Question 1

Can you create puzzles with numbers using Puzzle Maker Pro - Word Search

Accepted Answer

This tutorial shows you how you can easily create word search puzzles with numbers, using Puzzle Maker Pro - Word Search.

The steps in this tutorial apply to all versions of Word Search.

Step 1 - Select a file with numbers or paste the list of numbers

First of all, you need a list of numbers instead of words. The process is the same as for word search puzzles:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/uI92RPKg8h/Word%20Search%20with%20Numbers.jpg (Word Search with Numbers)

As you can see, the numbers are in the puzzle, but the "filler", or empty squares are still using letters. You can easily fix that.

Step 2 - Enter the numbers for the empty squares

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/eNftVPmd6S/Word%20Search%20with%20Numbers%202.jpg (Word Search with Numbers 2)

Find the 'Hidden Word' section on the Solution tab, make sure 'Random Characters' is selected, and enter all the numbers you want as filler in the text field. Click 'New Preview' again to verify that the result is what you want it to be.

Right now the puzzle is correct, but there's one more step to make sure the PDF or PPT output looks good too:

Step 3 - Set the sort order

By default, words will be sorted in alphabetical (dictionary) order. You can do that for numbers too, but especially if you use numbers of different lengths, like 11 and 90210, you may want to use the numerical sort order. You can find this on the 'Style' tab, below the color settings.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/89vI8kQz01/Word%20Search%20-%20Number%20puzzles%203.png (Word Search - Number puzzles 3.png)

Creating Puzzles

You always start off with a blank screen. If you've activated your software (Instructions for this appear are sent in an email automatically upon purchase), you can start making your own puzzles.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/DiiQYZeann/Nonogram%20starting%20screen.jpg (Nonogram starting screen)

The starting screen

You can select a file with the "Select File" button, and a preview of the puzzle/solution will be shown in the panel at the right. The original image is shown at the left. (The actual puzzle isn't shown, since this resembles the solution, but without the black squares.)

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/dsUqnwedEQ/Nonogram%20Puzzle%20selected.jpg (Nonogram Puzzle selected)

We have selected a picture of a puppy

There are several ways to further customise and finetune the puzzle:

Select the Puzzle Format. There are further options for Small or Large, that will impact the final size of the puzzle.
You can choose where the hints are shown. Top/Left is automatically selected, if you deselect this the hints will go bottom/right.
You can add a separator. This will appear between the numbers on the left, to make the guide easier to read.
You can choose to show zeroes. If you uncheck this box, the rows without any solution will not have any numbers.
Remove Padding. This will remove all empty rows, and redraw the puzzle. If you have a puzzle with a large amount of white space on the edges, this could make more detail show up in the puzzle. However, this option can also change the amount of rows and columns that appear in the puzzle. For further information on how to avoid this, you can look up our Advanced Nonogram Editing tutorial.

We have used several of these options, which leaves us with this puzzle for now.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/uLKz4TkItx/Nonogram%20Basic%20result.jpg (Nonogram Basic result)

For further tutorials, you can check out:

Question 3

How do I create journals with Easy Journals?

Accepted Answer

Easy Journals

Easy Journals is a plugin for Powerpoint - it requires MS Windows and MS Powerpoint to be installed on your computer. It doesn't work with the cloud version of MS Office / Powerpoint.

If you haven't installed the plugin yet, you should do that first. There's a tutorial for downloading and installing the plugin here.

Applications

This plugin doesn't just create journals, you can use it for many other mix and merge applications, such as simple memes that consist of a text quote and a background image. Wherever you see 'journal' in this tutorial, you can replace it other products if that works better for you.

If you create journals, you could create a guided journal, or a journal with writing prompts, by setting up a text file with the text for each page and then use the plugin. If you want a small illustration at the top or bottom of each page, that's different on each page, you can select the list of images as well, before using the plugin.

You can even create coloring books this way, by adding a (large) placeholder for images on each page, and then use the plugin. This way all the images will be placed at the exact same location. (However, if the dimensions of the images are different, they may appear stretched).

It's very easy to do a test run, although it's best to use a limited text file (just 2 or 3 words or phrases). That way you can see the results, and use Ctrl-Z to quickly remove the new slides. (Using the plugin counts as a single action for Powerpoint, so you only need to press Ctrl-Z once, even if you have 100's of new slides).

Using Text and/or Images

With Easy Journals you can use text and/or images to quickly generate a journal.

You can use text, images, or both. The plugin will copy your 'template' slide, and replace the placeholders with words from your text file and/or images from the list of images you selected.

Click "Text File" to select the text file you want to use. This file should contain each word (or phrase) on a separate line.

You can choose the codes that need to be replaced. By default these are set to "{TEXT}" and "{IMAGE}". You can use all the Powerpoint styling options for the text, these will be applied to the new text as well. Images will be added as a 'fill' for the shape containing the code "{IMAGE}".

This screenshot illustrates how it works. Please don't be offended by the lack of content and styling, it's just showing the mechanics.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/hF6GHM1xIL/EJ%20001%20placeholder%20codes.jpg (EJ 001 placeholder codes.jpg)

The green arrows show how the codes are configured and added to the page.

The red arrows show how to set the content that will replace the codes.

After using the plugin (click "Go") the output could look like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/REWnkc1Zr1/EJ%20002%20Rendered%20page.jpg (EJ 002 Rendered page.jpg)

Reminder: You will need to remove the template slide before uploading your journal to KDP or Etsy.

Page Setup with Easy Journals

There's one other (free) feature in Easy Journals: You can quickly set up the page format you need and add guides to indicate the margins.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Ta2wJYpIXu/EJ%20003%20Page%20Setup.jpg (EJ 003 Page Setup.jpg)

Using the button 'Get Current' it will retrieve the current settings from Powerpoint. These will be translated from the internal Powerpoint format (72 points per inch) to inches.

You can change the format to e.g. 8.5" by 11". Once you click "Set", the page (slide) format will be changed.

Powerpoint does not work with margins, because it's an app to create presentations, not books. However, you can easily use guides to help you out here: Just set the margins the way you want to and click "Add Guides". This will add four red guides - top, bottom, left, right.

It will also remove other red guides: Because the plugin doesn't know which guides were set as 'margins', it uses the color red for this purpose. Guides in other colors will not be affected.

Question 4

Getting Started with Puzzle Maker Pro

Accepted Answer

Introduction to Puzzle Maker Pro

Welcome to Puzzle Maker Pro - the world's best puzzle maker. We've tried our best to make the software as easy and intuitive to use as possible. However, because we want you to be able to create something unique to you, we still offer a lot of options.

In this tutorial we'll show you the basics. Your first puzzle (or even puzzle book) is just one click away.

Puzzle Maker Pro - Main window.

When you start Puzzle Maker Pro, you'll see a window looking a lot like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/V3P2w4AK32/Puzzle%20Maker%20Pro%20Main%20Window.jpg (Puzzle Maker Pro Main Window)

It currently shows Sudoku, but if you purchased a different puzzle, it'll show that instead.

Puzzle Maker Pro is a framework for puzzle modules - some parts will be different for each puzzle, other parts are standard options available to all puzzles.

Let's start the tour:

Puzzle Selection: This dropdown menu will list all the available puzzle types. The ones you purchased are listed as "Licensed", others are listed as "Demo". For Demo puzzles you also get all of the options, but you won't be able to save them. The categories for puzzles are also shown above the dropdown menu. At the top of the screen, you'll see the version number Puzzle Maker Pro, in this case v2023.1.0.2. If you have support requests or other questions, it's usually helpful to mention the version. If anything goes wrong, you can contact the helpdesk at: Helpdesk.
Tutorial and About: The "Tutorial" button will lead you to the main tutorial website, https://help.bookpublishertools.com. Older versions (up to v1.9.2.5) have a built-in tutorial, but this has been replaced by the website. The "About" button opens the About window. You'll need this to retrieve the license for Puzzle Maker Pro. Licenses are stored on a central website, but the Puzzle Maker Pro on your computer needs to connect to the central website to find out which puzzle modules you currently own.
Puzzle Settings: The "Puzzle Settings" tab completely depends on the puzzle you selected. In the screenshot it's sudoku. This is where you'll find options that determine how your puzzle will be generated and its appearance. Next to "Puzzle Settings" you can see a number of other tabs. We'll discuss those later.
Puzzle Preview panel: This is where you'll see the preview of your puzzle or its solution. You can use the mouse-wheel to zoom in or out so you can get a closer look at details. Perhaps not necessary when you're making a sudoku, but if you're making a connect-the-dots puzzle, or a nonogram, these details will matter.
Create and Preview: There are two options to create your puzzles. "Create" will create and save puzzles for you. This will include the puzzle, the solution, additional files (such as a word list). If you have selected "Additional Output" such as Powerpoint or PDF, that will be created as well. "Create" will also automatically use the Time Saver, if that's selected (more about that later). "Preview" will create a new preview, that you can see in the preview panel. You can use this to set up your puzzle options and styling. For certain puzzle types, such as Mazes and Word Search, it may make sense to generate lots of previews and save the ones you want to keep, because they all look different and some may be less appealing. "Save Preview" will save the current preview (puzzle and solution file) to your computer, but it will not create any additional output.
Preview Solution: You can use this button to display the puzzle or the solution in the preview panel. For some puzzles, such as Mazes and Word Search, it makes sense to see the solutions, for others, e.g. Sudoku, it makes more sense to preview the puzzles.

Preview

Now go on and press preview, maybe change some of the settings, colors or numbers, and see what happens when you click preview again.

To find out where your puzzle files are saved, continue to Output Settings. For all other topics, go back to Tutorial Overview

Question 5

How Can I Create Books with Easy Puzzle Books (plugin for Powerpoint)?

Accepted Answer

Getting Started

This tutorial explains the steps to create puzzle books using Easy Puzzle Books (plugin for Powerpoint).

If you are using Puzzle Maker Pro, you can quickly create puzzles and puzzle books with a single mouse-click. However, there is a lot of puzzle-software available - free and commercial - that only creates the puzzles, not the books. That's where Easy Puzzle Books comes in. (It may not work properly with certain Puzzle Maker Pro puzzle types, such as Word Search or JigSaw).

Install the Plugin

First of all, you'll need to install the software: Easy Puzzle Books is a plugin for Powerpoint - it requires MS Windows and MS Powerpoint to be installed on your computer. It does not work with the cloud (browser) version of MS Office / Powerpoint.

If you haven't installed the plugin yet, you should do that first. There's a tutorial for downloading and installing the plugin here.

Start the Plugin

To start Easy Puzzle Books, open the "Add-ins" ribbon in Powerpoint (this is a menu option, usually just to the left of the Help Menu).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/c2xd7twyDJ/Add-in%20menu.jpg (Add-in menu.jpg)

The Add-ins ribbon should contain the BookPublisherTools group of options. Click "More Options" to open the dropdown menu, and select "Easy Puzzle Books".

Easy Puzzle Books - Overview

The Easy Puzzle Books plugin will open a panel at the right (just like the shape edit panel in Powerpoint). The panel has three tabs:

Auto - Automatic puzzle book creation - you'll still have to set up the puzzles and the layout, but after that it's automatic. We'll cover the details below;
Manual - This is a little bit more complex - you'll create a grid with placeholders first, and then fill the placeholders with puzzles. There's a separate "Manual Book Creation" tutorial, but it's best to start with automatic book creation, to learn how the plugin works;
Page Setup - Quickly set up the proper trim size for Powerpoint.

First things first: Page Setup

Always set up the page size first, otherwise you'll be generating grids and puzzle page in the wrong format later.

Automatic Book Generation

As you can see in the screen shots, there are 5 steps to set up and create your puzzle book:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/5Bfobqk8LA/Easy%20Puzzle%20Books%20-%20001%20Auto%20Overview.jpg (Easy Puzzle Books - 001 Auto Overview.jpg)

At the top of the tab page is a "Preset" section: You can save the entire book setup as a preset, and retrieve it later. This will NOT save the Powerpoint contents, and saving the Powerpoint file will NOT save the Easy Puzzle Books data!

Step 1: Set up the puzzles

Select puzzle and solution files on your computer for your puzzle book. Click the green button "Select Puzzles". More details can be found in the Puzzle Setup Tutorial

After selecting the puzzles and solutions, you should see the status information next to the green button.

Note: For Easy Puzzle Books it's not required to enter a name for the set of puzzles.

Step 2: Set up the Puzzles Grid

Easy Puzzle Books will use a grid-style layout for your puzzles, e.g. 1 per page, 2x2, 3x4, etc. Click the green button "Set Up Grid (Puzzles)" to set up the number of puzzles per page and the margins and padding. Details can be found in the Grid Setup Tutorial

When the grid setup for the puzzles is done, the selected grid size should be shown next to the green button.

Step 3: Set up the Solutions Grid

There are two options for the solutions grid:

It can be identical to the puzzles grid. Click the "Use Puzzles Grid" option and make sure it's checked. This is usually the best format if you want to create a solutions page right after each puzzles page;
Set up a separate grid for the solutions - for example you can have 6 puzzles on a page and 12 solutions on a page

Setting up the solutions grid is done identical to the puzzle grid.

Step 4: Set Titles for Puzzles and Solutions

The next step is setting your titles for the puzzles and solutions. This is totally up to you.

The "Number Symbol" can be changed as well - this is a placeholder in the title that will be replaced with the right puzzle or solution number, when the book is created.

Step 5: Create Puzzle Book

The final step is to create a puzzle book, using the settings specified in the previous steps.

There are two options here:

Collate - Print the puzzles first and the solutions later. if unchecked, it will print a puzzle page, then a solution page, then the next puzzle page, etc
New Powerpoint File: It's possible to create the puzzle pages in a new Powerpoint file. It will automatically copy the page setup (width and height) from the current file. Otherwise the new pages will be appended at the end of the current Powerpoint file.

Example

To show you what it can look like, this screenshot shows the setup for a sudoku puzzle book with 50 puzzles. The next screenshot shows the pages that have been generated in Powerpoint.

Next steps

In many cases the automatic puzzle book creation will be just what you need. It's fast.

Once you have a configuration that works for you, with the proper grid sizes and margins, you can even save the entire setup as a preset, to use for several books. Each time you create a new book, you can load the preset, and change the puzzle and solution files.

It's possible to have many presets, for example if you publish different book sizes or different puzzle types.

Manual Puzzle Book Creation

With Easy Puzzle Books you can also customize the grids, page style, fonts, etc before filling the templates with puzzles and solutions. This is called Manual Puzzle Book Creation. You can find a tutorial here.

Question 6

How Can I Create Missing Vowel Puzzles with Puzzle Maker Pro - Word Search?

Accepted Answer

This tutorial will show you how you can use Puzzle Maker Pro - Word Search to create Missing Vowel puzzles.

These options are available in all versions of Word Search.

Puzzle Maker Pro - Word Search offers a lot of 'hidden' options. Hidden in plain sight, that is.

There are two variations possible of this puzzle. One where the vowels are removed completely, and one where the vowels leave a blank space to fill in.

Variation 1 Step 1 - Specify which letters to remove

On the 'Advanced' tab for Word Search Puzzle Settings, you can find an option 'Remove Other'. Although originally intended to remove certain symbols in other languages, such as ', `, and - in French words and word combinations, you can also use this setting to create Missing Vowel puzzles.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/7fxuVbZOfJ/Word%20Search%20-%20Hidden%20Vowels%201.png (Word Search - Hidden Vowels 1.png)

In the screenshot you can see that we chose to remove A, E, I, O, U and Y. Y isn't considered a vowel in all languages, but for this example it is.

By its nature, missing vowel word search puzzles will be very compact, since all the words will be a lot shorter and easier to connect to other words.

Warning: There are quite a few words that will result in just a single letter if you remove the vowels, such as 'age', 'ago', 'aid', 'aide', 'no', 'any', or two letters , like 'all', 'ally'. Especially the single letter results will make the puzzle hard or impossible to solve, since a single 'g' or 'n' could also be randomly chosen for an empty square. Please make sure that you check your word list and the resulting puzzle to verify that it's the puzzle you want to publish.

Variation 1 Step 2 - Fill the Empty Squares

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/JRFwKRSPyq/Word%20Search%20-%20Hidden%20Vowels%202.png (Word Search - Hidden Vowels 2.png)

On the 'Solution' tab you can specify which letters you want to use for the empty squares, in the 'Hidden Word' section. It makes sense to remove the vowels from this list as well.

Variation 2

In this variation, empty spaces are left over where vowels should go. For this we select the "Hide Vowels" option. As with variation 1, you can choose what you consider a vowel, as this could be different depending on your language.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/0EADBJUkkX/Puzzle%20maker%20word%20search%20no%20vowels.jpg (Puzzle maker word search no vowels)

Now, in the image above you still see the vowels, because we are looking at the solution. However, if we turn off "Preview Solution" in the bottom right of the screen, we see that all vowels have been removed, leaving only a blank space.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/FXZKRvfDy6/No%20vowels%20word%20search.jpg (No vowels word search)

Connector Types

No Connectors

Puzzles no connectors are easiest to cut out. You won't be distracted by the connectors, but the image has to be clear enough to solve a puzzle without additional clues. You also won't get any clues as to which pieces are sides or corners. If you or your customers are people who tend to start with the edges of a puzzle, this may not be the best connector type for you.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/FD92o6fKDW/Jigsaw%20007%20-%20Square%20Connectors.png (Jigsaw 007 - Square Connectors.png)

Additionally you can display the coordinates and/or a number of clues for the puzzle, as shown in this screenshot:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/nqigYYDS5D/Jigsaw%20008%20-%20Square%20Connectors%20and%20Coordinates.png (Jigsaw 008 - Square Connectors and Coordinates.png)

Note: You can see difference in sizing for the puzzle grid and the puzzle pieces in these screenshots, because the coordinates require space as well.

Square Connectors

The standard setting when you open the program. Because of this, most examples and tutorials use Square Connectors:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/M456z7oFcV/Jigsaw%20002%20-%20First%20Preview%20-%20Solution.png (Jigsaw 002 - First Preview - Solution.png)

These are easy to cut out, and add the much-needed help for difficult puzzles. You can also see what pieces go near the edges.

Triangle Connectors

The following screenshot shows what Triangle Connectors look like:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ZWC6eu9y6j/Jigsaw%20009%20-%20Triangle%20Connectors.png (Jigsaw 009 - Triangle Connectors (1).png)

Much like square connectors, these are easier to cut out than the jigsaw connectors.

JigSaw Connectors

JigSaw Connectors are curved connectors that make your puzzle look like real jigsaw puzzles.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/WKMQgbx0MG/Jigsaw%20010%20-%20JigSaw%20Connectors.png (Jigsaw 010 - JigSaw Connectors.png)

As you can see, these would be hard to cut out, but for copy / draw puzzles they look quite nice. Or if you have a cricut or similar, you could even cut these out properly to create a real jigsaw.

Other Connector Options

Connector Length

The Connector Length determines how much the connector sticks out from the edge of the puzzle piece. This is a percentage of the puzzle piece size: 0.25% is 1/4 of the size of the puzzle piece. Horizontal connector length is derived from the puzzle width, vertical connector length is derived from the puzzle height. The following screenshot illustrates this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/0k1yXbN2bp/Jigsaw%20011%20-%20Connector%20Length.png (Jigsaw 011 - Connector Length.png)

In the example we used a fixed size for the length. You can also choose to use a randomly varied length. To do this, you can set the minimum and maximum length for the connector.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/CyHZijeErN/Jigsaw%20012%20-%20Connector%20Length%20Random.png (Jigsaw 012 - Connector Length Random.png)

You can see in this screenshot that the lengths of the connectors vary greatly. You may notice that the smaller lengths also have smaller widths...

Connector Width

By default the Connector Width is equal to the Connector Length. In some cases you may want to use a fixed width - in that case you can set it to "Max". That will use the maximum width for all connectors, regardless of the length.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/LgkwjsvaZV/Jigsaw%20013%20-%20Connector%20Width%20Max.png (Jigsaw 013 - Connector Width Max.png)

Connector Position

The final option for the connectors is the Connector Position. By default the connectors are placed exactly in the middle of the side. The amount you enter here (up to 25%) defines the maximum random adjustment away from the center. This creates a more organic look, and extra hints for where the pieces go. Just like real puzzles, you can now also tell from the location and shape of the connector where a piece goes.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/1MEmNJMUju/Jigsaw%20014%20-%20Connector%20Position.png (Jigsaw 014 - Connector Position.png)

Hexagon Shapes

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/DQXLrglWHz/Jigsaw%20026%20-%20Blank%20Hexagons%20Puzzle.png (Jigsaw 026 - Blank Hexagons Puzzle.png)

Unlike Squares, Hexagon shapes will never perfectly fill a square or rectangular image. You can see this in the picture above. The corners and side pieces will always look this way, unless you select the "only Full Shapes" button. More about that below.

The puzzle page that's generated for JigSaw Hexagons has the same layout as the puzzle pages for JigSaw Squares, as you can see in the screenshot below.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/lEpZgN60or/Jigsaw%20030%20-%20Hexagon%20Puzzle%20Page.png (Jigsaw 030 - Hexagon Puzzle Page.png)

Perfect Hexagons vs Irregular Hexagons

You can choose between Perfect Hexagons and Irregular Hexagons.

With the Perfect Hexagons setting, used in most of the examples in this tutorial, you can choose the number of rows (the number of hexagons vertically). The software will calculate the number of columns (the number of hexagons horizontally).

You can also choose for irregular hexagons (by switching off "Perfect Hexagons"). What this does is 'squish' the hexagons to fit the amount of columns and rows you have selectecd. In most cases this is graphically less appealing, but the option is there if you want it. If you switch off Perfect Hexagons, it will use the number of columns you set to create the image.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/usDHA33S3O/Jigsaw%20029%20-%20Irregular%20Hexagons.png (Jigsaw 029 - Irregular Hexagons.png)

Hexagon Coordinates

Hexagon Coordinates are a bit complex, because of the nature of hexagons. Puzzle Maker Pro - Hexagons has uses the following method for numbering rows and columns:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/fhNsTxaOew/Jigsaw%20027%20-%20Hexagon%20Coordinates.png (Jigsaw 027 - Hexagon Coordinates.png)

The first full row is "B". The row with half hexagons at the top border is "A". Each row will zigzag a little bit. The second hexagon is a bit lower, the third is a bit up, and so on.

The columns are easier to understand: Each column number points to the full hexagons or hexagon parts exactly below it.

Hexagons - Only Full Shapes

By filling the edges with hexagon parts adds a lot of additional puzzle pieces. There's an option to remove these, by selecting "Only Full Shapes". The result is shown in this screenshot:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/leMA199oCz/Jigsaw%20031%20-%20Hexagon%20Only%20Full%20Shapes.png (Jigsaw 031 - Hexagon Only Full Shapes.png)

An unfortunate side-effect of this options is that you lose the borders of the original image, but all shapes are the same, so if there's nothing important near the borders, this may actually be the preferable option.

How to Enable or Disable Diagonals in your word search puzzle

By default there will be no diagonals used in your word search puzzle. Words will only be placed horizontally or vertically. To enable Diagonals, make sure the “Diagonal” checkbox on the “Puzzle” tab is checked:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/K59WHvcjy9/Adding%20diagonals%20in%20word%20search.jpg (Adding diagonals in word search)

Limiting the number of Diagonals in your Word Search Puzzle

If you look at the advanced tab, you see options to finetune the amount of diagonals that appears in a puzzle. Since the direction of each word is determined randomly, this maximum number may not be reached for each puzzle.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/8g0vdGLT24/Set%20amount%20of%20diagonals%20word%20search.jpg (Set amount of diagonals word search)

How to Use only Kid's Diagonals in your Word Search Puzzle

To create word search puzzles that are easier to solve, for example for Kids’ activity books, you can select “Kid’s Diagonal”. This will only enable diagonals that go from top left to bottom right, the normal reading direction.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/3CSg1QUiIR/Kids%20diagonals%20wordsearch.jpg (Kids diagonals wordsearch)

In this example, the “Kid’s Diagonal” limits the direction, and “Limit Diagonals” limits the number of diagonals in your puzzle.

Introduction

With Puzzle Maker Pro version v2023.3.3, the Time Saver for Word Search has undergone significant changes. It now lets you combine multiple puzzle types in one single table (more about that later). This allows you to completely set up your puzzle book to look the way you want.

Using this Time Saver consists of 3 steps, before you click the "Create" button:

Set up the 'global' options for the puzzles and puzzle book,
Select the Word Lists you want to use in your puzzle book,
Configure the puzzles you want to generate and include in your puzzle book.

A good way of learning to use this version of the Time Saver is to play around with the word lists and puzzle configuration first. You can easily create 'test' puzzle books in Powerpoint or PDF format, to see the results of certain options, and delete these files when you're done.

Set up the Global Options

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/DoHTuPZd9K/Word%20Search%20TS2%20-%20Main%20Options%20Merge.png (Word Search TS2 - Main Options Merge (1).png)

First of all, you'll have to click the "Use Time Saver" checkbox at the top of the page to activate the Time Saver. The text for the "Create" button at the bottom will change into "Create (TS)".

Word List Use Options

The "Word List Use" options will override the similar options for the Word Search Puzzle Settings tab.

When you create several puzzles (for example, when you set quantity to 10), you can specify that words will only be used once (1). This means that you get a set of puzzles that don't use the same words. However, processing may stop when all words have been used.
Minimum Words for Final Puzzle will make sure there are enough words in the last puzzle, or it will stop generating puzzles. For example, if you have a list of 100 words, and the first two puzzles together use 85 words, you will not get a third puzzle, because there are only 15 words left for the puzzle.
"Stop when all words have been used" - In the previous example, you can order Time Saver to stop, so you get only 2 puzzles, or you can uncheck this options. In that case it will reset the word list and start over, with all words available for the next puzzle.
"Merge All Word Lists" (2) - If you specify more than 1 word list on the "Word Lists" tab, you may want to merge them into one large word list for all your puzzle. This allows you, for example, to use a Christmas themed word list, and a general word list together, so each puzzle will have some themed words and some words from the general list.

Layout Options

Word List Font Size
- With the default 'Variable Font Size' you may get a different font size for the different word lists, depending on the length of the words and the number of words. It's a matter of style choice whether you like this.
- You can also set it to "One Size Fits All". That will analyze all the word lists to find the largest font size that allows all the word lists to be printed in the available space.
- With "Fixed Font Size" you can explicitly specify the font size. With this option it makes sense to generate a test version of your book and check this manually: If you set the Font Size too large, some words may not be printed due to the available space the word lists.
Alignment - you can set the alignment of the puzzles in the available space. For example if you have one puzzle per page, with a trim size of 8.5" and 0.5" margins, that would leave 7.5" for the puzzle. Usually the height will then only be 4 or 5" (since the title and word list require some space as well), a square puzzle would be printed at a 5x5" size. You can set whether it should be aligned left, center or right. Additionally, you can 'force' Puzzle Maker Pro to align the word lists with the puzzle, to make the page look more compact.
In some cases, for example religious puzzle books, you may want to add a "Filtered Words" List. This is a list of words that should not appear in the puzzle by accident. (Please note: this will NOT filter words from the regular words list. If you use the word "homeowner" in a word list, and the word "meow" is in your filtered word list, the word "homeowner" can still appear in the puzzle!

Separate Word Lists

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/btqPiaMLWf/Word%20Search%20TS2%20-%20Main%20Options%20No%20Merge.png (Word Search TS2 - Main Options No Merge)

You can also choose to keep all word lists separate. In that case you can even use the word list file name as a title for the puzzle.

For example, if you have a word list "dinosaurs.txt", it can use the word "dinosaurs" as a title. When it results in several puzzles (e.g. quantity is set to 2 or higher), the puzzles will be numbered dinosaurs 1 and dinosaurs 2.

You can set up your own title format:

"Puzzle" is printed as is. You can type a different word here, or leave it out. For example for other languages you can change this.
"#" is the puzzle number. All puzzles in your book are numbered, unless you click "Don't Number the Puzzles".
%TITLE% is a placeholder that will be replaced with the name of the word file. The way this is set up in the screenshot could result in a puzzle title like "Puzzle 113 dinosaurs".

Select the Word Lists

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/KGUmdNLMBr/Word%20Search%20TS2%20-%20Word%20Lists.png (Word Search TS2 - Word Lists)

On the next tab you can select your word lists. Each file should be a plain text file with ONLY the words you want to use, each word on a separate line. Each line will be considered a separate word for the puzzles.

An example:

Configure the Puzzles

To specify which puzzles you want to generate and print in your puzzle book, go to the "Batch Creation" tab. Please don't let the numbers and arrows in the screenshot below overwhelm you.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Sy9kpXa2K9/Word%20Search%20TS2%20-%20Batch%20Creation.png (Word Search TS2 - Batch Creation)

What you see here is a table that contains a row for each puzzle configuration that you want to create. Regular puzzles with just the number of rows and columns, Preset puzzles from your own Word Search presets, and Mask puzzles, from your own saved masks.

At the top left, you can set the Default Quantity (1) for each row you add. By default it's set to 1. You can also edit the configuration for each row later on, just by clicking on the cell you want to change.

You can move rows up and down by selecting a single row and clicking the "Row Up" or "Row Down" buttons.

You can delete rows from the table by selecting one or more rows and clicking the "Delete Selected" button, or clicking the "Delete All" button. Deleting rows from this table will NOT delete presets or saved masks.

Adding Regular Word Search Puzzles (2)

The easiest way to add puzzles, which was called 'Fast' in the older Time Saver, is by setting the number of rows and columns. In box (2) you can see that both the Rows and Columns are set to 20. When you click the button "Add", it will add a row to the table:

Type: R (Regular), this identifies the type of puzzle for that row
(File) Name "Rectangle". This has no further meaning for Regular puzzles
Word List "Default". See "Word List Setup for Specific Puzzles" below for details.
Rows / Cols: The number of rows and columns for the word search puzzle
Quantity: The number of puzzles to generate
Number of Words: The number of words for the puzzle. A value of 0 (zero) means unlimited, as many as can be fit in
Diag: Allow Diagonals for the puzzle
Rev: Allow Reversed (Backwards printed) words for the puzzle
BG: Not relevant for Regular puzzles

Adding Word Search Puzzle Presets (3)

To use your existing Word Search Puzzle Presets to the list, click "Add Presets". This will open a window where you can select all the presets you want to add. The information in the table that's specific for Preset rows:

Type: "P" for Preset
(File) Name: The name of the preset
Word List: See "Word List Setup for Specific Puzzles" below for details.

Adding Word Search Saved Masks (4)

To use your existing Saved Masks to create puzzles, click "Add Masks". This will open a window where you can select all the masks you want to add. These are mask that are saved from the Mask Editor that's shown when you click "set Mask" in the Puzzle Settings tab for Word Search puzzles. The information in the table that's specific for Mask rows:

Type: "M" for Mask
(File) Name: The name of the saved masks file
BG: Print the mask silhouette as a background for the puzzle. You can switch this on and off for each row of type Mask. Additionally, since you probably want to have a consistent approach to printing mask, you can set the default value for this option in box (4): Print Mask as Background

Word list Setup for Specific Puzzles

The "Word List" column in the table gets the value "Default" for each new row. There are some other options.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/KqsfjZax9w/Word%20Search%20TS2%20-%20Word%20List%20in%20Row.png (Word Search TS2 - Word List in Row)

To change the Word List value for any of the rows in the table, click the down arrow (the 'v' next to Default) to get a list of options.

Default: This will use the default word list setup as defined on the "Main" tab. For each row the word lists will be reinitialized
- Merge All Word Lists: For each row in this table, whether the quantity is 1 or more, the 'merged' word list is initialized and used. That means that the same word can be used for puzzles from several rows. (The option "Use Words Only Once" applies only to the quantity of puzzles for a single row)
- Separate Puzzles Per Word List: For each row in the table, the next word list will be used. For example, the first row with "Default" will use word list 1, the second will use word list 2, etc. When there are no more word lists, it will start back at word list 1.
Word List From Preset: This will work only for rows with the "Preset" type! It will use the word list that was saved with the puzzle preset. This can be a pasted list of words, or a word list file. (If you use this setting for the other rows in the table, it will revert to "Default" when processing the table
A specific Word List file: You can also select any of the word list files that you added to the "Word Lists" tab. You'll need to set up all the word lists you want to use on the "Word Lists" tab, because Puzzle Maker Pro won't know in which folders you store all your word lists. When you select a specific file, such as "Car Brands.txt" in the screenshot, only that file will be used for the puzzle.

Tips and Tricks

The previous version of the Time Saver would 'multiply' the number of word lists with the quantities set in the table. This (new) version will generate exactly the quantities that are set in the table, unless your word lists do not contain enough words.
Setting up Masks or Word Search Presets is a time investment that will pay off. You can choose to either set up a Word Search Preset with a Mask and a Word List, or to just create the Mask and Word List and combine them in the table in the Time Saver. The result will be identical
If you have a Preset with a mask, and you change the number of rows and columns in the table, the mask will not be used. Example: If you have a mask of a cat that has 23 rows and 17 columns, and you change the numbers to 25 rows and 20 columns, the mask will not fit with those dimensions and will not be used
You'll need to add ALL the word lists you want to use, on the "Word Lists" tab. These will be added automatically to the drop down menu for the Word List column
You can add a list of Presets and then add a list of Masks, and use the Row Up / Row Down button to mix them up, if needed. You can also maximize the Puzzle Maker Pro window on your computer to see more of the table.

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