Q: Is there a demo version of BookPublisherTools software available?

You can get the demo version for Puzzle Maker Pro here . The demo version includes all puzzle modules, but will create watermarked puzzles. For other products, please contact our helpdesk to get a temporary license for testing.

Question 1

Can I get an overview of what Puzzle Maker Pro can do for me?

Accepted Answer

This is a short overview video of the features and functions of Puzzle Maker Pro.

Question 2

How to use the Layout Options in Time Saver

Accepted Answer

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)

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:

Question 3

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"

Question 4

Puzzle Maker Pro - Tutorial Overview

Accepted Answer

#Puzzle Maker Pro Tutorials

Getting Started

Puzzle Maker Pro - Getting Started

Puzzle Maker Pro Tabs

Output Settings - Puzzle Files

Output Settings - Additional Output

Output Settings - Page format

Page Layout

Time Saver

Tools

Puzzle Specific Tutorials

Generic FAQ's

Drag and Drop Images

Color and Font Selection

Mask Editor

Question 5

Getting Started with Puzzle Maker Pro

Accepted Answer

#Introduction to Puzzle Maker Pro

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

#Puzzle Maker Pro - Main window.

In this case Sudoku is shown, but if you have bought a different puzzle module, you might just as well see a word search or maze puzzle.

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:

##1 Puzzle Selection

Just above the dropdown menu you'll see the version number Puzzle Maker Pro, in this case v1.9.2.5. In case of support requests or other questions, it's usually helpful to mention the version.

If anything goes wrong, you can contact the helpdesk at: Helpdesk.

##2 Tutorial and About

The "About" button opens the About window. You'll need this to retrieve the license for Puzzle Maker Pro: Licensed 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 purchased. You can do that in the About window.

##3 Puzzle Settings

Here you'll find options that completely determine how your puzzle will be generated and what it will look like.

Next to "Puzzle Settings" you can see a number of other tabs. We'll discuss those later.

##4 Puzzle Preview panel

You can use the mouse-wheel to zoom in or out, to look at details.

##5 Create and Preview

"Create" will create and save puzzles for you. This will include the puzzle, the solution, additional files (such as 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.

##6 Preview Solution

#Press Preview

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

Question 6

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

Accepted Answer

You can easily create word search puzzles with numbers, using Puzzle Maker Pro - 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:

These numbers will be used to fill the grid with digits. You can click preview to see the result, and you may notice that the empty squares still contain letters. (Not visible in the screenshot). Step 2 will fix this.

Step 2 - Enter the numbers for the empty squares

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

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.

Question 7

How to Add Page Numbers to Powerpoint Puzzle Books?

Accepted Answer

This short video tutorial will show you how to add page numbers to the master slides in Powerpoint. Besides page numbers you can use these master slides to add any kind of content you like.

Question 8

How can I change the Title Text for puzzles and solutions?

Accepted Answer

You can set your own titles for puzzles and solutions, which will be used in the additional output. One of the uses for this is for books in other languages than English.

You can type your own text for the Puzzle Title and Solution Title. By default, the hashtag symbol will be replaced with the puzzle number. If you want to use the hashtag symbol in your title, for example to print "Puzzle #13", you can set the 'Placeholder' to '@', and the title to "Puzzle #@".

Question 9

Is there a demo version of BookPublisherTools software available?

Accepted Answer

You can get the demo version for Puzzle Maker Pro here. The demo version includes all puzzle modules, but will create watermarked puzzles.

For other products, please contact our helpdesk to get a temporary license for testing.

Question 10

How to create shaped mazes from silhouette images

Accepted Answer

This video tutorial will show you how to create a shaped maze.