Question 1

How to get the most out of Puzzle Maker Pro - Letter Code Search

Accepted Answer

This tutorial shows how to get the most out of Puzzle Maker Pro - Letter Code Search.

This tutorial applies to:

Puzzle Maker Pro - Letter Code Search

All generic information for the Code Search products can be found in the main Code Search tutorial.

Introduction

With Puzzle Maker Pro - Letter Code Search you can create several types of Code Search puzzles:

Letter Code Search puzzles
License Plate Search puzzles
Password Code Search puzzles
Binary Code Search puzzles

Letter Code Search puzzles

Letter Code Search is actually a very flexible module that can also be used for License Plate, Password and Binary Code Search puzzles.

You can type the letters you want to use (Values -> Custom) or use one of the buttons to quickly enter the (English) alphabet or the digits 0 to 9. You can also paste or type letters and characters in other languages.

Here's an example using the default Alphabet:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/2yewWzhntI/Letter%20Code%20Search.png (Letter Code Search)

And an example using Spanish, French and German letters:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/E2HJ9zvrxi/Letter%20Code%20Search%20-%20Characters.png (Letter Code Search - Characters)

License Plate Search puzzles

Using the "Letters" symbol type, you can create some fun themed puzzles. For example with a mix of letters and digits (ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789) , you can create the so-called License Plate code search puzzles:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/KulNm2arIH/Letter%20Code%20Search%20-%20License%20Plate.png (Letter Code Search - License Plate)

Password Code Search puzzles

Using a mix of uppercase and lowercase and other symbols (ABCdefGhIJKlMnoPQRStuVwXyz0123456789@#$%^&(!), you can create codes that resemble passwords:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/7Q7F8COhOw/Letter%20Code%20Search%20-%20Passwords.png (Letter Code Search - Passwords)

Binary Code Search puzzles

Binary codes consist of only zeroes and ones (0 and 1). This type of puzzle works best when also setting the Min / Max Copies to larger values:

Introduction

With Puzzle Maker Pro - Number Search you can create several types of Code Search puzzles:

True Number (Code) Search puzzles
Roman Numerals Code Search puzzles

Number Search Puzzles

To create Number Search puzzles, select "Numbers" in the Symbol dropdown menu.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/yd9pB6JRuy/Number%20Search%20-%20Details%20-%20Annotated.png (Number Search - Details - Annotated)

There are three options to set the numbers for your number search puzzle (2):

Default - the range of numbers from 1 to the "Max" value. (Although it says "Max Colors/Images", this applies to the default numbers setting as well).
Range - You can set a different range, for example 100 to 200 or 25 to 2500.
Value List - type the numbers you want to use

The "Number of Items for Puzzle" (1) specifies how many different numbers will be used in the puzzle. In the example this is set to 5 - that means 5 different numbers are randomly selected from the range from 1 to 100. The randomly selected numbers will differ for each puzzle that is generated.

Roman Numerals Code Search puzzles

For Roman Numerals Code Search puzzles you can use the default range or set a specific range of numbers. Please be aware that there's an upper limit to the Roman numerals of 3999. Since Roman numerals can be quite long, the font size used will be quite a bit smaller than for numbers or letters. Here's an example of a Roman Numerals Code Search puzzle:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/61nlRyNwJh/Roman%20Numerals%20Code%20Search%20Example.png (Roman Numerals Code Search Example)

Limiting the Amount of Words

By default Word Search will try to fit as many words as possible in a grid.

However, it is possible to limit the amount of words, so there is more 'noise', and fewer words in a puzzle.

Puzzle Maker Pro – Word Search will allow you to set the number of words to unlimited (so, as many as possible), or to a certain limit.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/HSoTjmrD85/Word%20Search%20Limiting%20the%20amount%20of%20words.jpg (Word Search Limiting the amount of words)

Please be aware that this is a maximum number. Depending on the grid size, number of words, and word length, it may occur that fewer words end up in the puzzle.

Preview and Export

The goal of creating a design in Geometric String Art Designer is to have an image of your design.

Canvas Size

On the "Settings" -> "Canvas Size" tab you can set the details for your canvas:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/DAkFYanspA/String%20Art%20Designer%20-%20Canvas%20Size.jpg (String Art Designer - Canvas Size)

Trim Size: the size of your image in centimeters, inches or pixels (internally it will be calculated in pixels, because that's how the size of JPG and PNG images is determined).
DPI: Dots Per Inch. If you plan to use the images in books for KDP (or elsewhere) where commercial print settings are required, choose 300 DPI. Otherwise you can choose 72 DPI, which is still good for display and web use.
Margins - set margins that will be kept empty
"Check Page Boundaries" - this will always make sure that shapes are drawn within the margins. If you uncheck this, you can move shapes partly outside the canvas as well.

Save Project

Always save your project before exiting the software or resetting the design. This can be done at the top right (similar to the Preset options in Puzzle Maker Pro).

Just type the name, and click the "Save" icon.

Preview Options

Geometric String Art Designer has separate settings for the Preview and for Export. While previewing you'll probably want to see the shapes and margins, which you may not want to include in an export.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/rqFOXzv0J5/String%20Art%20Designer%20-%20Preview%20Settings.jpg (String Art Designer - Preview Settings)

You can set the preview options on the "Settings" -> "Preview" tab. Current options are:

Draw Shapes
Draw Pins
Draw Strings

The margin will always be shown in the preview.

Export Options

Select the "Export" tab to set the export options:

Include Shape Outlines - whether or not to print the shapes.
Include Pins - for string art designs you'll need to print the pins. However, if you want to print the image as geometric art, you don't need the pins
Include Margin Lines - Usually not needed, but it's available, just in case
Include Strings - Usually this will be included, but if you want to create 'pin art', you can omit the strings.
Project Name
File format - PNG, JPG or Transparent PNG

Export

To export your image, click the Export button at the bottom. This will use the current Export settings. You can select (or create) the folder where the file will be saved, and you can change the filename as well.

Preparing your images for use in Puzzle Maker Pro

To use images in Puzzle Maker Pro, they need to be stored on your computer in PNG or JPG format.

Puzzle Maker Pro will reduce the size of the images when they are too large, but will never increase the size. Increasing may result in blurred lines or edges, reducing the quality of your puzzles.

In most cases images can be quite small, this depends on the puzzle size and puzzle type you are using.

The puzzle type defines how many images will be put next to each other horizontally or vertically. For example, Sudoku 9x9 will use 9 images horizontally and 9 images vertically. Sudoku Kids Edition will use 4 or 6 images in each row or column.

A quick example: Let's say you create a Sudoku 9x9 puzzle, the puzzle size is set to 1800 pixels. 1800 pixels at 300 DPI means a puzzle size of 6".

Since there can be 9 images in a row or column, we can easily calculate the minimum size for each image: 1800 divided by 9 is 200. That means the images you use can be as small as 200 x 200 pixels, and still create a fairly large puzzle.

Another example: A Sudoku Samurai puzzle has 21 x 21 squares. If we create a puzzle of 2100 pixels (7" x 7" at 300 DPI), each square will be 100 x 100 pixels. Which is also the size at which your images will be printed in the puzzle.

Note 1: The puzzle sizes in the examples were chosen to make the calculations easy. However, if you will use the puzzles in a puzzle book - for example on KDP - you'll still be limited by the available trim sizes. Even for a large 8.5"x11" puzzle book, the maximum width for the page content is only 7.5", if you use 0.5" margins. 7.5" equalis 2250 pixels at 300 DPI.

Note 2: Even though Puzzle Maker Pro will resize the images to make them fit in smaller squares, this will take processing time. In other words, creating puzzles and puzzle pages will take longer if large files have to be imported and resized to fit.

How to use your images in Puzzle Maker Pro

There are two ways to select the images you want to use:

Click the little image panel to open a file selection window (the same 'dialog' you'll see in most other Windows apps), and select the file you want to use for that panel;
Use drag and drop to select multiple images at once.

How to use drag and drop to import your images to Puzzle Maker Pro

It's easy to use your own images: Just drag the images from your file explorer, and drop them onto one of the little image panels (where the domino tiles are shown).

You can select one or more images, click the left mouse button on one of them, and then move the mouse (while keeping the button pressed) to these little image panels, and let go of the mouse button. The images will be used, for one or more panels, starting at the panel you pointed at.

Question 7

How to Set Colors and Font Options with Puzzle Maker Pro

Accepted Answer

This tutorial shows how to use the Color Selection options and the Font Options in Puzzle Maker Pro. The Font options are not yet available for every single module at the moment of writing.

Color Selection

In Puzzle Maker Pro you can set the canvas, line and font color for most puzzles using a little rectangle, like the one shown here:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ns1DnajCgp/Color%20Selection%20Options.jpg (Color Selection Options.jpg)

You can set the color in several ways:

Add the color RGB code in either decimal or hexadecimal numbers. This allows you to match the colors exactly to other illustrations or style options
Add or edit the color by setting the HSL numbers (Hue, Saturation, Lightness)
Click the rainbow panel (or the black or the white panel on top of it). Clicking the rainbow panel will change the two panels below it to match the selected color
Click the Saturation panel. This is the middle panel, which shows colors from totally gray (unsaturated) to bright blue (fully saturated)
Click the Lumination panel. This is the bottom panel, and shows colors from white to blue to black
You can also click the "Windows Color Picker" button, this allows you to use the standard Windows Color picker to select or edit colors
Click "Use" to use the selected color.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ulL8O24x8S/Windows%20Color%20Picker.jpg (Windows Color Picker.jpg)

Font Options

In most cases, whenever there's a font to be used in a puzzle, you'll see a font preview panel, that shows the current font, and allows you to select a different font:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/27b9z2HXAq/Font%20Preview%20Panel.jpg (Font Preview Panel.jpg)

Clicking on the white area or on the looking glass button will display the Font Setup window:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/yNvF8ZoU5t/Font%20Setup%20Options.jpg (Font Setup Options.jpg)

This window has several options. (Due to ongoing updates and additions, some options may not be used yet for certain puzzles. Please let me know (with a helpdesk ticket) whenever there's something that you need that doesn't work yet.

Changes will be immediately reflected in the preview panel at the right.

From top to bottom:

Font Selection dropdown menu - you can select a font from the list, or use the built-in font browser to see previews of all the fonts, by clicking the looking glass button
Font Color - set the color for the font, using the Color Selection Dialog
Bold - May set the font type to Bold
Letter Case - This will let the letters unchanged, or force Uppercase or Lowercase use in the puzzle
Relative Font Size - By default the font will be sized proportionally to the squares or shapes in the puzzle, leaving enough margin at the top, bottom and sides. However, you can use this slider to make the font larger or smaller
Move Horizontally / Vertically - Allows you to position the letters in the squares. You may need this when changing from lowercase to uppercase (uppercase letters are all positioned above the font baseline, which may look strange in a puzzle). Also, many free fonts are not scaled or aligned properly, and you can use these settings to correct that

Built-in Font Browser

In most Puzzle Maker Pro modules (except the oldest ones), you can also use the built-in Font Browser to preview and select a font.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/AFYO3NRioX/Built-in%20Font%20Browser.jpg (Built-in Font Browser.jpg)

Here you can see a number of fonts at once. You can:

Use the Search field to type a part of a font name
Use the font list at the left, and the scroll bar, to quickly move around in the list of fonts
Use the grid Size options at the lower left to change how many fonts are shown in the grid at the right
Use the little looking glass icon for each font to open a larger zoomable preview of the font
Use the little check mark for a font to select and use that font

Note: The Font Browser is also available as a separate purchase, which doesn't require Puzzle Maker Pro

Question 8

How to Set Up Puzzles and Solutions for Easy Puzzle Books (plugin for Powerpoint)

Accepted Answer

This tutorial shows how to set up your puzzles and solutions to create a puzzle book with Easy Puzzle Books.

Puzzles and Solutions

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/HQSKL5ABpv/Easy%20Puzzle%20Books%20-%20004%20Select%20Puzzles%20-%20Blank.jpg (Easy Puzzle Books - 004 Select Puzzles - Blank.jpg)

The screenshot shows the empty Puzzle Files window. This is what it will usually look like when you start, unless you have used a preset already.

You can click "Add Puzzles" to add puzzles, and "Add Solutions" to add solutions. Pretty easy, right?

The puzzles and solutions will be displayed in the list. Especially for the first few puzzle books, it makes sense to verify that the proper puzzles and solutions are matched.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/TozOU08WIX/Easy%20Puzzle%20Books%20-%20005%20Select%20Puzzles%20-%20Details.jpg (Easy Puzzle Books - 005 Select Puzzles - Details.jpg)

In this screenshot you can see that a number of puzzles and solutions have been selected. Each line contains < P>: showing the puzzle file name, and < S>: showing the solution file name. When you click on each line, a message box will show you the full path for the puzzle and solution.

Note: When you use presets, you'll get a warning "File Not Found", if your list of puzzle files contains files that cannot be found. For example when you've deleted the files or moved them to a different location.

For Automatic book creation, you can skip the next two paragraphs.

Titles

Select the "Titles" tab to see more information:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/nA1gAdP70G/Easy%20Puzzle%20Books%20-%20006%20Select%20Puzzles%20-%20Title%20Auto.jpg (Easy Puzzle Books - 006 Select Puzzles - Title Auto.jpg)

You can edit the Puzzle Title, Solution Title and Number Symbol here. For Automatic book creation, these settings will be identical to the settings in Step 4. For Manual book creation, this is where you should edit the settings.

In the screenshot, the lower part of the window is greyed out. This is what it looks like when you open this window from the "Auto" tab.

Placeholders for Manual Grid Creation

Please read the Manual Puzzle Books tutorial first, otherwise these settings will not make sense.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/uTw4dNJq3i/Easy%20Puzzle%20Books%20-%20007%20Select%20Puzzles%20-%20Titles%20Manual.jpg (Easy Puzzle Books - 007 Select Puzzles - Titles Manual.jpg)

For Manual Puzzle Books creation, you'll first create one or more Powerpoint slides with placeholders for the puzzles, puzzle titles, solutions and solution titles.

This will allow you to create a nice layout, changing positions, sizes, fonts, colors, etc. In the grid, you'll see (or use) names like {Puzzle Title 1}, {Solution 3}, and so on.

These codes - "Placeholders" - are needed to tell the plugin which titles and puzzles belong together. Once the copy and replace process begins, it will replace {Puzzle Title 1} with "Puzzle ##", and replace "##" with the current puzzle number.

For Easy Puzzle Books, it's not really important what these names are, as long as they not identical, and there's a number included. Therefore it's best not to change the settings.

For Mixed Puzzle Books Pro, these placeholders should be unique, to separate the different puzzle sets in your puzzle book.

Question 9

How to Set Up Puzzles and Solutions for Mixed Puzzle Books (plugin for Powerpoint)

Accepted Answer

This tutorial shows how to set up your puzzles and solutions to create a puzzle book with Mixed Puzzle Books Plugin for Powerpoint.

Puzzle Sets

For the Mixed Puzzle Books plugin for Powerpoint, we use the term Puzzle Set to indicate a set of puzzles and solutions that can be used to fill a single spot on the page of a puzzle book.

In the example we will be using four different types of mazes as four puzzle sets. However, it's totally up to you. If you would want to have a set of mazes and a set of sudokus, that would work too.

When you click "Select Puzzles", you'll see a empty list of puzzle sets, like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/rILtQ3FOee/Mixed%20Puzzle%20Books%20010%20Puzzle%20Sets.jpg (Mixed Puzzle Books 010 Puzzle Sets.jpg)

This may look intimidating, but it just means you haven't selected any puzzles yet.

To start, click "Add New" (1) to create a new puzzle set.

You can also save the entire list of puzzle sets as a preset (2). It's important to do this when you cannot finishe the book in one session, because Powerpoint will NOT save the plugin data with the Powerpoint file. you'll need to do this manually.

In the next screenshot you can see the puzzle sets we use for this tutorial: Four different types of mazes, 50 of each.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/6M6AAdlc7W/Mixed%20Puzzle%20Books%20011%20Puzzle%20Sets%20Example.jpg (Mixed Puzzle Books 011 Puzzle Sets Example.jpg)

When you click "Add New" or "Edit" (if you have a puzzle set selected), you can edit the puzzles and solutions.

Note: There's no built-in limit to the number of puzzles or puzzle sets you can use.

Puzzles and Solutions

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/HQSKL5ABpv/Easy%20Puzzle%20Books%20-%20004%20Select%20Puzzles%20-%20Blank.jpg (Easy Puzzle Books - 004 Select Puzzles - Blank.jpg)

The screenshot shows the empty Puzzle Files window. This is what it will usually look like when you start, unless you have used a preset already.

For Mixed Puzzle Books, it's important that you enter a meaningful name. That way it will make sense in the list of puzzle sets.

You can click "Add Puzzles" to add puzzles, and "Add Solutions" to add solutions. Pretty easy, isn't it?

The puzzles and solutions will be displayed in the list. Especially for the first few puzzle books, it makes sense to verify that the proper puzzles and solutions are matched.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/TozOU08WIX/Easy%20Puzzle%20Books%20-%20005%20Select%20Puzzles%20-%20Details.jpg (Easy Puzzle Books - 005 Select Puzzles - Details.jpg)

In this screenshot you can see that a number of puzzles and solutions have been selected. Each line contains < P>: showing the puzzle file name, and < S>: showing the solution file name. When you click on each line, a message box will show you the full path for the puzzle and solution.

Note: When you use presets, you'll get a warning "File Not Found", if your list of puzzle files contains files that cannot be found. For example when you've deleted the files or moved them to a different location.

Titles

Select the "Titles" tab to see more information:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/nA1gAdP70G/Easy%20Puzzle%20Books%20-%20006%20Select%20Puzzles%20-%20Title%20Auto.jpg (Easy Puzzle Books - 006 Select Puzzles - Title Auto.jpg)

For Mixed Puzzle Books, you can set up different titles for different puzzles. For example "Puzzle ## - Sudoku" instead of just "Puzzle ##".

You can edit the Puzzle Title, Solution Title and Number Symbol here. These settings are part of the preset for the puzzles (if you choose to save a preset).

In the screenshot, the lower part of the window is greyed out. This is not used for Mixed Puzzle Books.

Question 10

How to set up the Page Format in Easy Journals or Easy Puzzle Books

Accepted Answer

This tutorial explains the Page Setup options for Easy Journals and Easy Puzzle Books (plugins for Powerpoint).

Overview

Trim Size is the official term for the size of your book. When you create books for Amazon / KDP, you can use a fixed number of trim sizes, when you create printables, it's best to stick with a common printer paper format in your country (e.g. Letter for the USA, A4 for Europe).

It takes a couple of steps to set the right Trim Size in Powerpoint, and it actually has a different name, because originally Powerpoint was not intended for books.

The "Page Setup" tab can be found in the Easy Journals plugin and in the Easy Puzzle Books plugin.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/cy3o11TTbK/Easy%20Puzzle%20Books%20030%20-%20Page%20Setup.jpg (Easy Puzzle Books 030 - Page Setup (1).jpg)

Trim Size

You can set the trim size in inches. Click "Set" and it will be applied to your current Powerpoint file immediately.

Margins

Powerpoint doesn't support page margins (because it's created for presentations, not pages), however it does support guides... the dotted lines that help you to align shapes and text.

You can use the Page Setup to add lines for your margins: Set the proper margins in inches, and click "Add Guides".

Note: these margins have a specific color, that will help the Page Setup to remove / replace them when you change the trim size.

Presets

When you've set up the trim size and margins, you can reuse these settings by saving them as a preset (at the top, just below "Page Setup". You can also load presets.

Get from Powerpoint

A final option on this page is "Get Current", which will retrieve the current page format from Powerpoint (the slide height and width), and update the Trim Size settings. This can help you if you're not completely sure wether you set the Powerpoint size to 8"x10" or 8.5"x11".

FAQs directory

How to get the most out of Puzzle Maker Pro - Letter Code Search

How to get the most out of Puzzle Maker Pro - Number Search

How to Limit the number of words in a Word Search puzzle

How to Preview and Export in Geometric String Art Designer

How to Save your pattern in multiple sizes in POD Graphics Maker

How to select images for your puzzles in Puzzle Maker Pro?

How to Set Colors and Font Options with Puzzle Maker Pro

How to Set Up Puzzles and Solutions for Easy Puzzle Books (plugin for Powerpoint)

How to Set Up Puzzles and Solutions for Mixed Puzzle Books (plugin for Powerpoint)

How to set up the Page Format in Easy Journals or Easy Puzzle Books