Question 1

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

Accepted Answer

Welcome to the tutorial on how to limit the amount of words in Puzzle Maker Pro Word Search.

These options are available in all versions of Word Search.

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.

How to set up the page layout for your puzzle pages

For most puzzles the general layouts will be used. For Word Search there are special layout settings, which are discussed below.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ZDnAQQ5qAf/PMP%20-%20General%20-%20Page%20Layout.png (Puzzle Maker Pro Page Layouts for Puzzle Pages)

Collate setting: You can choose to print each solution directly with the puzzle (option A), or to print all the puzzles first and the solutions after. For collation option A, the number of puzzles on a page needs to be identical to the number of solutions on a page;
Puzzles Layout: You can select the layout you need, ranging from 1 puzzle on a page, up to 12 puzzles on a page. (The exact number of layouts may be different from the screenshot, since we add additional options on demand)
Solutions Layout: This works the same as the Puzzles layout, and sets how the solutions will be printed on output pages. For both the Puzzle and the Solution layout, you can click the little circle next to the number, or click the miniature layout symbol, to select a layout style.

How to set up the page layout for your Word Search puzzle pages

Word Search puzzles consist of a puzzle and a word list, requiring a different layout than, for example, mazes or sudokus.

You can choose from several page layouts for your Word Search puzzle pages:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/znLP52ae8X/PMP%20-%20Word%20Search%20-%20Page%20Layout.png (Puzzle Maker Pro Page Layouts for Word Search Puzzle Pages)

Choosing a layout style works just like the general layouts. As you can see in the miniatures, you can choose several placements for the puzzle and the word list
You can set the ratio between puzzle and word list. This can be adjusted manually to create a better visual result. By default, the puzzle gets 75% (3/4) of the available space, the word list gets 25% (1/4). For long word lists you can either change the number of columns, or this space ratio;
To get a little bit of variety, you can choose to mirror the pages. Each left page will get the selected layout, the right page will get a mirrored layout;
Word Columns: The number of columns to print the word list in. Together with the other options, you can use this to create well-designed puzzle pages.

Question 3

How to add background images to my puzzles in Puzzle Maker Pro?

Accepted Answer

This tutorial describes how to add background images to your puzzles in Puzzle Maker Pro. This feature is only available when you have the Time Saver Add-on for the puzzle type you're creating.

Choosing Background Images

You can find the Background Images setup on the "Output Settings" tab, then look for the "Background Images" tab.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/hoFkzwiNiV/Background%20Images%20Overview.png (Background Images Overview)

Click "Select Files" to select one or more files on your computer. Click "Clear List" to start over. A list of selected images be shown at the right
If the image is too large or too small for your puzzle size, you can choose to Zoom the image to a fitting size
If the image does not have the same proportions (relative width and height) as the puzzle size, you can change the alignment settings as well
Set the transparency for the image

The result can look like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/97i6pargNi/Background%20Image%20Zoom%20Gray.png (Background Image Zoom Gray)

Puzzle Settings

Depending on the puzzle type, you may need to change the color settings. For example, with Mazes, if you have set a fill color (or floor color) for the cells or squares, these will print over the background image. Set these fill colors to Transparent to show the background images.

Zoom and Alignment

If the image is larger or has different proportions than your puzzle type, you may need to check the Zoom option.

For example, if the result looks like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/OJl9T5mNTo/Background%20Image%20No%20Zoom%20Black.png (Background Image No Zoom Black)

For abstract images it may be fine to show only a part of the image though (that's why the Zoom is an option)

If the image has different proportions than the puzzle, for example the puzzle is 1000x1000 pixels and the image is 1500x500, you can use the alignment options to choose where the image will be printed.

Transparency

With the transparency option, you can use colorful or black images and make them look a bit softer. For example, an image like this would ruin the puzzle, because you cannot write numbers in the squares that are completely black.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/OfFWGCfPnz/Background%20Image%20Zoom%20Black.png (Background Image Zoom Black)

By making the image more transparent (e.g. 70-80% transparent), it creates the illusion of a shadow, creating a better looking puzzle:

Question 4

How to create Word Search puzzles

Accepted Answer

This video tutorial will show you how to create Word Search puzzles using Puzzle Maker Pro.

Question 5

Word Puzzle Output

Accepted Answer

This tutorial explains the output options for Word Puzzles in Puzzle Maker Pro.

This tutorial applies to:

When you generate puzzles (by clicking "Create") several files will be created in your project folder:

TXT file (plain text) in the 'Puzzles' subfolder
CSV file (Comma Separated Variable-length file) in the 'Puzzles' subfolder
PMP file (Puzzle Maker Pro file for internal use) in the 'Meta' subfolder

Additionally there are some optional files:

TXT file output

The TXT file output consists of one line for each word or phrase, for example:

This file is for your own use, you can copy the words to other software, or not use it at all, if you create Instant Puzzle Books as well.

Encoded puzzle - the first part is the encoded puzzle, ending with "||"
Solution - after the "||" you see the solution, the original word
Description - if there was a description in the source words file (or a set title if you use word sets), this will be added after a colon ":". To use sets, see: Word List format for Word Puzzles

CSV file output

CSV is a standardized file format that can be used with many applications. The example above in CSV format would look like this:

You can import this file in Excel (or other spreadsheets), for example to use it with our Replicator software, and you can even import this file into Canva (with a Pro subscription) to quickly generate a batch of images. (Note: at the moment of writing, somehow the automatic import into Canva doesn't work properly, but as a work-around, manual import will work - Open the CSV file in Excel, then select all the rows / columns and past it in the manual bulk import area in Canva).

Layout Options for Time Saver

This tutorial presents a short overview of the Layout Options in Time Saver. Currently this feature is available in:

Time Saver for Sudoku

Using the Layout Options

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/rfFO6lmpgA/Layout%20Options%20for%20Time%20Saver%20Overview.jpg (Layout Options for Time Saver Overview)

Click "Show Layout Options" to show the Layout Options section. By default, the main Layout settings for Puzzle Maker Pro will be shown.

There are four different options:

Layout: the actual Page Layout for the puzzles. This can change for each row in the table with puzzles. The value shown at the top (in the Layout Options section) will be used when you add a new row
Collate: Print puzzles first, and solutions later
New Page for Section (Puzzle / Solution): start puzzles and/or solutions for the new puzzle type (row in the table) on a new page. This allows you to add pages, e.g. with a chapter heading or with a short tutorial for the puzzle type

Editing the Page Layout

The Layout will be shown as P:3x2, S3x2 or P/S:3x2. P stands for Puzzle pages, S for Solution pages. If you don't use collation, the code "P/S" will be used - in that case puzzles and solutions will be printed using the same layout.

To change the default layout (in the Layout Options section), click "Edit Layout". To change the layout for a single row in the table, click the cell containing the layout. (In the example that would be the last cell in each row, containing the text "P:3x2, S3x2".

This will display the window to edit the layout:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/3vMAnBq5Iv/Page%20Layout%20Setup.jpg (Page Layout Setup)

In this window you can set the layout for puzzle pages by setting the number of rows and columns on the page. A schematic image will update when you change the settings. If you use collation, you can also set the page layout for the solution pages.

Question 7

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

Simple Word File Format

For simple puzzles like Word Search, you can use a list of words without any embellishments. However, for the puzzles we call "Word Puzzles" - puzzles consisting of a single word, it's often needed to add a description or other information. Especially Word Guess puzzles are impossible to solve without a clue, and for Cryptograms it's usually required as well.

The easiest way to do that is to add a description for each word:

In this case the word and the description are separated by a colon (:).

This is sufficient for generating puzzles and creating an Instant Puzzle Book.

Extended Word File Format

There are additional options for the word files, that will help you to create better puzzle books or activity pages. These options are available when you use the Time Saver for Word Puzzles. Without this, you cannot use the automatic way of adding custom titles and descriptions, but you can still easily edit the created puzzle books.

The extended format:

For example:

Note: Without the Time Saver, the additional options #title and #description will be ignored.

Introduction

The time saver does exactly what it says on the tin: It saves you time. It does so by allowing you to batch create puzzles. You get less control over the details, but if you have your lists set up, you can create puzzles much faster than if you did it manually.

Sounds pretty nifty right? Let's switch to the Time-Saver tab, and see how it's done.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/3c06l0tQ5l/Time%20Saver%20Criss.jpg (Time Saver Criss)

Main Options

The main options are very similar to the style panel in the normal version. You can choose the font size. Here you can select a uniform font size for every puzzle, or a variable font size. It's automatically on variable. This way, if you create multiple criss cross puzzles with different sizes, it will automatically look for the optimal font size.

You can also select "One Size Fits All", where it uses the largest possible font size that fits in every puzzle. This can create funky looks if you're using multiple very different sizes, but it also creates a more uniform look in terms of font.

Third, you can select the fixed font size. Everything will be the font size you select. If you know how big your puzzles are, and what size font you're going to need, or if you are creating books for people with sight problems, you could want this. However, keep in mind that if your math is off, this can create very strange effects.

Next, you can select the puzzle alignment. Because it's near impossible to create puzzles that fit exactly within the grid size you chose, you can choose your own alignment for the puzzles. You can choose to have them all aligned at the top, the bottom, the middle, and if you want them aligned to the left side of the page, the right side, or, again, the middle. You can also choose to align the words with the puzzle.

Word List Options

Now for the fun part: Adding word lists! Add as many or as few word lists as you want (1).

Reminder: for this software, you want the word lists to have a colon in between the word and the description. As you can see in the starting screen of the crossword module, you want your word lists formatted like this:

BookPublisherTools: Popular software company

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/h7dt7oEZy5/time%20saver%20word%20lists.jpg (time saver word lists)

You can set if the word lists can be merged or not (3). If you have themed word lists and want to create themed puzzles, you probably don't want to mix them. However, if the puzzles do not have a theme, merging them can create more unique puzzles, which is good too.

You can also choose if a word can be re-used (2). Using auto or repeat, the wordlists will slowly be used, and words cannot be reused. With repeat, they can be reused.

Puzzle Control Options

Time for batch creation! This is the fun part of the time saver. You've done your prep work, now you can select how many puzzles you want, what the sizes of the puzzles are, you can load in presets, et cetera.

Simply change the quantity(1), select the size you want(2), and click "add" (3) to add them to the list of puzzles the software has to make.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/c4YWdAVw57/adding%20a%20puzzle.jpg (adding a puzzle)

If you've made presets for criss cross crosswords in the past, you can load those in too!

You can select which word lists each batch pulls from, or if it doesn't really matter and they can pull from everything here too, and you can change the amount of words that can be in each puzzle. Simply change those settings after you've added them to the list.

Then finally, you just click "Create (TS)" to generate all the puzzles! Don't forget to make sure you have "use Time Saver to generate puzzles" (located at the top of the screen) selected.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/9HWj6wUWdq/timesaver%20lists.jpg (timesaver lists)

Getting Started

This tutorial explains the steps to create puzzle books using Mixed 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 Mixed Puzzle Books comes in. (Fair warning: the Easy Puzzle Book plugins 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 "Mixed Puzzle Books".

Mixed Puzzle Books - Overview

If you have used the Easy Puzzle Books plugin for Powerpoint, please be aware that Mixed Puzzle Books is designed slightly differently.

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

Mixed Puzzle Books - All the options to create your puzzle book. This tutorial describes all the steps for automatic puzzle book creation, there's a separate "Manual Book Creation" tutorial that explains how to manually edit the layout;
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 4 steps to set up and create your puzzle book:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/sMpP6hL201/Mixed%20Puzzle%20Books%20001%20Overview.jpg (Mixed Puzzle Books 001 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.

There are two additional options:

"Start At" - The first puzzle number to use. In most cases this will be 1 (one), but if you want to create parts of a puzzle book to combine later, you can enter a different number here,
"Balance Puzzle Sets" - Use this option to make sure each page will contain an equal number of puzzles from each set. An example: if you have 4 sets of 50 puzzles and want to balance them, the four puzzles will be used in a random order. The order can be A-B-C-D C-A-B-D D-A-C-B, but it will never be A-A-B-C D-A-C-D.

Note: For Mixed Puzzle Books it makes sense to name the puzzle sets properly, to prevent making mistakes.

Note: If you select just one set of puzzles, Mixed Puzzle Books create books that are identical to Easy Puzzle Books output.

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: Create Puzzle Book

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

There are three options here:

Keep Aspect Ratio - If you use different types of puzzles, with different shapes, e.g. rectangles and squares, you want to keep the original size of the puzzle. By default, images are stretches to fit in the shapes of the grid. However, adjusting the size of each shape (based on the shape of the puzzle or solution) strongly affects the processing time;
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.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/L2NEj8vewb/Mixed%20Puzzle%20Books%20002%20Auto%20Filled%20Overview.jpg (Mixed Puzzle Books 002 Auto Filled Overview.jpg)

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/9o3nAexdjc/Mixed%20Puzzle%20Books%20003%20Example%20Powerpoint.jpg (Mixed Puzzle Books 003 Example Powerpoint.jpg)

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 just clear the puzzle sets and select different puzzles.

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.

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

How can I set the Page Layout in Puzzle Maker Pro?

How to add background images to my puzzles in Puzzle Maker Pro?

How to create Word Search puzzles

Word Puzzle Output

How to use the Layout Options in Time Saver

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

How to set up word lists for word puzzles

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

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