Question 1

How to use the Manual mode in Mixed Puzzle Books (plugin for Powerpoint)

Accepted Answer

This tutorial explains the Manual mode in Mixed Puzzle Books (plugin for Powerpoint)

Overview of the Manual process

Using Mixed Puzzle Books with Manual Layout adds a few steps to the Automatic process:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/WS53HEptbA/Mixed%20Puzzle%20Books%20020%20Manual%20Layout%20Overview.jpg (Mixed Puzzle Books 020 Manual Layout Overview (1).jpg)

Some of the steps are identical to the "Auto" approach, some are different:

Select Puzzles - Select puzzles and solutions
Set up the Puzzles Grid (this will be used to generate the template in step 4)
Set up the Solutions Grid (this will be used to generate the template in step 4)
Create the Template Pages for your book
Define the Templates to use - you have to tell the plugin which slides are the puzzles templates and which slides are the solutions templates
Create Puzzle Book

In addition to that, you have to click the "Use Manual Layout" box to make sure the settings are used.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/QeCv0UcQaB/Easy%20Puzzle%20Books%20050%20-%20Manual%20Overview.PNG (Easy Puzzle Books 050 - Manual Overview.PNG)

Step 1: Select Puzzles

This is step is identical for Automatic Layout and Manual Layout. A tutorial can be found here.

Step 2: Set up Puzzles Grid

This is step is identical for Automatic Layout and Manual Layout.

Step 3: Set up Solutions Grid

This is step is identical for Automatic Layout and Manual Layout.

Step 4: Create and Edit the Template Pages

For both the Puzzles template and the Solutions template, there are three things you need to do:

Step 4.1: Specify the number of puzzles for the template

The number of puzzles does not have to be equal to the grid size, because you can select more than one page (slide) for the template. For example, you could choose to create different 'left' and 'right pages.

For example, if you have a 2x2 grid (4 puzzles on a page), you could choose to have 4, or 6 or 8 puzzles in the template. (or any other number!). If you choose a number larger than 4, you'll need multiple pages. By default the nur of puzzles is set to the grid size.

Step 4.2: Create Grid Puzzles (or Solutions)

Click the green button "Create Grid Puzzles" (or "Create Grid Solutions") to create new slides with the specified number of puzzles.

The screenshot shows a grid with 3 rows and 2 columns, and Nr of Puzzles set to 6, so you'd get just 1 single slide.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/NTqUsi9n1K/Easy%20Puzzle%20Books%20041%20-%20Manual%20Create%20Grid.jpg (Easy Puzzle Books 041 - Manual Create Grid.jpg)

Here you can see the 6 different placeholders for puzzles, and 6 for puzzle titles. (You'd see the same type of placeholders on the solution template.

As long as these placeholders remain in place, you can completely change the look and feel of this template slide. For example, change the position of titles and puzzles, change the font and color of the titles. You can also change the size of the puzzle placeholders.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/equTmkIObX/Easy%20Puzzle%20Books%20042%20-%20Manual%20Edit%20Grid.jpg (Easy Puzzle Books 042 - Manual Edit Grid.jpg)

You can repeat this step for the Solution Grid, so you'll end up with at least one Puzzle Page Template, and one Solution Page Template.

Summarized: The Grid Size (e.g. 2x2) defines how a basic grid will be generated, the "Nr of Puzzles" controls how many puzzles will be used on the template. (You can leave it to be identical to the default values)

Step 5: Define the Template Pages To Use

You can create 1 or more template slides for the puzzles, and 1 or more tempate slides for the solutions. That means the plugin cannot really know which is which, and you have to specify which slides to use. (That means you can even create one master Powerpoint file with all your templates, and just select the ones you need for this session).

When you use more than 1 template slide for puzzles or solutions, you can also include slides that do not have any placeholders, but other text, images, etc.

In the screenshot below we've used 1 puzzles template slide and 1 solutions template slide:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/OfYHNVD1Ta/Mixed%20Puzzle%20Books%20021%20Puzzle%20Templates.jpg (Mixed Puzzle Books 021 Puzzle Templates (1).jpg)

The red arrows (right to left) show how the "Nr of Puzzles" determines the layout. The green arrows show the definition of Puzzle Template and Solution Template.

To do this: First select the puzzle slide (or slides) in 'Slides Pane'. In the example that's slide 2. With this slide selected, click the green "Set Puzzle Slides" button (Step 4).

Next select the solution slide or slides. In this example that's slide 3. Click "Set Sol Slides".

You can now see a small status text (the red rectangle in the screenshot): "Puzzle Slides: 2" and "Sol Slides: 3". The numbers are the slide numbers.

Finish: Create Puzzle Book

The settings for the final step are identical to the settings for Automatic Layout. Click "Create Puzzle Book" to create slides (optionally in a new file) with your puzzles and your manual layout.

The screenshot below shows the results when you'd use 3 puzzles in the template, in an edited 2x2 grid, and 6 solutions in a 2x3 grid.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/atW1bl6YnS/Mixed%20Puzzle%20Books%20022%20Manual%20Layout%20Result.jpg (Mixed Puzzle Books 022 Manual Layout Result.jpg)

You can see one blue square: That's one of the placeholders in the template that was not replaced by a puzzle (because there were only 200 puzzles, this would be puzzle 201). You'll need to remove these additional placeholders manually.

Final remarks

Feel free to play with the options, and it's best to make a lot of mistakes and learn from them. (That's what I do as well).

The suggested workflow, at least while getting started, is to set up the puzzles and the grid, and create a book from those puzzles. That way you can see how the puzzles work together when mixed. The next step can be to choose a different grid format, or to choose the Manual Layout.

Once you've create a couple of books, you'll probably have a couple of layout templates that work well for you, that can be reused (using presets).

Puzzles / Solutions per Page

The settings for Puzzles per Page and Solutions Per Page is part of the puzzle settings, but it can be adjusted when creating the grids: If you set it to 1, and the grid is 2x3, you'll need 6 puzzles / solutions per page. It will be automatically set to 6. (It's only adjusted when CREATING the grids, not in other steps)

However, there's no automatic check later on, so if you manually adjust these numbers, e.g. set the Puzzles per Page to 4, you may get an incomplete set of puzzles in your book, or worse, you get duplicates.

An example: For the first page, the first puzzle number will be 1. Then 2, etc. For the second page (more precisely: the second copy of the puzzles template slides, the first puzzle number will be 1 + the number of Puzzles per Page. When the Puzzles per Page are set to 4, the second page will start with puzzle 5. When Puzzles per Page is set to 8, the second page will start with puzzle 9.

If you use a grid with 6 puzzles on a page, the first example (with 4 puzzles per page) will result in duplicates, while the second example (with 8 puzzles per page) will never print puzzles 7 and 8.

Question 2

Using the Tile Multiplier for Mazes 2D Tiles

Accepted Answer

Using the Tile Multiplier for mazes 2D Tiles

The Tile Multiplier Add-On can be used to create extra tiles based on the base tiles you use as input. This add-on only works with Puzzle Maker Pro - Mazes 2D Tiles.

There are two main options:

Complement images if Missing - this is used for square mazes.
Convert Square Images to Isometric format - this is used for isometric mazes.

In addition to that, there's a slider you can use for troubleshooting.

Complement Images if Missing

Tile Multiplier will add tiles for you if you feed it a minimum set of five or six tiles. You don't have to buy Tile Multiplier to use Mazes 2D Tiles, you can also draw each tile yourself, or use options in File Explorer on Windows (or the Mac/Linux equivalent) to copy and rotate the images yourself.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/NZYEskvKhJ/Square%20Tile%20Minimum.jpg (Square Tile Minimum)

Minimum tiles required

The minimum set consists of a tile for each of the options above:

1: dead-end
12: top-right corner
13: Tom-bottom straight line
123: Top-right-bottom split
1234: crossing
0: This tile is optional, but would be used for tiles that have no connection at all. Empty tiles in isometric mazes are an optional setting.

Note: Don't forget to create images for the start (code: s-) and end (code: e-) tiles. THese are not processed by Tile Multiplier.

From the minimum tile set it will create a full set of tiles:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/6c7sgi35s4/Square%20Tiles%20Tile%20Multiplier.jpg (Square Tiles Tile Multiplier)

It will copy and rotate tile 1, to create tiles 2, 3, and 4. It will do the same with the other tiles that it was given.

Convert Square Images to Isometric Format

The Tile Multiplier can create isometric tiles from your square tiles. It can't create new isometric tiles from other isometric tiles.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/INGDEjNHem/tile%20multiplier%20for%20isometric.jpg (tile multiplier for isometric)

Complement images if missing: This will create a full set of square tiles out of the required set of 5 images.
Convert square images to isometric format: this will create isometric tiles for each available square tile (including the ones created with the complement option).
Advanced/scaling: In most cases the conversion will be perfect. In some cases, Tile Multiplier may misinterpret the exact size of the tile due to DPI differences. If this happens you can use the Scaling slider to adjust the tile size. For more info on this, see our separate tutorial: Troubleshooting Mazes 2D Tiles.

An example of the Tile Multiplier to create a full set of isometric tiles from a limited set of square tiles:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/4e6G2BYeBY/tile%20multiplier%20limited%20tile%20set.jpg (tile multiplier limited tile set)

Without the Tile Multiplier, this set of 7 tiles would result in the following maze:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/h8hHMNsNaz/Tile%20multiplier%20missing%20tiles.jpg (Tile multiplier missing tiles)

The Tile Multiplier can fix this, and add the other tiles, to create the following result:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/D9xaTiS1nC/Tile%20multiplier%20fix%20square%20tiles.jpg (Tile multiplier fix square tiles)

Something similar happens if you don't convert your tiles to isometric:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/owXO8fAdXE/isometric%20maze%20using%20square%20tiles.jpg (isometric maze using square tiles)

This maze does not look isometric at all, and the solution path is not connecting to any of the paths. After telling tile multiplier to convert the tiles to isometric, this would be the result:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/GurMzLm7Fw/Tile%20multiplier%20isometric.jpg (Tile multiplier isometric)

This looks a lot better.

Standard Sudoku

The basic module for Sudoku 9x9 standard does exactly what it says on the tin. It creates a sudoku that is 9x9 squares, which is the most common variation. With Sudoku 9x9 Creative it's also possible to create sudokus with pictures, letters, or other symbols.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/4GpsEUZxBR/Sudoku%20creative.jpg (Sudoku creative)

Different Sizes

We also have two different modules, for smaller or bigger squares. Sudoku Kids Edition has 4x4 sudokus, and 6x6 sudokus. Sudoku More Squares offers sudokus of the sizes 8×8, 10×10 and 15×15. Sudoku Large Squares 1 contains 12×12 and 16×16 sudokus, and Sudoku Large Squares 2 takes it to the extreme, with 14×14, 18×18, 20×20, 24×24 and 25×25 sudokus.

The largest we currently offer is 25x25. As it still has to be printed on a page, this is the largest option that still looks good.

Sudoku X and Hyper Sudoku

These are from the Sudoku Variations add-on. Both use the standard 9x9 shape, but they have additional difficulties.

The Sudoku X has added diagonals, where in each diagonal the numbers 1-9 appear once. The Hyper Sudoku has extra 3x3 squares overlayed, that also can only contain the numbers 1-9 once.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/xaFLJXAqQI/Sudoku%20X%20and%20Hyper%20Sudoku.jpg (Sudoku X and Hyper Sudoku)

Multidokus

Multidokus are sudokus that have multiple sudokus overlapping. We have several variations of these. For the examples we'll be using the standard 9x9, but many of these can also be combined with the different sizes, depending on the modules that you own. These sudokus look intimidating, but once you realise they're built up out of multiple normal sudokus, they become very easy to solve.

So let's look into these sudokus per module. First, the sudokus from Sudoku Multidoku 1. This contains the variations Sudoku Twins, Samurai, Marathon and Triathlon.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/abDBp5AcKL/Multidoku%20Twins%20Marathon%20Samurai.jpg (Multidoku Twins Marathon Samurai)

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ycH0giecSF/Multidokus%20triathlon.jpg (Multidokus triathlon)

As a visual aid, we have colourcoded these sudokus. As you can see, each multidoku is built up out of multiple overlapping 9x9 sudokus. This actually makes the multidokus slightly easier, because for the squares in the overlapping area you can use hints from both sudokus to figure out the solutions!

Now that you understand the basics of how the multidokus work, let's see how the Multidokus from Sudoku Multidoku 2 are built up. With these it can be slightly more difficult to find the 9x9 squares that build up the sudoku, but they're still very much there. The Sudoku Multidoku 2 module contains the following sudoku forms: Sensei, Cross, Gattai, Flower and Windmill.

So let's see what those look like.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/rMxtWgUeLq/Multidoku%20Sensei%20gattai%20flower.jpg (Multidoku Sensei gattai flower (2).jpg)

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/RDDttsGXrw/Multidoku%20Cross%20Windmill.jpg (Multidoku Cross Windmill)

That got complicated really quickly. The sensei has the least overlap of any multidoku, but the other ones in this set have multiple squares, and even some hidden sudoku squares in the middle of each.

However, you can still solve these the way you solve a normal sudoku. Just take it one square at a time, and use the overlapping squares to your advantage to solve all the sudokus!

How to use the Batch Function

The Batch function can be found on the bottom right of the screen.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/fMSvLDC8Y3/nonogram%20where%20is%20the%20batch%20button.jpg (nonogram where is the batch button)

Using the batch option has its pros and its cons.

On the upside, you can generate many puzzles in one go.

On the downside, you do not get to manually edit all your puzzles.

This allows for a faster workflow, but many puzzles that could be discarded.

Then why would you use the batch option? There are two things you can do with this. But first, let's check out the screen.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/IEi20shRxz/Nonogram%20batch%20screen.jpg (Nonogram batch screen)

The Source and Output Folders. You can select the folder where all your templates are, and the area where the program should drop all of the puzzle results.
The Puzzle Sizes. Very similar to what you've already seen in the normal screen, and we'll get back to this later.
The Source Files. After you've selected a Source Folder in step 1, you'll see a list of all the pictures in that Folder here. Right now we have a folder with a lot of fish images selected.

From here multiple options are possible. First, just below the Output Folder button, you see multiple options on where you want your hints to show up, what the separator is, zeroes and empty rows... If you're curious about what these buttons do, you can find the information in our Getting Started with Nonograms tutorial.

Now, first things first. Let's grab one picture, and select multiple Puzzle Sizes.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Pm1vJDGkZS/Batch%20option%201.jpg (Batch option 1)

Now, if we select "Go", the software will automatically generate all the puzzles we have selected.

As you can see, we haven't selected any options to remove white space, so a lot of empty rows appear in the puzzles.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/HIDyyzSzNH/A%20lot%20of%20fish.jpg (A lot of fish)

From this, we can select whichever puzzle(s) we like best, and keep those. Everything else we can discard, or choose to use later. However, as they're output as PNG files, we can no longer edit these puzzles.

There's a second option available too. We can select many puzzles, and only one size.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Yey09KroKQ/Batch%20option%202.jpg (Batch option 2)

Let's see what happens if we output with these settings.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/B9IZ007nqg/Many%20different%20fish.jpg (Many different fish)

A lot of 40x40 puzzles have been generated, one from each image in the Source Folder. Again, we can quickly select the puzzles that work, and discard the ones that don't. If you need many puzzles of the same size for a puzzle book, this is a quick and easy option to create them.

Finally, let's combine both options. Multiple puzzles, and multiple sizes.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/MC19pVBgTI/Even%20more%20fish.jpg (Even more fish)

You can see that all fish have different sizes where they work better, and if we discard everything else, we have the beginnings of a fish-themed nonogram puzzle book. Now all that's left is to combine them all into a book, for example by using our Easy Puzzle Books Powerpoint Plugin.

Getting Started with Sticker Factory (Plugin for Powerpoint)

With Sticker Factory you can save your the shapes (or groups) on your slide(s) as separate PNG images in 96DPI or 300DPI. With Sticker Factory Pro you can also automatically add the sticker borders and even create additional slides with sticker shapes.

If you haven't installed the plugin yet, please do that first. You can find a tutorial on how to install our Powerpoint Add-ins here. Sticker Factory and Sticker Factory Pro are included in the Easy Journals download.

Sticker Factory - Saving shapes as stickers.

The standard version of Sticker Factory can save your shapes as separate PNG files. By default it uses 96DPI, but you can add 300DPI as well.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/l0ZcaiFTc2/Sticker%20Factory%2001%20Save%20Stickers.jpg (Sticker Factory 01 Save Stickers.jpg)

The screenshot shows a number of different shapes, just to illustrate how the plugin works. A regular square (top middle), a merged shape (top right), a frame (top left), a grouped shape (bottom left), Word Art text (bottom middle) and a regular text field (bottom right).

After setting the Target Folder and selecting 300DPI, the exported files will look like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/x48VfhGLj8/Sticker%20Factory%2002%20-%20Exported%20Stickers.jpg (Sticker Factory 02 - Exported Stickers.jpg)

This screenshot was taken from File Explorer, you can see the very light blue color where the PNG's are transparent, and a white border around the shapes.

Note: The basic version of the plugin will not add these white borders for you.

For convenience there's also a button to open the folder that contains the images.

Sticker Factory Pro

The Pro version of Sticker Factory can add sticker borders to your images, and generate new slides filled with stickers.

Sticker Factory Pro - Sticker Border

To add Sticker Borders, you can select the color and the border width (in Powerpoint dot size). Normally the color should be white. However, if you want to select the right border width for your stickers, you'll probably want to use a different color (if you have a white background), and change it to white once you're satisfied with the border width. For that reason we've selected purple in this example:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/8kTJIWqDjO/Sticker%20Factory%2003%20-%20Add%20Border.jpg (Sticker Factory 03 - Add Border.jpg)

The purple color (1) is added to all the shapes on this slide. When you look carefully, you should see that the original shape borders (green in shape (2), dark blue in shape (3) and dark orange in shape (4)) are still there, just as you would expect.

If you want to have different border sizes for different shapes (e.g. the border for the Regular Text Field may be a bit much), you can move them to different slides and use different settings.

With "Remove Borders" you can remove the borders you just added. If you create borders again with different settings, the existing borders will also be removed.

Sticker Factory Pro - Generate Stickers

The other feature of Sticker Factory Pro is the ability to generate stickers. For example if you have some nice shapes that you want to use for stickers with different words.

This option will duplicate the current or selected slide(s) and replace replace each (dummy) text with a word from the list. Shapes that have no dummy (or placeholder) text, will not be affected.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Hz54ezrYqQ/Sticker%20Factory%2004%20-%20Template%20Setup.jpg (Sticker Factory 04 - Template Setup.jpg)

In the screenshot you can see the list of words (phrases) and the sticker templates. After clicking "Go", it will generate additional slides as can be seen in the next screenshot:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/pZTnDWdLUr/Sticker%20Factory%2004%20-%20Generated%20Result.jpg (Sticker Factory 04 - Generated Result.jpg)

As you can see here, the shapes without text are not affected. Text settings such as font size or alignment are also not changed.

To get the best results:

Add borders before generating multiple slides
Check if your longest words or phrases fit inside the shapes. Sticker Factory does not change the font settings. (e.g. the star inside the frame will not work with longer words or phrases)
Check alignment - e.g. the word art shape would look better when centered instead of left aligned.
Remove empty shapes from the template. They may not be in the way here (on the slide), but they'll result in duplicate exports (because they're the same on each slide).

Question 7

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 8

How to use the Time Saver extension for Word Search

Accepted Answer

Welcome to the tutorial on how to use the Time Saver for Word Search. For this tutorial you need a version of the standard Word Search that also has the Time Saver module. You can buy these separate, but they're also combined in Word Search Bundle 1.

The Time Saver for Word Search is a little bit more complex to use than the other Time Savers within Puzzle Maker Pro. In this tutorial we'll go over the three steps to create Word Search puzzles with the Time Saver:

Set up the main configuration - How the word lists will be used, and some global styling options,
Set up the word lists - files with words that you have saved on your computer
Set up the batch creation of puzzles.

How to combine several word lists

To use the Time Saver for Word Search, first select Word Search in the Puzzle Type menu. Then go to the Time Saver tab, and check the "Use Time Saver to generate Puzzles" option. You can see three tab areas in this window: Main, Word Lists, and Batch Creation.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/dWdiBDgxzM/PMP%20-%20Word%20Search%20-%20Time%20Saver%201.png (Combine Word Lists for multiple word search puzzles)

Here you can choose to combine multiple word lists, or create separate puzzles for each word list. This will allow you to mix several themed or generic word lists.

There are other - advanced - options on this Main tab, we'll skip these for now.

How to set up the word lists in the Time Saver for Word Search

The next step is to select one or more word lists. These are word lists on your computer. You can select as many lists as you need.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/oV9yEk18it/PMP%20-%20Word%20Search%20-%20Time%20Saver%202.png (PMP - Word Search - Time Saver 2.png)

Depending on your settings in the first step, these word lists will be combined or used separately.

How to create a batch of Word Search puzzles with the Time Saver

There are two different ways to specify how to create word search puzzles with the Time Saver.

Fast (legacy) will quickly create rectangular puzzles for you, using the styling options on the Puzzle Settings Panel
Preset Puzzles will create puzzles from your own presets, offering you more options to set styling for individual puzzles, as well as the option to use shaped word search puzzles. You can create Presets in any version of Word Search. You can create presets here with masks, special sizes, or other style options.

How to create Word Search puzzles using the Fast option

This (legacy) Time Saver for Word Search will create rectangular or square word search puzzles from your word lists.

You can specify several formats and quantities, in the screenshot you will see the default configuration to create 20 puzzles in a 15x15 grid.

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

You can add several rows with instructions, to create several different puzzles with one mouse-click. These options include the amount of words allowed in the puzzle, and if diagonals or backwards words are allowed, for extra difficulty.

Note: If you chose to separate puzzles per word list on the Main tab, you'll get 20 puzzles for each word list (in this example). If you merge all word lists, you'll just get 20 puzzles.

How to create Word Search puzzles using the Preset Puzzles option

This Time Saver for Word Search will create word search puzzles using the presets you have saved. It will replace the word lists but will use all the styling options and the puzzle shape.

To use this option, you'll have to create your own presets for Word Search puzzles. You can create presets in the Puzzle Settings tab.

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

You'll have to select the "Use Time Saver - Preset Puzzles" option to activate this module. You can select as many presets as you need.

Glossary of Shapes and Segments

Currently there are five different types of shapes in Geometric String Art Designer:

Squares
Circles
Lines
Triangles
Polygons (5 up to 10 sides)

Squares

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Vv2X33qRqU/Geometric%20String%20Art%20Designer%20Square%20Segments.PNG (Geometric String Art Designer Square Segments.PNG)

For a square (or rectangle) shape, there are several options to define segments:

"Full" is the entire square, when you connect to this, the pins wil be placed on the entire contour of the square
Sides: Top, Left, Right and Bottom each are the full side of a square. Please pay attention when you rotate the square, because the position of these sides may change
Half Sides: The smallest segment are half sides, these are named Top 1, Top 2, etc, so you can easily see where a side is located. This will allow you to create connections between e.g. Top 2 and Bottom 2 of the same Square. The numbers of these segments are clockwise (Bottom 1 is at the right of Bottom 2)

Circles

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/LmXOquy3qz/Geometric%20String%20Art%20Designer%20Circle%20Segments.PNG (Geometric String Art Designer Circle Segments.PNG)

For Circles we use the same naming style as for squares:

"Full" - the entire circle
Quarters: Top, Left Right Bottom, each cover 1/4th (= 90 degrees or PI/2) of the circle
Eights: Each segment covers 1/8th (= 45 degrees or PI/4) of the circle. Just like for Squares, the numbering order is clockwise.

Lines

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/u69vFu5Dkv/Geometric%20String%20Art%20Designer%20Line%20Segments.PNG (Geometric String Art Designer Line Segments.PNG)

For Lines, we also use "Top" and "Bottom", even when the lines are horizontal or rotated. The top of the image shows vertical lines, the bottom of the images shows the segments for horizontal lines.

Triangles and Polygons

For Triangles and all polygons (5 up to 10 sides), we use different names.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/OSan2Bfasr/String%20Art%20Designer%20Polygon%20Segments.jpg (String Art Designer Polygon Segments)

"Full" is the entire shape
"Side 1" is the name of a side of the polygon
"Side 1 Part 2" is the name of half the side of a polygon.

The screenshot shows the numbering for a decagon and also shows the list of all the available segments. In the example, you can see that "Side 4" and "Side 8" have been connected, resulting in the string pattern you can see.

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.

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