Question 1

How to create Reverse Word Search puzzles?

Accepted Answer

This tutorial shows how to create Reverse Word Search puzzles with Puzzle Maker Pro - Reverse Word Search.

This tutorial is for:

Puzzle Maker Pro - Reverse Word Search

What is Reverse Word Search

Reverse Word Search is a puzzle where a list of words must be placed in an almost empty grid, instead of Standard Word Search where you have to find words that are already placed in the grid.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/AvNQwkSm0O/0-20240925072051786-1-W-P.png (0-20240925072051786-1-W-P)

In this example you can see that some words are already placed in the grid. For each unplaced word, one or more letters will be shown. With each puzzle you also get the complete list of words for that puzzle, in this case:

Astonishing, Blessing, Compelling, Delight, Discovery, Dream, Energetic, Enrich, Exclusive, Ferocious, Hero, Life-Changing, Now, Overwhelm, Passion, Pleasure, Power, Quality, Renewal, Results, Sensational, Service, Sexy, Soul, Thriving, Transforming, Unlimited, Whole.

If you already know Puzzle Maker Pro - Standard Word Search, or Zig Zag Word Search, the options and features of this module will be familiar to you.

Set up the Word List

Every word puzzle starts with your word list. You can either type / copy the words, or select a txt file with the words. Each word should be on a separate line.

The screenshot shows that a word list file was selected, and also shows a preview of a puzzle and solution that were generated from the word list:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/yzP6rYhoLb/Reverse%20Word%20Search%20-%20Overview%201.png (Reverse Word Search - Overview 1)

Reverse Word Search Complexity

The complexity / difficulty of Reverse Word Search depends on several settings, such as:

The words in your word list
The size of the grid
The number of clues in the grid
The number of words that are already shown

The number of clues and the number of words can be set on the Advanced tab:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ntp6Scjq9B/Reverse%20Word%20Search%20-%20Overview%202%20Clues.png (Reverse Word Search - Overview 2 Clues)

There are five settings for the number of Clues:

Very Easy (1 clue for each 3 letters) - a 9 letter word will show 3 letters
Easy (1 clue for each 5 letters) - a 9 letter word will show 2 letters
Normal (1 clue for each 6 letters) - a 12 letter word will show 2 letters
Hard (1 clue for each word)
Very Hard (1 clue for each two words)

The letters will be selected randomly. Because of overlapping words, it's possible that more than the number of clues are shown for a specific word.

It's best to play with these options after setting the grid size and the word list, to determine which number of clues works best.

Puzzles for Kids

There are several features that allow you to create puzzles specifically for kids. Of course it starts with selecting a suitable word list and grid size. Additionally there are options for:

Limiting the number of diagonals
Switch off Reversed words
Kids Diagonal: An option to enforce that diagonal words are always printed from top left to bottom right.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/hmq0ZGymUO/Reverse%20Word%20Search%20-%2002%20Kids%20Diagonals.png (Reverse Word Search - 02 Kids Diagonals)

(The word list in this example is obviously not a great fit for younger kids, it's just used to demonstrate the Kid's Diagonal feature).

Solution Options

In contrast to Standard Word Search there are no options to set the 'noise' letters to fill the grid, since empty square will be shown as black squares. (Otherwise the puzzle would be unsolvable).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Jzq4h7531k/Reverse%20Word%20Search%20-%2005%20Solution%20Style.png (Reverse Word Search - 05 Solution Style)

You can set the style of the lines that indicate the words in the solution, along with the line color and thickness.

Puzzle Styling Options

You can customize the styling of the puzzle by selecting your own font (and font color) and setting the colors for the lines and squares. For Reverse Word Search Puzzles it's necessary to print the lines in the grid, otherwise it will become really hard to solve.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/6EG56rtVfv/Reverse%20Word%20Search%20-%2006%20Style.png (Reverse Word Search - 06 Style)

You can change the font by clicking on the white panel that shows the font name (it also shows the text "Click to Edit Font Settings").

Word List Styling Options

Additionally there are some options to control the way the word list is displayed in Instant Puzzle Books.

If your word list has hints / descriptions in addition to the words, you can choose to display those. That adds a significant bit of complexity. This feature can also be used to create language translation puzzles. (instead of just typing a word on each line, type the word and description, separated by a colon, like this "word:description")
Words can be aligned left, center or right.
Words can be sorted in several ways

Here's an example of a Reverse Word Search page in an Instant Puzzle Book (this example uses the Time Saver features):

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/1ddRcvonnD/Reverse%20Word%20Search%20-%2007%20Output%202%20Per%20Page.png (Reverse Word Search - 07 Output 2 Per Page)

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 3

How to use the Time Saver for Word Search (v2023.3.3 and newer)

Accepted Answer

This tutorial shows how to use the Time Saver for Word Search (v2023.3.3 and newer)

The tutorial applies to (both are required):

Introduction

With Puzzle Maker Pro version v2023.3.3, the Time Saver for Word Search has undergone significant changes. It now lets you combine multiple puzzle types in one single table (more about that later). This allows you to completely set up your puzzle book to look the way you want.

Using this Time Saver consists of 3 steps, before you click the "Create" button:

Set up the 'global' options for the puzzles and puzzle book,
Select the Word Lists you want to use in your puzzle book,
Configure the puzzles you want to generate and include in your puzzle book.

A good way of learning to use this version of the Time Saver is to play around with the word lists and puzzle configuration first. You can easily create 'test' puzzle books in Powerpoint or PDF format, to see the results of certain options, and delete these files when you're done.

Set up the Global Options

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/DoHTuPZd9K/Word%20Search%20TS2%20-%20Main%20Options%20Merge.png (Word Search TS2 - Main Options Merge (1).png)

First of all, you'll have to click the "Use Time Saver" checkbox at the top of the page to activate the Time Saver. The text for the "Create" button at the bottom will change into "Create (TS)".

Word List Use Options

The "Word List Use" options will override the similar options for the Word Search Puzzle Settings tab.

When you create several puzzles (for example, when you set quantity to 10), you can specify that words will only be used once (1). This means that you get a set of puzzles that don't use the same words. However, processing may stop when all words have been used.
Minimum Words for Final Puzzle will make sure there are enough words in the last puzzle, or it will stop generating puzzles. For example, if you have a list of 100 words, and the first two puzzles together use 85 words, you will not get a third puzzle, because there are only 15 words left for the puzzle.
"Stop when all words have been used" - In the previous example, you can order Time Saver to stop, so you get only 2 puzzles, or you can uncheck this options. In that case it will reset the word list and start over, with all words available for the next puzzle.
"Merge All Word Lists" (2) - If you specify more than 1 word list on the "Word Lists" tab, you may want to merge them into one large word list for all your puzzle. This allows you, for example, to use a Christmas themed word list, and a general word list together, so each puzzle will have some themed words and some words from the general list.

Layout Options

Word List Font Size
- With the default 'Variable Font Size' you may get a different font size for the different word lists, depending on the length of the words and the number of words. It's a matter of style choice whether you like this.
- You can also set it to "One Size Fits All". That will analyze all the word lists to find the largest font size that allows all the word lists to be printed in the available space.
- With "Fixed Font Size" you can explicitly specify the font size. With this option it makes sense to generate a test version of your book and check this manually: If you set the Font Size too large, some words may not be printed due to the available space the word lists.
Alignment - you can set the alignment of the puzzles in the available space. For example if you have one puzzle per page, with a trim size of 8.5" and 0.5" margins, that would leave 7.5" for the puzzle. Usually the height will then only be 4 or 5" (since the title and word list require some space as well), a square puzzle would be printed at a 5x5" size. You can set whether it should be aligned left, center or right. Additionally, you can 'force' Puzzle Maker Pro to align the word lists with the puzzle, to make the page look more compact.
In some cases, for example religious puzzle books, you may want to add a "Filtered Words" List. This is a list of words that should not appear in the puzzle by accident. (Please note: this will NOT filter words from the regular words list. If you use the word "homeowner" in a word list, and the word "meow" is in your filtered word list, the word "homeowner" can still appear in the puzzle!

Separate Word Lists

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/btqPiaMLWf/Word%20Search%20TS2%20-%20Main%20Options%20No%20Merge.png (Word Search TS2 - Main Options No Merge)

You can also choose to keep all word lists separate. In that case you can even use the word list file name as a title for the puzzle.

For example, if you have a word list "dinosaurs.txt", it can use the word "dinosaurs" as a title. When it results in several puzzles (e.g. quantity is set to 2 or higher), the puzzles will be numbered dinosaurs 1 and dinosaurs 2.

You can set up your own title format:

"Puzzle" is printed as is. You can type a different word here, or leave it out. For example for other languages you can change this.
"#" is the puzzle number. All puzzles in your book are numbered, unless you click "Don't Number the Puzzles".
%TITLE% is a placeholder that will be replaced with the name of the word file. The way this is set up in the screenshot could result in a puzzle title like "Puzzle 113 dinosaurs".

Select the Word Lists

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/KGUmdNLMBr/Word%20Search%20TS2%20-%20Word%20Lists.png (Word Search TS2 - Word Lists)

On the next tab you can select your word lists. Each file should be a plain text file with ONLY the words you want to use, each word on a separate line. Each line will be considered a separate word for the puzzles.

An example:

Configure the Puzzles

To specify which puzzles you want to generate and print in your puzzle book, go to the "Batch Creation" tab. Please don't let the numbers and arrows in the screenshot below overwhelm you.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Sy9kpXa2K9/Word%20Search%20TS2%20-%20Batch%20Creation.png (Word Search TS2 - Batch Creation)

What you see here is a table that contains a row for each puzzle configuration that you want to create. Regular puzzles with just the number of rows and columns, Preset puzzles from your own Word Search presets, and Mask puzzles, from your own saved masks.

At the top left, you can set the Default Quantity (1) for each row you add. By default it's set to 1. You can also edit the configuration for each row later on, just by clicking on the cell you want to change.

You can move rows up and down by selecting a single row and clicking the "Row Up" or "Row Down" buttons.

You can delete rows from the table by selecting one or more rows and clicking the "Delete Selected" button, or clicking the "Delete All" button. Deleting rows from this table will NOT delete presets or saved masks.

Adding Regular Word Search Puzzles (2)

The easiest way to add puzzles, which was called 'Fast' in the older Time Saver, is by setting the number of rows and columns. In box (2) you can see that both the Rows and Columns are set to 20. When you click the button "Add", it will add a row to the table:

Type: R (Regular), this identifies the type of puzzle for that row
(File) Name "Rectangle". This has no further meaning for Regular puzzles
Word List "Default". See "Word List Setup for Specific Puzzles" below for details.
Rows / Cols: The number of rows and columns for the word search puzzle
Quantity: The number of puzzles to generate
Number of Words: The number of words for the puzzle. A value of 0 (zero) means unlimited, as many as can be fit in
Diag: Allow Diagonals for the puzzle
Rev: Allow Reversed (Backwards printed) words for the puzzle
BG: Not relevant for Regular puzzles

Adding Word Search Puzzle Presets (3)

To use your existing Word Search Puzzle Presets to the list, click "Add Presets". This will open a window where you can select all the presets you want to add. The information in the table that's specific for Preset rows:

Type: "P" for Preset
(File) Name: The name of the preset
Word List: See "Word List Setup for Specific Puzzles" below for details.

Adding Word Search Saved Masks (4)

To use your existing Saved Masks to create puzzles, click "Add Masks". This will open a window where you can select all the masks you want to add. These are mask that are saved from the Mask Editor that's shown when you click "set Mask" in the Puzzle Settings tab for Word Search puzzles. The information in the table that's specific for Mask rows:

Type: "M" for Mask
(File) Name: The name of the saved masks file
BG: Print the mask silhouette as a background for the puzzle. You can switch this on and off for each row of type Mask. Additionally, since you probably want to have a consistent approach to printing mask, you can set the default value for this option in box (4): Print Mask as Background

Word list Setup for Specific Puzzles

The "Word List" column in the table gets the value "Default" for each new row. There are some other options.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/KqsfjZax9w/Word%20Search%20TS2%20-%20Word%20List%20in%20Row.png (Word Search TS2 - Word List in Row)

To change the Word List value for any of the rows in the table, click the down arrow (the 'v' next to Default) to get a list of options.

Default: This will use the default word list setup as defined on the "Main" tab. For each row the word lists will be reinitialized
- Merge All Word Lists: For each row in this table, whether the quantity is 1 or more, the 'merged' word list is initialized and used. That means that the same word can be used for puzzles from several rows. (The option "Use Words Only Once" applies only to the quantity of puzzles for a single row)
- Separate Puzzles Per Word List: For each row in the table, the next word list will be used. For example, the first row with "Default" will use word list 1, the second will use word list 2, etc. When there are no more word lists, it will start back at word list 1.
Word List From Preset: This will work only for rows with the "Preset" type! It will use the word list that was saved with the puzzle preset. This can be a pasted list of words, or a word list file. (If you use this setting for the other rows in the table, it will revert to "Default" when processing the table
A specific Word List file: You can also select any of the word list files that you added to the "Word Lists" tab. You'll need to set up all the word lists you want to use on the "Word Lists" tab, because Puzzle Maker Pro won't know in which folders you store all your word lists. When you select a specific file, such as "Car Brands.txt" in the screenshot, only that file will be used for the puzzle.

Tips and Tricks

The previous version of the Time Saver would 'multiply' the number of word lists with the quantities set in the table. This (new) version will generate exactly the quantities that are set in the table, unless your word lists do not contain enough words.
Setting up Masks or Word Search Presets is a time investment that will pay off. You can choose to either set up a Word Search Preset with a Mask and a Word List, or to just create the Mask and Word List and combine them in the table in the Time Saver. The result will be identical
If you have a Preset with a mask, and you change the number of rows and columns in the table, the mask will not be used. Example: If you have a mask of a cat that has 23 rows and 17 columns, and you change the numbers to 25 rows and 20 columns, the mask will not fit with those dimensions and will not be used
You'll need to add ALL the word lists you want to use, on the "Word Lists" tab. These will be added automatically to the drop down menu for the Word List column
You can add a list of Presets and then add a list of Masks, and use the Row Up / Row Down button to mix them up, if needed. You can also maximize the Puzzle Maker Pro window on your computer to see more of the table.

Selecting a Mask

If you select the "Use Mask" tab on the module, you can open up the Grid Editor to fine-tune masks.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/d1YYrhktrp/Word%20Search%20use%20mask.jpg (Word Search use mask)

As you open up the Grid Editor, you'll see a new screen with several options.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/NXYnn2p6In/Word%20Search%20mask%20grid%20editor.jpg (Word Search mask grid editor)

The Grid Setup. This is the same amount of rows and columns you are already using for your Word Search puzzle, but if you want to adjust the size, here is where you do that.
The option to select a mask file, or clear the mask entirely. If you choose "Select file" you will go to windows explorer, where you can select the correct file to use.
Choosing the background colour. Most .png files have a transparent background. Some other files may use white as background. Because of that, these two options are always selected. But say your mask uses a white cloud over a blue sky? then you can turn off the White, and instead select blue as the background colour, so the shape of the cloud shows up, instead of everything but the cloud.
Presets. You can save what you've done with your mask, and re-use that for later puzzles if you choose to do so. If you've already made a preset, you can load it here.
The mask screen. You can see how your mask currently looks. As a standard, everything is selected.

Now let's import a mask and see what that does.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/JBTxu70W1h/Word%20Search%20mask%20selected.jpg (Word Search mask selected)

Finetuning your mask

On the left, you can see the preview of the file, and on the right you can see what the mask looks like now.

If you want to, you can click on the right part of the screen to add or remove tiles from the puzzle. Or if the puzzle doesn't look right, you can change the size of the mask. Because this looks a bit strange, I've personally changed the format to 15 rows and 15 columns.

Once you're done, select "use mask" in the bottom right, and see what your puzzle looks like now.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/OtaI7rrPbp/Word%20Search%20mask%20added.jpg (Word Search mask added)

As you can tell, the program automatically resized the puzzle as soon as I made the mask 15 by 15. It also makes sure that all words stay within the mask used.

Now, you can either keep the mask this way, but you can also add "Print Mask as Background". This does exactly what it advertises, and turns the file you used as a mask into the background for the puzzle. This works incredibly well with some pictures, but is not a mandatory step to use.

Getting Started

When you open up the software, you see the following screen.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/UTQkgTSBUf/Wordsearch%20starting%20screen.jpg (Wordsearch starting screen)

This already describes the basic work flow.

On the left of the screen we see all the options for creating puzzles. Some of the options may be greyed out or not appear, depending on the version you're using. For example, Masks only work if you have the Mask Add-On for Standard Word Search, or one of the two bundles.

Following the Work Flow, we can first change our Word Search Grid Size. This can go up to 100x100. A fair warning: as your puzzle gets bigger, it also gets generated more slowly. On most sizes this won't matter, but if you decide that you really want a 100x100 puzzle, this will take a while to generate.

Additionally, something like 100x100 may not fit on a standard sheet of paper.

So for now, let's keep the puzzle at 15x15.

For the second step, we can select our word list. It's possible to find lists of words online, but you can also create your own list. There are two possible inputs for this: You can either type in your word list, or you can load in a .txt file with the word list. For the sake of the example, we have found a list of colours on the internet, and typed in those colours. Next, we selected "Next Preview" found on the bottom of the screen.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ux6ZLrLhBH/WordSearch%20Basic%20Puzzle.jpg (WordSearch Basic Puzzle)

We immediately see a few problems with the puzzle.

First of all, there are some empty spaces in the middle, because the words we used have spaces. There are two ways to solve this problem.

Remove Spaces

We can manually remove the spaces from the word list. This is possible because our list isn't too long, but if you load a .txt file or use a longer word list, this may become problematic.
We go to the Advanced Tab for a moment, and select "Remove Spaces". This will automatically remove the spaces for us.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Rk2So6v9KC/Word%20Search%20remove%20spaces.jpg (Word Search remove spaces)

If we click "Next Preview" now, the spaces will be gone.

And that's how we create a simple Word Search. Now, you've probably seen two more options on the "Puzzle" tab, namely "Diagonal" and "Backwards". These can make the puzzles more difficult. Feel free to turn one or both of them on, and see what the results are.

It's also possible to fine-tune these options, but for now, let's leave it at this. You can select "Save Preview" to export the puzzle and the word list, as well as a solution.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/zC7uAhusM1/Word%20Search%20basic%20puzzle.jpg (Word Search basic puzzle)

You can see added diagonals, and some words are backwards.

Puzzle Maker Pro - Word Squares Overview

This tutorial applies to Word Squares

There is one add-on available for Word Squares: Time Saver for Word Squares

Word Squares Explained

Word Squares is a word puzzle.

Examples of a puzzle and solution:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/O5LDuxA3R0/Word%20Squares%20Example.jpg (Word Squares Example)

Word Squares Overview

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

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Ub4SnTkimr/Word%20Squares%201%20Overview.png (Word Squares 1 Overview)

To create puzzles, you'll need to add a word list (as shown in the screenshot), and click Next Preview to generate a puzzle. Each click will result in a different puzzle.

To see the words in the puzzle, toggle the "Preview Solution" option at the bottom right of the window:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Ro4s3DMFEB/Word%20Squares%201%20Solution.png (Word Squares 1 Solution)

The first time you start this module, you'll see a list of 7 words displayed. These words are just for demo purposes, so you get a valid puzzle when you start the module.

Grid Sizes and Difficulty Levels

With Word Squares you get 7 grid sizes: 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, 6x6, 7x7, 8x8 and 9x9. The software will only use words from your list that:

Have the correct number of letters, for example 5 letters for x 5x5 grid, and
Have no duplicate letters. "Cobra" is valid, "agenda" is not, because it has two times the letter 'a'.

You can also use your existing word lists for word search or other software, and let the Word Squares software filter out all the words that should not be used.

There's a different set of difficulty levels for each size, similar to sudoku and latin squares puzzles:

Like our Wordoku software, the generated puzzles will always show all the letters of the word (no guess-work what the final letter should be). This is also known as well-formed puzzles.

Word List and Number of Puzzles

The word list is filtered before it's used, and only words with the correct number of letters and no duplicate letters will be used. That means that you can have a list of 10000 words, of which only 30 words can be used for Word Squares puzzles.

You can reuse word lists with formating for e.g. Zig Zag Word Search: The lines that start with #-characters and empty lines will be removed from the list of words.

The Quantity you set is actually the maximum quantity. There will be just 1 puzzle generated for each word. If the number of valid words is less than the required quantity, you'll get less puzzles. This is to make sure there are no duplicate words in your puzzle book.

If you specify Auto/Unlimited, it will use all the words from your word list.

For each word, you can add a colon and a description. For example "cat:mammal", or "Portugal:Country in Europe". The description can be used in the Instant Puzzle Books (see below). This means you can prepare word files that can also be used for Crosswords puzzles.

You can type the word list in the word list area (as shown in the screenshot above), or select a word list file. This file should be in plain text format, e.g. when you create it with Notepad on Windows. An example could be:

This word list would result in exactly 1 single puzzle for any grid size you select.

Word Styling

On the Word Styling tab, you can set the position for the solution word, and you can set the font, color, etc for the letters in the grid.

Solution Word Position

You can specify where you want the word to appear:

Horizontal on any row,
Vertical in any column,
Random - this means will randomly select Horizontal or Vertical and a random row/column number

Especially when you create multiple puzzles, the random option will create a greater variety of puzzles.

Font and Letter Color

You can click on the white font preview panel to change the font, font color and other settings. Additionally you can set the color for the solution letters, and you can set the color of the solution word cells (the default color is gray). For example, you can create the following result (depending on the fonts you have installed on your computer):

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/j1dfkv9tht/Word%20Squares%202%20Word%20Styling.png (Word Squares 2 Word Styling)

Grid Styling

Additionally you can customize the grid - the canvas and line colors and the line widths - to your own preferences.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ZSYEM6CDV3/Word%20Squares%203%20Grid%20Styling.png (Word Squares 3 Grid Styling)

Puzzle Description

If you want to add a puzzle description for each puzzle in the Instant Puzzle Books, you'll need to add these descriptions to the words in the word list. This can be done by adding a colon after the word, and then add the description, e.g. "Portugal:Country in Europe". When you have a word list like this, you can enable the "Print Description" option on the Description tab:

Additionally you can set the font, and customize the space that's reserved for the description (by default it's 20%, that means that the actual puzzle will usually be made 20% smaller).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/mg8NvDotED/Word%20Squares%204%20Description.png (Word Squares 4 Description (1).png)

The results in Powerpoint or PDF can look like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/RD0SnmCk7I/Word%20Squares%205%20Description%20Example.png (Word Squares 5 Description Example)

Time Saver for Word Squares

The Time Saver for Word Squares allows you to create puzzles for multiple word lists at once, with an option to use 'any' size grid (depending on each word) or use a fixed grid size and filter the word list.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/wQSd5muilR/Word%20Squares%20-%20Time%20Saver.png (Word Squares - Time Saver)

Select the grid size - 3x3 up to 9x9 or Any. You can also set the difficulty level. If the specified grid size does not support that difficulty level, the maximum level will be used
The maximum number of puzzles, or Auto/Unlimited (which means exactly one puzzle for each valid word in the list)
The word position
Add Word Lists. Click this button to select one or more word lists (.txt files). The settings specified for the first 3 bullets will be used, and each word list will add another row in the grid below
You can edit the settings for each row. The rows will be processed in order and the puzzles will be added to the puzzle book in this order (unless you specify otherwise)
Optionally Delete selected rows or all rows if you made a mistake (or if you want to set up another puzzle book)
Randomize the file order or the word order within each file. This makes sense if e.g. the words in the word file are sorted alphabetically

Make sure the boxes "Use Time Saver to generate Puzzles and "Use Time Saver - Fast" are checked, then click the Create / Create (TS) button at the bottom left

Optionally you can also use the Preset Puzzles option, using several presets that you've previously saved for Word Squares puzzles.

Question 9

How to use the Time Saver for Zig Zag Word Search

Accepted Answer

Puzzle Maker Pro - Time Saver for Zig Zag Word Search Introduction

The Time Saver for Zig Zag Word Search resembles the Time Saver for (regular) Word Search, but the way word lists are handled is a bit different.

This tutorial applies to:

The Time Saver for Zig Zag Word Search will work with the squares, diagonals, words snake and random shapes options.

Time Saver Overview

The Time Saver needs two ingredients to work correctly:

Word Lists
Jobs to do

You can set up the 'Jobs to do' on the Batch Creation tab. A job is a specific puzzle type and format, for example "Squares" 10x10 with Quantity 5. This will create 5 puzzles for each (!!!) word list. If you set up 3 word lists, with enough words in each, you will get 15 puzzles.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/6zXxjw2BoS/Time%20Saver%20Word%20Search%20Diagram.JPG (Time Saver Word Search Diagram.JPG)

Main Settings

There are a couple of layout settings that control some of the styling for Instant Puzzle Books, such as the puzzle alignment and the font size for the word lists.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/fmgnyGujJc/Zig%20Zag%20Word%20Search%20Time%20Saver%20Main%20Settings.png (Zig Zag Word Search Time Saver Main Settings)

Variable Font Size - the font size is calculated for each puzzle, based on the number of words and the word length. For puzzle books this may lead to different font sizes for each puzzle, especially if you use different sizes for the puzzle (a 10x10 puzzle will have fewer words than a 25x25 puzzle)
One Size Fits All - the font size is calculated after all word lists are set up, to make sure each page looks similar

Word Lists

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/T6UYyswPDI/Zig%20Zag%20Word%20Search%20Time%20Saver%20Word%20Lists.png (Zig Zag Word Search Time Saver Word Lists)

Selecting Word Lists

Each word list should be just a text file with a list of words, for example when you create a file with Notepad.

You can select as many files as you want, and it's best in general to make the wordlists larger than the strict minimum. For example, for a 10x10 grid, the combined length of the words should be at least 100. However, when you create a list of more words, with a combined length of say 500, you'll get a larger variety of puzzles from it.

Word List Control

Just like the regular Zig Zag Word Search, you can choose how the word list should be used:

Auto: This will try to create as many puzzles as the Quantity setting indicates. However, if it runs out of words in the list, it will stop.
Repeat: This will use all the words in the list, and then repeat the entire wordlist (again and again) to get to the number of puzzles in the quantity setting. Each puzzle will draw random words from the list, so each puzzle will be different
Reset: This will reset the entire word list after a puzzle is created, so every puzzle can use words from the entire word list.

Merging Word Lists

You can choose to Merge all lists, to create just 1 large list. This will basically just add all words to a single list.

You can also choose to use each word list separately, which would work like the diagram above (each 'job' will be executed for each of the word lists). In this case you can also use the file names as titles.

Segmented Word Lists

Segmented word lists are available as part of the Extras Add-On, but are also available automatically as part of the Time Saver Add-On. This will allow you to combine multiple short word lists into one larger list, while still keeping the words separate.

Basically, you can use a blank line to separate the lists:

Optionallly you can add a title to each list, which will be used for the Instant Puzzle Books

In the future there may be other options for these segmented word list, to exploit additional features of the Instant Puzzle Books

Batch Creation Settings

When you use the Time Saver, don't forget to select "Use Time Saver to generate Puzzles" and to select the options for Batch Creation you want to use (e.g. "Use Time Saver - Fast"). This will change the text of the "Create" button to "Create (TS)".

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/66Euj4Po0j/Zig%20Zag%20Word%20Search%20Time%20Saver%20Batch%20Creation.png (Zig Zag Word Search Time Saver Batch Creation)

Fast Mode

This options is called 'Fast' because it doesn't depend on you setting up specific puzzle presets, but simply select the Zig Zag Word Search variation you want to use, and set the rows, columns and quantity. Additionally you can set the Sort Order, this will control the order in which the puzzle appear in your puzzle book (and the order in which the files are listed in File Explorer, if you sort them by filename).

Preset Puzzles

With this option you can use your own presets (that you have saved on the Puzzle Settings tab for Zig Zag Word Search) to create an entire batch of puzzles.

Question 10

How to use Puzzle Maker Pro - Zig Zag Word Search

Accepted Answer

Puzzle Maker Pro - Zig Zag Word Search Overview

Zig Zag Word Search is an alternative Word Search puzzle, quite different from the regular Word Search. It's also known as Jigsaw and Tetris Word Search.

This tutorial applies to three different products:

Zig Zag Word Search, the standard / regular Zig Zag Word Search module
Zig Zag Word Search - Extras Add-On, an add-on module that adds different complexities and options to the regular Zig Zag Word Search
Zig Zag Word Search Random Shapes, this module can be purchased separately, and adds random shapes (random polygons) to make a completely different type of word search

Additionally there are some Add-Ons available for Zig Zag Word Search

Time Saver for Word Search, this is the same purchase as the regular Word Search. If you already own the Standard Word Seach time saver, you won't need to purchase it a second time.
Masks for Zig Zag Word Search, coming soon

This main tutorial uses the regular Zig Zag Word Search for examples. Paragraphs for the Extras Add-On and the Random Shapes will focus on the differences for these modules.

Zig Zag Word Search Explained

Zig Zag Word Search is a puzzle where you have to find words in a grid. Unlike with regular Word Search puzzles, the words are not placed in straight lines, but a zig-zagging line, where the words can have corners. For generating these we have set up some basic rules:

Letters of a word are connected to each other horizontally or vertically
In general, the words should have exactly the number of letters required for the squares in the grid. If you have a 10x10 grid, then all words together should have 100 letters
Words cannot overlap

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/U78JkEdbbn/Zig%20Zag%20Word%20Search%2010x10%20Grid.png (Zig Zag Word Search 10x10 Grid)

In this image you see an example of a solution for a Zig Zag Word Search puzzle. Words are positioned randomly in the grid.

Zig Zag Word Search Overview

To use Zig Zag Word Search, select the puzzle type in the drop down menu.

To see the solution in the preview screen, toggle the "Preview Solution" option at the bottom right of the window:

Note: You'll need words with at least 100 letters to create a 10x10 puzzle. It's better to use a longer list with more words than needed, and create one or more puzzles from that. This way you won't have to worry about counting the letters. (See "Advanced Options" for additional options.

In addition to the Word List, you can also select a Word List file. This has to be in plain text format (.txt). Pay attention to this when you export from MS Word or MS Excel.

Advanced Options

The Advanced tab has some options to control the word list use, the spelling of the words, and an option for filling the remaining squares with random letters, so the amount of letters doesn't have to be exactly the right amount.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ofFn83RSUK/Zig%20Zag%20Word%20Search%20Advanced%20Options.png (Zig Zag Word Search Advanced Options)

1 Wordlist Control

For most puzzles you can control the amount of puzzles using the "Quantity" setting. For Zig Zag Word Search there are other options as well:

Auto: This will try to create as many puzzles as the Quantity setting indicates. However, if it runs out of words in the list, it will stop.
Repeat: This will use all the words in the list, and then repeat the entire wordlist (again and again) to get to the number of puzzles in the quantity setting. Each puzzle will draw random words from the list, so each puzzle will be different
Reset: This will reset the entire word list after a puzzle is created, so every puzzle can use words from the entire word list.

Note: This may work slightly different if you use the Extras Add-On.

2 Remove Characters

Your wordlist may contain characters that you don't want to see in the puzzle. These may be spaces, dashes, or other characters. You can use both checkboxes to filter these characters. The word list will be created from the original words!

Note: the letter count used for the puzzles is based on the 'clean' words, after the spaces etc have been removed.

3 Random Fills

While the words for a Zig Zag Word Search puzzle should have exactly the right number of letters, there's an option to add noise or fill letters as well. This should make it a bit easier for you to set up word lists (but please be aware that your customers may not expect this).

Style

On the Style tab you can change the font, canvas and cell colors and the line colors and weight. (Canvas color is only used for masks, without masks, the entire canvas will be covered by cell backgrounds).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/AdD6AV04xS/Zig%20Zag%20Word%20Search%20Style.png (Zig Zag Word Search Style)

Click "Next Preview" after changing the settings to see the result.

Extras Add-On

The Extras add-on offers two additional features: Diagonal connections for the regular Zig Zag Word Search, and segmented word lists for all Zig Zag Word Search modules.

Diagonals

Choose "Squares Diagonals" in the Grid Type list, then click "Next Preview" to see an example of a Zig Zag Word Search puzzle with diagonal connections.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/icYNvsua2n/Zig%20Zag%20Word%20Search%20Diagonals.png (Zig Zag Word Search Diagonals)

As you can see, letters can be connected horizontally, vertically and diagonally, and the diagonal connections can cross each other.

Segmented Word Lists

We use the name "Segmented Word Lists" for word lists that are already divided in several lists of words.

You can do this by using a blank line between the words. Additionally, you can use #title:"title" to add a title, for example "#title:Vegetables"

When you load a word list (click the little looking glass button on the Word List tab), you'll get a status notification showing you how many words and letters are part of each section. (This will take into account that spaces and other characters may be removed).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/9FCBZyPQ9y/Zig%20Zag%20Word%20Search%20Word%20Count.png (Zig Zag Word Search Word Count)

When you use the "Auto" setting for word list control (on the Advanced tab), only one puzzle will be created for each 'segment'.

Random Shapes

To use the Random Shapes variation of Zig Zag Word Search, select "Random Shapes" in the Grid Type list, and click preview. This will display a puzzle like the example below:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/m7FqP0n850/0-20221012105539--1-W-P.png (0-20221012105539--1-W-P)

How to create Reverse Word Search puzzles?

How to use the CSV Splitter in Puzzle Maker Pro

How to use the Time Saver for Word Search (v2023.3.3 and newer)

How to use the Time Saver for Standard Word Search

How do I create shaped word search puzzles

How do I filter out certain words in a word search puzzle

Getting Started with Puzzle Maker Pro Wordsearch

How to use Puzzle Maker Pro - Word Squares

How to use the Time Saver for Zig Zag Word Search

How to use Puzzle Maker Pro - Zig Zag Word Search