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It doesn't really work that way. For example, I typed the word "Helvetica," set it in Helvetica bold. I changed Corel's type units to inches and sized the lettering to 12". I converted the text to curves and broke it apart. Select the "H". It's only 8.616" tall. Not 12" exactly like it would be if I had done the same thing in Flexi.
Corel is doing the very same thing Illustrator does: applying the size to the letter's "em square" rather than the letter itself. In Flexi if you select some lettering and size it to 12" the letter "H" in that "Helvetica" example will be 12" tall.
Not only would I like to see CorelDRAW and Illustrator allow users to spec letter sizes in inches, I'd also like to see options for positioning the letters from the baseline and cap heights rather than the outer limits of the em square. Sizing things based on em units is fine in page layout when you're dealing with points, picas, etc. But it doesn't work so well in sign design.
I don't change the type units to inches. I just click on the text and type how big I want it in the object size box. The same one you use to size a rectangle. It makes the text exactly the size you type in. (I'm a sign maker too, so this is useful to me)