Question 1

How to use the CSV Splitter in Puzzle Maker Pro

Accepted Answer

You can find the CSV Splitter in the "Tools" menu in Puzzle Maker Pro.

This is a simple tool to split certain CSV styles into separate text files. You may have created these CSV files for use in other software, or simply because you've been collecting your words and word lists in Excel.

A CSV file is a simple text file format where the different words are split by commas. CSV literally means: Comma Separated Variable-length.

There are two different styles supported by the CSV Splitter:

Word Lists in Columns

Each column (in Excel) has a title for the word list, and a list of words below it, for example:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/EzwY8uF3gZ/CSV%20Example%201.png (CSV Example 1)

In Excel, Export to CSV by selecting File -> Save As, and then select CSV (comma delimited). In Puzzle Maker Pro select Tools -> "CSV Splitter (Columns to Files)" and select the file you want to split.

After processing, Puzzle Maker Pro will automatically open the folder with the newly generated txt files, that are ready for use in the Word puzzle or Word Search modules in Puzzle Maker Pro.

Word Lists in Rows

Each Row (in Excel) has a title for the word list, and a list of words to its right, for example:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/NXk24jyjH1/CSV%20Example%202.png (CSV Example 1)

In Excel, Export to CSV by selecting File -> Save As, and then select CSV (comma delimited). In Puzzle Maker Pro select Tools -> "CSV Splitter (Rows to Files)" and select the file you want to split.

After processing, Puzzle Maker Pro will automatically open the folder with the newly generated txt files, that are ready for use in the Word puzzle or Word Search modules in Puzzle Maker Pro.

Question 2

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

To use the Time Saver, you have to click the "Use Time Saver" option, to let Puzzle Maker Pro know what you want to create. The button "Create" [8] will then change into "Create (TS)"
Set the Rows and Columns setting for your puzzles. By default it's set to 6 by 5, but you can use different sizes to change the complexity of the puzzle, or to accomodate shorter or longer words. (This value will be used in each row when you click "Select/Add Word Lists")
Set the number of puzzles or choose Unlimited to use the entire word list. (This value will be used in each row when you click "Select/Add Word Lists")
Select word lists to use for your puzzles. Each word list should be TXT file, as described in the Letterbox tutorial. You can select multiple files at once.
After selecting word lists, rows will be added to the table. You can edit the Rows, Columns, Quantity and Unlimited settings for each word list
If you selected too many files, you can delete rows from the table
Optionally you can randomize the word order for each file, to create puzzles in a different order each time you use the same word list
Create all the puzzles and optionally the Instant Puzzle Book.

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)

Puzzle Maker Pro - Time Saver for Word Puzzles

This Time Saver is still being beta tested. An upgrade is expected ultimately on June 1st 2023.

Time Saver Basics

Word File Processing

Combining Word Lists

Layout Options (Instant Puzzle Books)

Puzzle Maker Pro - Word Scramble

This tutorial applies to Word Scramble

The add-on "Time Saver for Word Puzzles" adds additional options for puzzle generation and Instant Puzzle Book layout.

Word Scramble Explained

Word Scramble is a word puzzle, where the letters of each words are randomly switched. It's also known as Anagrams.

In Puzzle Maker Pro - Word Scramble, there are some basic rules that are applied for scrambling words and phrases:

Letters in a word are switched, but all the letters will be used. For example: Sudoku may result in UUOKDS,
Each word in a phrase is scrambled separately, the letters of the different words are not mixed,
Spaces, punctuation marks and other special characters are not scrambled,
Currently the module works with the standard English alphabet (A to Z).

Word Scramble Overview

To use Word Scramble, select the puzzle type in the drop down menu, or in the regular menu.

Word Scramble Overview

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/k7jaTSc3Th/Word%20Scramble%20Overview.png (Word Scramble Overview)

When you select this puzzle type for the first time, a default list of words is shown, and the preview shows an image using the first word.

In addition to the 'basic' word scramble functionality this module has quite a few options:

Generating Word Scrambles

The total number of Word Scrambles can be set ("Quantity"), or you can use the entire word list ("Entire List").

When generating Word Scrambles, and when generating a new preview (click Next Preview), a meme style image is shown as a preview. You can configure and style these images using the Images/Meme tab.

Hoewever, for Instant Puzzle Books, the images are not used, but instead the text output is used. That means you do not need to create the image output for your Instant Puzzle Books.

The text output consists of a TXT file and a CSV file, see also "Text Output for Word Puzzles". The CSV file can (for example) be used in Canva Pro to quickly generate images (in addition to the built-in Images/Memes option).

A default layout for Instant Puzzle Books will be used (just click "Create" to see this). With the Time Saver add-on, you can adjust the layout, using columns and customize other layout options.

Styling

Styling the puzzles and puzzle books for Word Scramble can be configured in several places:

Font Styling - The selected font will be used for the Images/Memes and for Instant Puzzle Books.
Image/Meme Styling - this can be set on the Images/Memes tab (see also: How to create Images/Memes for Word Puzzles)
Instant Puzzle Books - Styling and layout options for Instant Puzzle Books can be customized using the Time Saver options. If you don't have the Time Saver, default options will be used.

Font Styling

You can customize the font by clicking the white panel (or the looking glass icon) in the Font Settings area. You can set both the font and the font color.

For the Instant Puzzle Books you can set the exact font size.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/umTwRURKAG/Fixed%20Font%20Size.png (Fixed Font Size)

For Images/Memes the font size is determined automatically, since this will vary depending on the image size (the number of pixels).

Wordoku Products

This tutorial applies to Puzzle Maker Pro - Wordoku and Puzzle Maker - Pro Variations

Overview

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/tOIAGJDNAD/Wordoku%20Overview%20Screenshot%20Steps.jpg (Wordoku Overview Screenshot Steps.jpg)

The screenshot shows the starting view when you switch to Wordoku in Puzzle Maker Pro:

The Puzzle Type shows whether or not you have a license for Wordoku. You can find details on the Info tab (4)
Wordoku comes in several sizes. The default size is 9x9, based on the regular 9x9 Sudoku grid. If you have the Wordoku Variations module, you can also choose 4x4, 6x6 and 8x8 grids, for 4, 6 and 8 letter words.
Difficulty Levels: these depend on the grid size, and have been derived from the regular sudoku difficulty levels that are used in our Sudoku modules. Please note that wordoku puzzles are actually a bit easier, because you can also guess the word itself. (For example, if you have N . . D, and the remaining letters are E and R, you can 'guess' the word NERD. This is not possible in regular sudoku puzzles.
Wordoku tabs: Word List, Word Styling, Grid Styling and Info. The Info tab displays the licenses and options you have available.
The word list / word list file selection (see below)
Buttons to Create puzzles or create a Next Preview. "Create" will create and save puzzles for each word in the word list. "Next Preview" creates one single puzzle and displays it in the Preview panel (7). This enables you to test styling and other settings before actually creating puzzles. To switch between puzzle and solution preview, check/uncheck the "Preview Solution" box at the bottom right.

Word List Options

You can either type a list of words, or select "Word List File" and select a file that has a list of words. The latter makes it easier to reuse word lists.

The word list should be created as a plain text file with extension .txt (for example with notepad). Copying a list of words from MS Excel or MS Word may work, but it's best to verify that no additional characters (tabs etc) are included
Each word should only have different letters, otherwise it will be skipped when puzzles are generated
Each word should be on a separate line, and have the right number of letters (4, 6, 8 or 9, depending on the Wordoku size)
Optionally you can add a puzzle title, which should be separated from the word by a colon ":". For example "publisher:occupation". The word "publisher" will be used for the puzzle. "occupation" will be added to the title if you create an Instant Puzzle Book. (If you don't create Instant Puzzle Books, the additional word will not be used)
There will be a file "Skipped Words [date-time].txt in the Puzzles folder that has a list of words that could not be used for a puzzle.

Word Styling Options

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/eAj7feO9kM/Wordoku%20Word%20Position%20Screenshot.jpg (Wordoku Word Position Screenshot.jpg)

The Word Styling tab allows you to determine the position of the word in the puzzle, and to set up font and color of the word.

Word Location

You can choose whether the word should be placed Horizontally, Vertically or Randomly. You can also specify the exact position - which row or column to use. For "Random", there's a 50/50 chance of the word being placed horizontally or vertically, and the position (row/column) is also determined randomly.

Font and Color

You can change the font for the letters in the puzzle by clicking the white panel that shows the font preview (in the screenshot that's the Loveday font. You can change the font, the font color, and also change the positioning (vertically and horizontally). Changing the position may be needed because not all fonts are centered on the baseline properly. Additionally, the position may appear off when you use uppercase instead of lowercase.

Grid Styling Options

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/tO1M7pHL44/Wordoku%20Canvas%20and%20Line%20Colors.jpg (Wordoku Canvas and Line Colors.jpg)

The Grid Styling tab allows you to set the canvas color (cell background), and the width (weight) and color for the different lines:

Cell Border: the line around each single cell / square / letter
Region Border: the line around the 3x3 box / region (or 2x2, 2x3 or 2x4 box)
Outer Border: the thicker lines around the entire puzzle

How to use the CSV Splitter in Puzzle Maker Pro

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

Getting Started with Puzzle Maker Pro - Letterbox

How to use the Time Saver for Word Puzzles

How to create Word Scramble puzzles with Puzzle Maker Pro

How to get started with Puzzle Maker Pro - Wordoku