Question 1

How to create Acrostic crossword puzzles with Puzzle Maker Pro - Acrostic Grid

Accepted Answer

This tutorial shows how to create Acrostic crossword puzzles with Puzzle Maker Pro - Acrostic Grid.

The main tutorial for Crossword Variations shows all the steps and information that applies to all the different puzzle types.

Introduction

There are many different types of Acrostic Crossword puzzles. Acrostic Grid is the name we use for words that are placed in a grid, and that include additional hints to find a secret word, or to suggest additional letters in the grid that make it easier to find all the words in the puzzle.

The example below includes a secret word:

Acrostic Grid - Overview

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/hz27IKEHhn/Acrostic%20Grid%20-%20Overview.png (Acrostic Grid - Overview)

Acrostic Options for Acrostic Grid Puzzles

As mentioned in the introduction, you can use either Secret Word or Alphabet Hints (Letter Hints) for Acrostic Grid puzzles. You cannot have both at the same time.

When you use a secret word, you can set how many 'matching' letters must be available in each word, to be included in the puzzle.

Acrostic Grid - Acrostic Settings

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/e5yN8Xf0Vb/Acrostic%20Grid%20-%20Acrostic%20Settings.png (Acrostic Grid - Acrostic Settings)

In the screenshot, Matching Letters is set to 2. For the words Bingo and Cross Sum we have indicated the matching letters for the word Orange.

Acrostic Grid Style

The Acrostic Grid puzzles will always (!) have the word number in a separate square, because the letter hints are shown as small numbers in some of the squares. (You can't have both at the same time)

There are quite a few additional style options, shown on the "Variation" tab:

Acrostic Grid - Layout Settings

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/QjV0yUu4Hq/Acrostic%20Grid%20-%20Layout%20Settings.png (Acrostic Grid - Layout Settings)

Max Words per Row - You can set the maximum number of words that can be printed on each row of the puzzle. This allows for interesting layout effects, as you can see in the screenshot
Sort Rows - You can sort the rows by length, or use a 'Diamond' sort option, which sorts the grid rows from short to long to short. (see screenshot)
Align Rows - You can align the rows to the left, right or center.

Note: The software will try to optimize the grid to make each row of equal length, if possible. However, this depends quite a bit on the words in your word list. For best results to get a really square or rectangular grid, use words with complementary lengths, e.g. 8 and 4 letters (to get 12 letter rows).

Introduction

Crossword Variations is our collection of all puzzles based on the crosswords format. There are many types of crossword variations:

Words placed in a grid or free format, that have to be guessed from given clues
Acrostic puzzles, which have additional hints and/or secret words
Cryptic puzzles where the clues are cryptic instead of straightforward

This tutorial provides an overview of all the options and features in the Crossword Variations module, that you can use to create unique puzzles that attract attention and stand out. (Or even boring, run-of-the-mill puzzles, if you desire).

There are additional tutorials for the specific puzzle types as well, that build on this main overview.

Criss Cross
Acrostic Column
Acrostic Grid

Crossword Variations Overview

When you select CrossWord Variations in the main menu, you'll see a window like this:

Crossword Variations Overview Numbered.png

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/v0qp5hsUWa/Crossword%20Variations%2001%20Overview%20-%20Numbered.png (Crossword Variations Overview Numbered.png)

Select Puzzle Type "Crossword Variations", or select any of the crossword variations in the "Word Puzzles" menu
There are many different options for Crossword Variations puzzles. You can click on each button to show additional settings
The word list that is currently used
A preview of the most recently generated puzzle
Buttons to create (and save) a new puzzle, or generate a new preview with the current puzzle settings
Switch between puzzle and solution preview. By default it's set to Preview Solution

Note: for all puzzle types, the shape and layout of the puzzle will be heavily influenced by your word list. A mix of very long and very short words will usually result in oddly shaped and irregular puzzles.

Words

With Crossword Variations you can and have to use your own word lists. When you start this module the first time, a short word list is shown, to make it easier for you to play with the settings and get some fast results.

You can choose to provide a complete word list with clues (word descriptions) and other information, or to provide only a list of words without any other information, and use the integrated dictionary and editing system to add missing information.

Word Lists

A word list can be anything from just a list of words, to a list of words with word descriptions (used as clues) and other information. A full description and specification of the word list options can be found here: Word Lists for Crossword Variations

Word List Summary

Word : Clue - On each line, type a word and add the clue (description) separated by a colon ":". You can type multiple clues for each word, the generator will select a random clues for each puzzle
#title:title - you can add a title for the puzzle. This can appear in the puzzle book (depending on your settings) or in the puzzle image
#description:description
#secret:word:clue - use the tag "#secret" to specify the secret word for your puzzle

Word Settings

You can control how your word list is used to create puzzles on the "Settings" tab:

Word List Control: Use the word list only once, reset the word list for each new puzzle, or reset the word list only after all words have been used. Each puzzle will use randomly chosen words from the word list, even with a word list of only 20 or 30 words, you can create almost unlimited puzzles.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/tGjcsmIqZP/Crossword%20Variations%2002%20Word%20Settings%20-%20Numbered.png (Crossword Variations Word Settings.png)

Automatically remove characters / letters from your words. For example, you may want to remove all the spaces or hyphens from the words. For example, if the word list contains the word "word search", the puzzle would use "wordsearch". This setting is now available on the main Dictionary tab (to ensure consistency for all puzzles).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Z0hP14XzUQ/Puzzle%20Maker%20Pro%20-%20Letter%20Settings.png (Puzzle Maker Pro - Letter Settings)

You can also set the minimum and maximum number of words for a puzzle. When there are less than the minimum number of words in your word list, no puzzle will be created. For some crossword variations this option may have a slightly different function (which is detailed in the corresponding tutorials).

Dictionary

You can use the integrated dictionary to speed up your puzzle creation, and inspire your creativity as well. This dictionary is mostly AI generated, for the English language. That means it can really speed up your workflow, but it's also best to always verify the results that are provided. You can enable this dictionary on the main "Dictionary" tab.

Additionally you can use your own word list / dictionary file and even add a custom word list to save all the changes you make.

Acrostic Options

There are two tabs in the puzzle settings that are used for some puzzles only:

Acrostic - These settings are used for acrostic puzzles only (e.g. not for the regular Criss Cross or Word Spiral puzzles)
Variation - This tab can contain custom settings for specific puzzles (e.g. Acrostic Grid). Otherwise a message "No Additional Settings for this puzzle type" is shown.

Acrostic tab

Crossword Variations Acrostic Options.png

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ZCmpggnmSo/Crossword%20Variations%2003%20Acrostic%20Options%20-%20Numbered.png (Crossword Variations Acrostic Options)

Choose between Secret Word or Alphabet hints. Acrostic puzzles require either a "Secret Word" or additional hints, which we call "Alphabet Hints". For most acrostic puzzle types it's not possible to use both options at the same time.
The secret word or phrase will be shown at the bottom of the puzzle (2)
You can specify which secret word to use by using the "#secret" tag in the word list, e.g. "#secret: orange : color". The other option is to randomly select a word from your word list to use as the secret word.
Minimum Matching Letters: You can choose to add only words that have 2 or more letters in common with the secret word or phrase. By setting this to '1', only one matching letter is needed. This value influences the number of hints that can be shown in the puzzle. This option is only applied when you use a secret word.
You can customise how many hints are shown for each letter. For example, if you set this to 3, the first letter of a secret word will only have 3 hints, the second letter will also have 3 hints (if possible). When you use Alphabet Hints, each letter (e.g. "A", "B" or "C") will only get 3 hints. This settings influences the difficulty of the puzzle.

Grid Settings

In Puzzle Maker Pro, puzzle images are generated with a consistent size, to make sure the puzzles can easily be used together in a puzzle book. In some cases this may seem counterintuitive.

Especially for crossword variations generated from your own word lists, which differently sized words, randomly generated puzzles, and optionally secret words or phrases that can have different lengths, it takes some steps to guarantee that the puzzles in your puzzle books will have consistent font sizes. Therefore we've added the "Fixed / Maximum Grid Settings". You can (and should) customise these settings to get the exact output you need. (And, honestly, it's best to just play with these settings and preview the puzzles to see what works best for your current project).

Crossword Variations - Criss Cross Grid 1

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ZcSxJMBEvl/Crossword%20Variations%20-%20Criss%20Cross%20Grid%201.png (Crossword Variations - Criss Cross Grid 20x20)

Set the maximum grid size you need. If this is fixed, it will also determine the font size. Padding may occur, since crossword puzzles are created randomly and the exact size and shape depends on your word list
Dynamic size - The grid size will be used as a maximum size, and empty rows and columns will be removed before printing the puzzle.
Align the puzzle in the fixed grid. Especially with a fixed grid size, if the actual puzzle is smaller than the grid size, it can be aligned or centered horizontally or vertically.

The screenshot below shows a completely different grid size, used with the 'social media' image settings to add a title, description and watermark to the generated puzzle image:

Crossword Variations - Criss Cross Grid 10x25.png

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/MTM5yNKBuA/Crossword%20Variations%20-%20Criss%20Cross%20Grid%202.png (Crossword Variations - Criss Cross Grid 10x25)

Styling

The style options can be found on the Style 1 and Style 2 tabs. (The small size of the tabs is to accomodate users who work on a laptop).

Style 1 tab

The first Style tab includes the options for the main puzzle styling settings. In the screenshot you can see a custom font and blue'ish colors:

Crossword Variations - Style 1

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/qOrJ9P3wDZ/Crossword%20Variations%20-%20Style%201.png (Crossword Variations - Style 1 tab)

You can set the font, font color and other font settings, the cell colors, additional colors for accented cells (for example in Acrostic Column), and the lines between cells and the outer border lines.

Style 2 tab

The second style tab has the style settings for the puzzle numbers:

Crossword Variations - Style 2

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/WgAfN0cAWf/Crossword%20Variations%20-%20Style%202.png (Crossword Variations - Style 2)

Here you can choose between small word numbers in each cell, or separate word numbers as an additional square in the puzzle (as in the screenshot). You can also choose to use letters instead of numbers, and of course you can set the font and font color for the word numbers.

Clues Settings

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/5fv86ppDeT/AC%20-%20Clues%20tab.png (AC - Clues tab)

You can choose to use the classic clue output, which will be printed only in the Instant Puzzle Books (PDF or Powerpoint) or the new 'In Image' output, which is shown in the screenshot.
When you print the clues in the image, you can set the position and number of columns. Additionally you can set how much space the puzzle should take. The best value for this space allocation depends on the words you are using, it's best to play with this value, and the number of Clue Columns, and generate previews to see what looks best.
Two additional Clue Style options are available: "Word Fill" - A list of words is added, instead of the hints. The goal is to find the right positions for the words. "Word Scramble" - Instead of the clues, a random scramble of the words will be shown
For Acrostic puzzles, the Clue Headings are only used for "Word Fill", in which case the "Word Fill Title" can be set

Image and Output Options

In addition to 'clean' images that only contain the puzzles or solutions, you can also create images that have a title, description and watermark. These images can easily be used on social media, for advertising or as printables.

A full tutorial can be found here: (Social Media) Image Settings

Introduction

There are quite a few options to add information to your word lists and word list files. If you want more and specific control over the puzzles that are created, you can use all of the options. Alternatively, Puzzle Maker Pro - Crossword Variations can also generate puzzles when you only provide the words.

For example, a word list consisting of just a list of animals:

You can save it just like this in a text file, e.g. animals.txt, and use this to create puzzles. Puzzle Maker Pro can use the built-in dictionary to retrieve clues (descriptions). You can use the word fill or word scramble options, which only need these words.

Word Descriptions

For more control, you can also add the clues for each word, like this:

As you can see, the words and clues are separated by a colon (":"). Optionally you can add multiple clues for each word, Puzzle Maker Pro will randomly pick one of the clues when needed.

Adding Secret Words or Phrases

For certain puzzle types, such as the acrostic puzzles, you can add a secret word or phrase. Use the tag "#secret", as in this example:

For acrostic puzzles, you can also choose to randomly use a word from the word list as the secret word.

Word Sets in a single file

It's possible to add multple word lists in a single file, however, it is usually more flexible to save each word list in its own file.

For each word set, wether it's in a separate file or combined in a single file, you can set a title and description, which can be used with certain puzzle types.

Multiple word lists in a single file can be separated by blank lines:

Introduction

The additional 'Image' output was introduced to make it possible to create puzzles with an improved layout for social media or printables. To make this possible, we created an 'Image Settings' layout option that has all the settings for these images. Here's an example of what's possible (the puzzle in this image is a Criss Cross puzzle):

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/WxQGD5xMbx/Image%20Settings%20Puzzle%20Only.png (Image Settings Puzzle Only)

Setting the Title and Description

The title and description for this puzzle are part of the word list that's used for this puzzle, using the "#title" and "#description" options:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ODGv25G7ka/Image%20Settings%20Example.png (Image Settings Example)

Editing the Image Settings

When a puzzle in Puzzle Maker Pro supports these new Image Settings, there is an option on the Output Settings tab to edit the settings:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/O1fwKTFuAV/Image%20Settings%20Button.png (Image Settings Button)

In the next sections we'll explain all the different options for the Image Settings.

Layout Settings

The first tab has the Layout Settings. This is where you can enable or disable the different settings and add padding.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ysezj02Sq2/Image%20Settings%20Puzzle%20Only%20-%20Marked.png (Image Settings Puzzle Only - Marked)

Padding and sizing is specified as a percentage of the total size of the puzzle. The exact size in pixels is calculated, based on the Puzzle Size.

Top Padding - optional empty space at the top of the image
Title Height - The font for the title will be adjusted automatically to make the text fit in the allocated space
Title Bottom Padding
Description Height
Description Bottom Padding - The description can be placed at the top or at the bottom of the puzzle
Puzzle Padding - empty space on all four sides of the puzzle, when it is added to the image. The actual empty space will also depend on the size and format of the puzzle. For example, when fitting a square puzzle in a rectangular space, there will be more white space on some of the sides
Watermark Top Padding
Watermark Height - The actual watermark is set on another tab, by default it's set to "www.bookpublishertools.com"
Bottom padding

You can enable or disable the different areas, depending on your styling preferences.

Colors and Fonts

You can set background color for the entire image (the canvas color) and the background color for the puzzle. (If the puzzle module has it's own canvas color settings, these will be used as well). Additionally you can add an outer border to the image.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/hrOttMcLIv/Image%20Settings%20-%20Colors.png (Image Settings - Colors)

You can set the fonts for the Title, Description and Watermark. (The Watermark font can be found on the Watermark tab). The font name, color and case will be used when printing the Title, Description or Watermark in the image.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/7zgRuiHY0O/Image%20Settings%20-%20Fonts.png (Image Settings - Fonts)

Size Options

By default the image settings from the "Output Settings" tab in Puzzle Maker Pro are used. You can override this by selecting one of the size settings on the "Size Options" tab. This allows you to configure specific size settings for your social media platform.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/d5KWGezzvB/Image%20Settings%20-%20Size%20Options.png (Image Settings - Size Options)

Watermark

The Watermark option allows you to add an url or brand name at the bottom of each image automatically. It's best to switch off the Watermark (on the Layout tab) when you are creating puzzle books, but it's a handy feature when you are creating images for social media.

Question 6

How to create Acrostic puzzles with Puzzle Maker Pro - Acrostic Column

Accepted Answer

This tutorial shows how to create Acrostic puzzles with Puzzle Maker Pro - Acrostic Column.

The main tutorial for Crossword Variations shows all the steps and information that applies to all the different puzzle types.

Introduction

Acrostic Column is an acrostic Crossword puzzle where a list of words is printed, and one column contains a secret word.

There are many different types of Acrostic Crossword puzzles. Acrostic Column is the name we give to the type of Acrostic Crossword where a list of words is shown, and a single 'secret' word can be found in one of the columns.

Acrostic Settings

For Acrostic Column puzzles, the "Secret Word" option is always enabled, since this is the main characteristic of the puzzle.

Acrostic Column - Secret Only

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/p0rtkhWXya/Acrostic%20Column%20-%20Secret%20Only.png (Acrostic Column - Secret Only)

Additionally, you can add "Alphabet Hints", which will make the puzzle easier to solve:

Acrostic Column - Secret and Alphabet

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ECVWQIVHxx/Acrostic%20Column%20-%20Secret%20and%20Alphabet.png (Acrostic Column - Secret and Alphabet)

In this screenshot you see a different puzzle, and all the small numbers in the puzzle. Each number corresponds with a single letter. The numbers are randomly assigned to the letters, so each puzzle will have a different key.

Image Options

When you use the additional image options (for social media images, etc), you can specify which information is used for the image title and description:

Acrostic Column - Image Options

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/PbMxNm5S64/Acrostic%20Column%20-%20Image%20Options.png (Acrostic Column - Image Options)

For both the Title Description you can use the Word Set Title, Word Set Description, Secret Word Description (Clue) or a Custom word or phrase.

First Things First - Handling Security Issues

If you get security warning from Powerpoint when you start the product, you have to tell both Windows and Powerpoint that you accept the file and the macros. We have a separate tutorial that shows you in detail how to do this: Enable Powerpoint Macros

Using LCB Book Creator

You can find LCB Book Creator on the Add-ins ribbon:

LCB Book Creator Finding the Add-In

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/2t13ML5EZa/LCB%20Book%20Creator%20Finding%20the%20Add-In.png (LCB Book Creator Finding the Add-In)

LCB Book Creator Finding the Add-In

Click the "LCB Book Creator" text or icon to start the LCB Book Creator:

LCB Book Creator Main Window

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Bnja5XbYzz/LCB%20Book%20Creator%20Window.png (LCB Book Creator Main Window)

LCB Book Creator Main Window

There are 5 different (small) steps:

Select the CSV File, the data file for your Low Content Book or Images,
Select the Powerpoint Template file
Verify Placeholders - Check that all placeholders in the Powerpoint file do have data in the CSV file
Set the Powerpoint Output file
Generate Slides.

Optionally you can create example files, this will save a sample CSV file and a sample Powerpoint file to your computer. (You can select the sample files for step 1 and 2, to do a first test-run with LCB Book Creator).

CSV Files

CSV means "Comma Separated Variable length". In other words: the different values, texts, on each line are separated by commas. Besides that, it's just a plain text file, that you can type in Notepad, or save in Excel (use csv as the output format).

For LCB Book Creator, the first line needs to have the 'Placeholder' names, that will be present in the Powerpoint file.

After the first line with the placeholders, you can add lines with data. The lines will be processed one at a time.

Powerpoint Templates

Powerpoint Templates for LCB Book Creator are regular Powerpoint files. You can use placeholders (like "%TITLE%") that will be replaced with text from the CSV file.

The image below is from the sample Powerpoint Template file.

PPT Sample File

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/XE7n05BEIF/PPT%20Sample%20File.png (PPT Sample File)

PPT Sample File

The sample file is plain, and it is not recommended to use it 'as is'. It is intended to show you how the placeholders work. You can design the Powerpoint file any way you like, and you can even use multiple slides for each row of data in the CSV file.

Whever the text for a placeholder is an existing file on your computer (e.g. "C:/Images/Books.jpg"), LCB Book Creator will replace the placeholder with the image. Otherwise, it will only replace the placeholder text with the next text.

Output Settings

To generate a Powerpoint file, you'll always need to specify where the new file must be saved (step 4).

Additionally, you can automatically generate image files in PNG, JPG and PDF format. These will be saved in a subfolder. The value in the first column of your CSV file will be used as the filename.

Generate Powerpoint Slides

When you click Generate, a Powerpoint file will be created and saved to your computer, with the name and location that you selected in step 4. This may take a couple of seconds, depending on the complexity of your template, the number of placeholders and the size of the CSV file.

Question 8

How to Enable Macros and Install Add-In's in Powerpoint

Accepted Answer

This tutorial describes how to Enable Macros and Install Add-In's in Powerpoint. It applies to:

Whenever you use a Powerpoint file that contains macros, you'll receive a warning in Powerpoint. There are two steps to take (just once) to allow the macros to work:

Tell Windows that the file can be trusted
Tell Powerpoint that the macros can be trusted
Add the Add-In

Security Step 1 - Windows

To let Windows know that you trust the downloaded file, right-click the Powerpoint file and select Properties.

Unblock File in Windows

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/5Tk3PaDOK8/Windows%20Unblock.png (Unblock File in Windows)

Make sure "Unblock" is checked, then click OK.

Security Step 2 - Powerpoint

After you double-click the Powerpoint file, Powerpoint may show a warning that Macros are disabled. In that case, you have to enabled macros to use the LCB Book Creator on your computer:

In Powerpoint, click the File menu-option, then click "Options", at the bottom. In the Options window, find the Trust Center options (at the bottom), and click "Trust Center Settings".

How to find the Powerpoint Trust Center

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/0NMByXbpKG/Powerpoint%20Trust%20Center%201.png (Powerpoint Trust Center)

Powerpoint Trust Center

In the Trust Center, find the Macro Settings, then click either "Disable all macros except digitally signed macros", or "Enable all macros".

Powerpoint Trust Center - Enable Macros

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/8uWjC3gkuF/Powerpoint%20Trust%20Center%202.png (Powerpoint Trust Center - Enable Macros)

Powerpoint Trust Center - Enable Macros

Step 3 - Install Add-In

Please be aware, if the security settings (Step 2) are set to "Disable all macros", you won't be able to install the add-ind.

Open the Powerpoint Add-Ins Manager

Open the Powerpoint Options window by clicking the File menu, then click Options (at the bottom left).

LCB Book Creator Manage Add-In's

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/sqyv4o12bN/LCB%20Book%20Creator%20Manage%20Add-In%27s.png (LCB Book Creator Manage Add-In's)

LCB Book Creator Manage Add-In's

In the Options window, click the Add-Ins option, and select "PowerPoint Add-ins" in the dropdown menu at the bottom.

Add the new Add-In

The Add-Ins window may look different if you already have other add-in's installed.

LCB Book Creator Add New Add-In

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/YOsxR0LJHq/LCB%20Book%20Creator%20Add%20New%20Add-In.png (LCB Book Creator Add New Add-In)

LCB Book Creator Add New Add-In

Click "Add New" and navigate to the folder where you saved the LCB Book Creator addin. Please be aware that the plugin should stay in this location, otherwise Powerpoint will not be able to use it in the future.

Depending on your security settings, you may get a security notice (see below).

Handle the Security Notice

Powerpoint will let you know that you're installing something new, and let you decide whether to accept this.

LCB Book Creator Security Notice

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/XPHiX2fbr2/LCB%20Book%20Creator%20Security%20Notice.png (LCB Book Creator Security Notice)

LCB Book Creator Security Notice

The add-in file is signed with a digital certificate owned by "Core Insights" (click Show Signature Details to verify this). You can either "Trust all from publisher" or "Enable Macros". If you decide to "Trust all from publisher", Powerpoint will never show you the security notice again for future add-ins or updates.

Once this is done, you're ready to use the add-in in Powerpoint.

Question 9

How to use the Time Saver for Puzzle Maker Pro - Letterbox

Accepted Answer

This tutorial describes how to use the Time Saver for Puzzle Maker Pro - Letterbox. It applies to:

Introduction

With the Time Saver for Letterbox you can combine multiple word lists, randomise word lists, and use more flexible layout settings for your Instant Puzzle Books. To use the Time Saver, you should have a basic understanding of Puzzle Maker Pro - Letterbox. The Time Saver will overwrite the grid size and the word list, all other options of Letterbox will be used as set in the Puzzle Settings.

Time Saver for Letterbox

With this Time Saver, you can select multiple word lists. Each word list will add one row to the 'job' table. You can then edit some settings for each row, and when you're done, generate all the puzzles.

Letterbox Time Saver

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/lRv14SRvgv/Letterbox%2050B%20Time%20Saver.png (Letterbox Time Saver)

Letterbox Time Saver

Layout Options

In addition to the Time Saver automation features, the Time Saver also unlocks the advanced layout options in Puzzle Maker Pro. On the Instant Puzzle Books -> Layout tab, you can select the number of puzzles and solutions on each page.

Time Saver Layout Setup

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/VDUPnRhcEt/Time%20Saver%20Layout%20Setup.jpg (Time Saver Layout Setup)

Time Saver Layout Setup

Introduction to Letterbox Puzzles

A Letterbox puzzle consists of a grid filled with different letters. By removing all letters that occur twice or more, the resulting letters will form a word - read from top left to bottom right. The puzzle in the screenshot below is an example:

Letterbox Overview

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/wkvZhTJViF/Letterbox%2001%20Overview.png (Letterbox Overview)

Letterbox Overview

Puzzle Maker Pro - Letterbox Overview

Here's the same screenshot, with some numbers to clarify the different options. Additionally, the general Puzzle Maker Pro features such as Preview, Preview Solution, Output Settings, etc. are available.

Letterbox Tutorial Overview

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/bflYkRCNt8/Letterbox%2001B%20Overview.png (Letterbox Tutorial Overview)

Letterbox Tutorial Overview

Select "Letterbox" in the Puzzle Type dropdown menu or in the Word Puzzles menu
Set the number of rows and columns for the grid (see the preview [5]), and the quantity of puzzles you want to generate
Your word list. By default, a short word list is added, but you should always use your own word list (see also the next paragraph)
"Verify" your word list - check that all the words have unique letters
Preview panel for the puzzle or the solution

Using Your Word Lists

Puzzle Maker Pro - Letterbox works with word lists or text files that have a single word or short phrase on each line. If there's also a clue or description after the word (as in: "word:clue"), the clue will not be used.

Each word must consist of unique letters only, since the aim of the puzzle is to cross off all duplicate letters. (Actually, "duplicate" is a valid word).

After you type or copy your word list, or after selecting a word list file, you can click the "Verify" button to verify all the words in the word list. It will give a warning for words that have duplicate letters.

When generating puzzles, words with duplicate letters will be skipped.

Letter Options

Letter Options Overview

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/fu7MzlOw08/Letterbox%2010B%20Letter%20Options.png (Letter Options Overview)

Letter Options Overview

On the "Letters" tab you can find several options to control the letters that are used in your puzzle:

Even though your word list may contain spaces and other characters, like hyphens or commas, you can easily remove these from the words
"Fill Characters": After the word is placed in the grid in random positions, the other squares are filled with 'noise', random characters from the set of "Fill Characters" that you provide. By default it's set to the regular English alphabet. Letters that also occur in the hidden word, will not be used as noise.

You can get creative with the Fill Characters, e.g. use only certain letters, or use digits as noise in the puzzle, like the example below:

Letterbox Using Digits

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/BC3lCZhxe1/Letterbox%2011%20Using%20Digits.png (Letterbox Using Digits)

Letterbox Using Digits

Using Multiple Fonts

There are several options to make the Letterbox puzzle a bit more lively and chaotic, you can find these on the "Fonts" tab:

Letterbox Font Options

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/WCGeNoKOxI/Letterbox%2020B%20Font%20Options.png (Letterbox Font Options)

Letterbox Font Options

Select the main font by clicking the white panel that says "Arial". Here you can set the font, font color, and some other options.
If you want to use more than one font, you can set the number of fonts (up to 3). For each letter in the grid, the algorithm will randomly select one of the fonts:

Letterbox Multiple Fonts Grayscale

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/aSYjEkxKz4/Letterbox%2022%20Multiple%20Fonts%20Grayscale.png (Letterbox Multiple Fonts Grayscale)

Letterbox Multiple Fonts Grayscale

You can choose to add Bold and Italics letters to the puzzle. Random letters will be Bold or Italic, if the selected font supports this.
Add more color variations: Use up to five colors or gray shades in your puzzle (see next paragraph)
Click "Next Preview" to generate a preview with the changed settings. The preview will be shown in the preview panel at the right.

Using Multiple Colors

Letterbox Multiple Fonts Colors

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/BH8NJBwMB6/Letterbox%2024%20Multiple%20Fonts%20Colors.png (Letterbox Multiple Fonts Colors)

Letterbox Multiple Fonts Colors

You can also use multiple colors or multiple gray shades for the letters. In total you can use five different colors:

You can select a color in the font properties window. When you use three different fonts, you can select a different color for each font. These colors will be randomly assigned to each letter. (That means: If you select a red color for "Arial" and a green color for "Times New Roman", you can get four different combinations: Arial/Red, Arial/Green, Times New Roman/Red and Times New Roman/Green)
You can also add two more colors by selecting the "Color Variations" option. You can then use the two color panels to select additional colors
You can mix and match: You can select up to three different fonts and use the same color for each, you can also select "Arial" three times, but select a different color for each font.

Styling

The "Styling" tab offers several options to change the look and feel of your Letterbox puzzle, in addition to the differernt font options.

Letterbox Styling Colors

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/QN5bTfSSjc/Letterbox%2030B%20Styling%20Colors.png (Letterbox Styling Colors)

Letterbox Styling Colors

You can set the Canvas color and the Cell Background color. The "Cell" is the square in which each letter is placed. The Canvas color is only shown when padding is used [3]
You can set the width (weight) of the Cell Border and the Color. In the screenshot we have selected a red line of 20 pixels. (This may look different depending on the image size that you selected on the Output Settings tab)
Padding - You can choose to have each letter in its own square, with a little padding around it. The empty space will have the Canvas color:

Letterbox Styling Padding

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/r1y07BqFHR/Letterbox%2031B%20Styling%20Padding.png (Letterbox Styling Padding)

Letterbox Styling Padding

Solution Styling: You can either use an empty cell instead of the 'noise' characters, or use a symbol of your choosing, for example the "=" symbol:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/TUMiDKBAqV/Letterbox%2032B%20Styling%20Solution.png (Letterbox 32B Styling Solution)

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