the same as they did in X4. But they didn’t. All of my RGB graphics created in X4 had that dull CMYK look in X5.

I messed around with color management settings and scoured forums, but nothing really seemed to work, even the “Simulate CorelDraw X4 Graphics Suite” preset. Eventually I saw one small mention in a forum to try “Simulate Color Management Off” and POW – my colors immediately displayed in vibrant RGB once again.

To clarify, this setting can be found at Tools->Color Management->Default Settings and select the preset drop-down at the top left “Simulate Color Management Off” and your RGB docs should look that way again.

This may or may not fix other color-related issues, such as printing, but that wasn’t what I needed. I just needed my web-based RGB graphics to still look RGB.

One more note. I read a very condescending response from a Corel employee aimed at a user who was having X3 to X5 color issues. In this response, he basically blamed the user for being uneducated in color management. I found this offensive. The user found X3 to work as it, and had no reason to educate himself beyond that. So when X5 presented new issues, why should the user be blamed when everything worked before?