Question 1

How can I set the font for puzzle books?

Accepted Answer

This tutorial shows the steps to set the font for the puzzle titles and solution titles in your puzzle books.

By default, these puzzle and solution titles will be created with the font Arial. In most cases that should be fine, and Puzzle Maker Pro has been optimized to use this font.

However, starting at version 11.1, you can now use other fonts as well.

Choosing the font you want

Go to the Instant Puzzle Books tab and select the Titles Setup tab. There you'll see a Title Font Settings section.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/TvOo58GsO8/Title%20Font%20Selection%201.jpg (Title Font Selection 1.jpg)

Here you see the standard font preview panel that's also used in other places in Puzzle Maker Pro. You can click the white panel or click the small finder icon to go to the font setup panel.

For the puzzles and solutions titles, only the font will be used. Color and positioning settings are ignored.

Once you select a font and click OK, the font file name will be shown. In the screenshot you can see "Arial.ttf". That means everything is setup and you can create your puzzle book.

Manually selecting the font file for PDF output

In some cases, Puzzle Maker Pro will not be able to automatically find the proper font file. In those cases you'll see something like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/R909dAIjtt/Title%20Font%20Selection%202.jpg (Title Font Selection 2.jpg)

That means you'll have to locate the font file manually. (Without a font file, PDF's will use Arial, while Powerpoint will still use the font you selected).

You can click the "Manual Search" button, which will open the fonts folder on your computer:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ufgZm7SIPe/Title%20Font%20Selection%203.jpg (Title Font Selection 3.jpg)

The name of the font is prefilled in the Filename area. In the example you can see two files for that font family. The actual number of files you'll find will depend on the font you selected (obviously).

Note: Even though there appears to be a folder "\Windows\Fonts" on your computer, that's a virtual folder. The files you see there cannot be embedded in a PDF, that's why by default the Fonts folder in AppData is opened.

After selecting the font file, you'll see something like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/W84OSCVQ0i/Title%20Font%20Selection%204.jpg (Title Font Selection 4.jpg)

That means the font setup is complete.

Note: Puzzle Maker Pro will do its job even if you select a completely different font file. However, the results may not be what you expected.

Question 2

Can I use Arial (font) in my puzzle books?

Accepted Answer

Puzzle Maker Pro selects Arial as the default font to use for puzzles and puzzle books. A very relevant question is: Can you sell puzzle books where you use Arial to print all the letters and numbers?

Microsoft has a F.A.Q. section about this: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/fonts/font-faq.

Long story short: You can use Arial in your puzzle books "Unless you are using an application that is specifically licensed for home, student, or non-commercial use, we do not restrict you from selling the things you print and make using the Windows-supplied fonts"

If you choose to use another font, always check with the creator of the font (Microsoft, for most standard fonts) if you have the right to publish books with this font.

Question 3

How Can I Change the Styling for Puzzle Maker Pro - Jigsaw puzzles?

Accepted Answer

Welcome to the tutorial for styling your Jigsaw puzzles made with Puzzle Maker Pro - Jigsaw. The techniques shown in this tutorial apply to all versions of Jigsaw.

For Jigsaw puzzles, the following styling options are available:

Font Styling for Coordinates
Line Width and Color
Help Lines in the puzzle pieces.

Font Styling

You can choose any (TrueType) font on your computer for the printed coordinates. Just click the white area that has the font name (by default "Arial", in this screenshot "Artless") and the Font Setup window will be shown, where you can configure and preview the font settings.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/1PQPuu1YAz/Jigsaw%20015%20-%20Font%20Styling.png (Jigsaw 015 - Font Styling.png)

Remember that not all fonts are free to use in commercial works. We have a separate tutorial to find out if you can legally use your font.

Line Width and Color

You can set the Line Width and Color for the puzzle and solution, and separately for the puzzle pieces. That way you can choose for thicker lines if the puzzle pieces are intended to be cut out.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/zGokAZ8tVW/Jigsaw%20016%20-%20Line%20Styling.png (Jigsaw 016 - Line Styling.png)

Help Lines

In addition to the puzzle piece border lines, you can also add Help Lines. These will help children (or adults) to draw parts of the puzzle piece in the right location. This can be especially helpful if you have puzzle pieces with lots of details. The next screenshot shows an example. The purple color for the Help Lines was chosen to contrast with the bright colors.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/XFp9E9y0aY/Jigsaw%20017%20-%20Help%20Lines.png (Jigsaw 017 - Help Lines.png)