Question 1

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

Accepted Answer

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

Overview of the Manual process

The "Manual" way of creating puzzle books consists of a number of steps:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/N5EaNwfdcq/Easy%20Puzzle%20Books%20044%20-%20Manual%20Panel.jpg (Easy Puzzle Books 044 - Manual Panel.jpg)

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

Select Puzzles - Select puzzles and solutions (identical), and set up the placeholder codes for the puzzles (optional)
Create Puzzles Page - Set up the grid (identical), and Create the Puzzles template slide (new)
Create Solution Page - Set up the grid (identical) and Create the Solutions template slide (new)
Select Slides (New) - Select which template slides to use for puzzles, and which for solutions
Create Puzzle Book - (identical)

Step 2 and 3 include creation of the template slides, and manually editing (changing) them. This diagram illustrates the steps.

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)

Placeholders

Part of this process is creating "Placeholders" that will be replaced by puzzles and puzzle titles later. There are three steps that affect the placeholders. For Easy Puzzle Books this is mostly automatic, because there's only one puzzle type involved. The three steps are shown in this diagram:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/8J40NaqEh7/Easy%20Puzzle%20Books%20051%20-%20Manual%20Placeholders.PNG (Easy Puzzle Books 051 - Manual Placeholders.PNG)

Set up Puzzles - As part of the puzzle setup, you can specify the specific placeholders for the puzzle. There are four different placeholders: Puzzle, Puzzle Title, Solution, Solution Title. Each of these will be used in the template that you can edit.
Create Grid - A new slide will be created that contains placeholders for the puzzles, solutions and titles.
Create Puzzle Book - Will create as many copies of the template slides as needed, and replace the placeholders with the actual puzzles, solutions and titles.

The diagram below shows examples for the different steps. We'll cover all of these in detail.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/BLxUQcVCL3/Easy%20Puzzle%20Books%20052%20-%20Manual%20Examples.PNG (Easy Puzzle Books 052 - Manual Examples.PNG)

Set up Puzzles - Placeholders

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/qHVgFjX8da/Easy%20Puzzle%20Books%20040%20-%20Manual%20Placeholders.jpg (Easy Puzzle Books 040 - Manual Placeholders.jpg)

The tab "Titles" in The Puzzle Setup window will let you edit the Placeholders. As you can see, there are four of them, Puzzle (Image), Puzzle Title, Solution (Image), Solution Title. These are the four different items that will be placed on your puzzle pages.

There's a "Placeholder Code" which is set to "%%" by default. However, if you need to use "%%" in your titles, you can set it to a different value.

You can also set the number of Puzzles per Page and the number of Solutions per Page. For example, if you want to create a 2x3 puzzle grid, you'll have 6 puzzles and 6 puzzle titles on a puzzle page.

To keep track of which title belongs to which puzzle, they are numbered: {Puzzle Title 1} belongs to {Puzzle 1}, {Puzzle Title 4} belongs to {Puzzle 4} etc. (See the example screenshot in the next paragraph).

Remember: These are just temporary numbers on a page. For example, the third page with puzzles that's generated in step 5, will have replace {Puzzle Title 1} with "Puzzle 13", and {Puzzle 1} with the image file for puzzle 13.

Note: If this dazzles your mind, just remember not to edit these placeholders.

Create Grid and Edit Layout

You can set up the grid just like you did for "Auto", but in this case you need to click "Create Grid" to actually create a template slide. With a 2x3 grid, it can look like this:

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 could even copy the template slide and remove some of the puzzles, to have 2 puzzles on the first page, and 4 on the second page.

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.

Select Slides

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/sJRcL1WK2t/Easy%20Puzzle%20Books%20045%20-%20Manual%20Select%20Slides.jpg (Easy Puzzle Books 045 - Manual Select Slides.jpg)

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): "Selection P 2 S 3". P is for Puzzles, S for Solutions, the numbers are the slide numbers.

Create Puzzle Book

Just like in "Auto" mode, you can select whether you want to collate the puzzles and solutions, and whether you want the puzzle book to be created as a new Powerpoint file. Click "Create Puzzle Book" to use the slide templates and create your book. Here's an page created with the template from the earlier example:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Q1T3DIbT5P/Easy%20Puzzle%20Books%20043%20-%20Manual%20Puzzles%20Page.jpg (Easy Puzzle Books 043 - Manual Puzzles Page.jpg)

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 selected puzzle files and titles, and the grids, are shared between the "Auto" and "Manual" workflows. That means that you can start with an "Auto" approach, see how the puzzle book turns out, and if needed, use the "Manual" to finish the product.

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

How do I use the Time Saver for JigSaw?

Accepted Answer

This tutorial shows the basics of using the Time Saver for Jigsaw. For this you require any version of Jigsaw Maker, and the Time Saver.

Basics

To use the Time Saver for JigSaw, you need to select the "Time Saver" tab, and then check the box "Use Time Saver to generate Puzzles" at the top.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/nQFCAF35W4/Jigsaw%20040%20-%20Time%20Saver%20Overview.png (Jigsaw 040 - Time Saver Overview.png)

There are two ways to use this Time Saver, which can be combined:

Using Images (the "Fast" mode)
Using (JigSaw) Presets

In addition to the "Use Time Saver" option, you'll need to check the options you want to use, e.g. the "Use Time Saver - Fast" option in the screenshot.

Using Images

In the Fast Mode you can just select a number of images and adjust some of the settings for each image. (All the other settings will be copied from the 'Puzzle Settings' tab.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/XL3HqEShIN/Jigsaw%20041%20-%20Time%20Saver%20Fast%20Mode.png (Jigsaw 041 - Time Saver Fast Mode.png)

Add Images

At the bottom of the window ([1] in the screenshot), you can see a button "Add Images". This will allow you to select a number of images on your computer, that will be used for puzzles. These images will be added to the table.

Using the "Delete Rows" button you can remove rows that you have selected (by clicking on them), "Delete All" will remove all the rows from this table.

Set default values

You can set a couple of default values ([2] in the screenshot) for each set of images you import, such as the puzzle type, the number of rows and columns, "Perfect", and the connector type. This will allow you to very quickly create a list of puzzles to create.

Editing the table

For each image you can edit the settings in the table.

Once you're done, click "Create" to create your puzzles and/or puzzle book.

Note: "Next Preview" and "Save Preview" have no use for the Time Saver.

Using Presets

The other option for the Time Saver is using Presets. These are presets you have created for JigSaw.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/EDacC7DyTl/Jigsaw%20042%20-%20Puzzle%20Presets.png (Jigsaw 042 - Puzzle Presets.png)

In the Time Saver you can see all the presets you have created, and select the ones you want to use to create puzzles (for your puzzle book). Everytime you use a preset, it will create a new randomized puzzle, based on the preset settings.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Zm6scty1QK/Jigsaw%20043%20-%20Time%20Saver%20with%20Presets.png (Jigsaw 043 - Time Saver with Presets.png)

Overview

The Journal Filler Plugin for Powerpoint will save you time with two different options:

Quickly fill a shape with lines, squares or dots (see: Lines, squares or dots)
Add new shapes to set up a layout quickly (this tutorial)

To use the Journal Filler Plugin, click on the "Add-ins" option in the Powerpoint menu. This will open the Add-in ribbon, that includes the "BookPublisherTools" options. In the "More Options" menu you can find "Journal Filler". This will open a new side panel in Powerpoint.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/c2xd7twyDJ/Add-in%20menu.jpg (Add-in menu.jpg)

There are two ways to add new shapes on a slide (or on several slides)

Add shapes on a blank slide - this will create new shapes with black/white colors only
Set up a shape on your page, and use that as a template for new shapes.

Add shapes on a blank slide

An easy way to get started with your journal or planner layout, is by adding a basic layout on a blank slide. With a blank slide we mean a slide that does not yet contain any shapes or other things.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/UUTYtulvDt/006%20Empty%20Blank%20Slide.jpg (006 Empty Blank Slide.jpg)

As you can see in the screenshot, we've used Easy Journals to set up an 8.5"x11" page layout, and to add guides for the 0.5" margins. (These guides are not required for Journal Filler.)

At the right you see the Journal Filler plugin, where the "Shapes" tab is selected. Here you can:

Set outer margins, that you don't want covered with shapes. You can set this to 0 (zero), to 0.5" for KDP margins, or to larger sizes to create a specific layout. For example to keep the top half of the page empty.
Set Interior Margins, the margins between your shapes. You can specify the horizontal distance between columns, and the vertical distance between rows
Set the number of rows and columns.

In the example we create 3 columns x 3 rows, with 0.1" margin between the rows and columns, and 0.5" margins on the outer borders. This will result in a new layout like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/qtC7QP8VC6/007%203x3%20for%20Blank%20Slide.jpg (007 3x3 for Blank Slide.jpg)

When you create shapes on a blank slide, the shape fill color is white, the border line will be black, and the font color is black as well.

You can also use custom colors and font settings for your shapes, by starting from a 'template' shape:

#Add shapes from a 'template' shape

Or... you may want to use specific color settings - a rose gold background with a purple script font and green borders.

Journal Filler will let you replicate (copy) the shape you create with the exact same settings.

Step 1 - Set up the shape format, position and size

First you add a shape to your slide. For journals and planners you'll probably use squares, but you can use stars, arrows, etc as well.

You can change the colors, font style and font color as you wish. In the screenshot below we just used a white background with black borders:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/chogcVIhdF/Filler-Squares.jpg (Filler-Squares.jpg)

To be honest, these four squares have been created from a larger square.

Step 2 - Set up the number of shapes you want

Journal Filler will create the specified number of shapes in the place of the selected shape. If you set the number of rows and columns both to 2, you will end up with 4 shapes, each approximately 50% of the height and width of the original shape. (It will apply the Interior Margins you set).

Step 3 - Add the new shapes

Now you can select the shapes you want to use as templates (1 or more) and click "Add" to add the new shapes.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/BuZqZa6IpQ/Filler-Smaller-Squares.jpg (Filler-Smaller-Squares.jpg)

In this screenshot you can see the result after:

Selecting the top left and bottom right squares, and selecting 1 column and 2 rows, then clicking 'Add'
Selecting the top right and bottom left squares, and selecting 2 columns and 1 rows, then clicking 'Add'

Using Ctrl-Z you can undo all the changes made by the plugin.

Step 4 - Customize and embellish

After you've created this basic layout, you can manually change, resize and edit the shapes any way you want. These are 'just' Powerpoint shapes.

Question 6

Puzzle Maker Pro - Tutorial Overview

Accepted Answer

Puzzle Maker Pro Tutorials

Welcome to the Puzzle Maker Pro - Tutorials page: This page lists the tutorials for Puzzle Maker Pro. Please use search if you don't see here what you're looking for.

Getting Started

Puzzle Maker Pro - Getting Started

Puzzle Maker Pro Tabs

Output Settings - Puzzle Files

Output Settings - Additional Output

Output Settings - Page format

Page Layout

Time Saver

Tools

Puzzle Specific Tutorials

Sudoku

Word Search

Mazes

Bingo

Word Star

Geometric Mazes

JigSaw

Connect the Dots

Generic FAQ's

Drag and Drop Images

Color and Font Selection

Mask Editor

Question 7

Puzzle Maker Pro - Mazes 2D Other Shapes Video Overview

Accepted Answer

Puzzle Maker Pro - Mazes 2D Other Shapes Video Overview

Question 8

Overview of all Mazes 2D Tiles Tutorials

Accepted Answer

Welcome to our Overview Page for all tutorials for Mazes 2D Tiles. Below you find all our tutorials

Getting Started with Mazes 2D Tiles. We recommend you start here, as this tutorial has all the information to get you going with this product.

Something doesn't work right? Troubleshooting Mazes 2D Tiles explains the most common problems you can run into, and how to solve them.

To create more unique puzzles, you can also create your own tiles. We have a separate tutorial with the Naming Conventions and how to make your own tiles. The written tutorial uses Adobe Illustrator, but we also have a video on creating square tiles with MS Powerpoint.

If making 18 separate tiles sounds like a chore, our Tile Multiplier Add-On creates extra tiles based on already existing tiles, and we have a separate tutorial on how to use the Tile Multiplier Add-On. We also have a video on using this Add-On to automatically generate isometric tiles from your square tiles, for your isometric mazes.

Speaking of isometric, we have a separate tutorial about creating isometric mazes with Mazes 2D tiles. This discusses the options and challenges that are unique to making isometric mazes.

For Isometric mazes, separate tilesets are used. Because of that, we have a tutorial on how to create isometric tiles with Adobe Illustrator. If text isn't your thing, we also have a video tutorial on how to create isometric tiles.

And if you want to make your puzzles more unique, consider looking at our tutorial on how to use the mask editor for mazes 2D. We also have a video on making shaped mazes with the masks Add-on.

Question 9

Is there a demo version of BookPublisherTools software available?

Accepted Answer

It is possible to get the demo version for Puzzle Maker Pro here. The demo version includes all puzzle modules, but will create watermarked puzzles.

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

Question 10

How to Set Colors and Font Options with Puzzle Maker Pro

Accepted Answer

This tutorial shows how to use the Color Selection options and the Font Options in Puzzle Maker Pro. The Font options are not yet available for every single module at the moment of writing.

Color Selection

In Puzzle Maker Pro you can set the canvas, line and font color for most puzzles using a little rectangle, like the one shown here:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ns1DnajCgp/Color%20Selection%20Options.jpg (Color Selection Options.jpg)

You can set the color in several ways:

Add the color RGB code in either decimal or hexadecimal numbers. This allows you to match the colors exactly to other illustrations or style options
Add or edit the color by setting the HSL numbers (Hue, Saturation, Lightness)
Click the rainbow panel (or the black or the white panel on top of it). Clicking the rainbow panel will change the two panels below it to match the selected color
Click the Saturation panel. This is the middle panel, which shows colors from totally gray (unsaturated) to bright blue (fully saturated)
Click the Lumination panel. This is the bottom panel, and shows colors from white to blue to black
You can also click the "Windows Color Picker" button, this allows you to use the standard Windows Color picker to select or edit colors
Click "Use" to use the selected color.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ulL8O24x8S/Windows%20Color%20Picker.jpg (Windows Color Picker.jpg)

Font Options

In most cases, whenever there's a font to be used in a puzzle, you'll see a font preview panel, that shows the current font, and allows you to select a different font:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/27b9z2HXAq/Font%20Preview%20Panel.jpg (Font Preview Panel.jpg)

Clicking on the white area or on the looking glass button will display the Font Setup window:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/yNvF8ZoU5t/Font%20Setup%20Options.jpg (Font Setup Options.jpg)

This window has several options. (Due to ongoing updates and additions, some options may not be used yet for certain puzzles. Please let me know (with a helpdesk ticket) whenever there's something that you need that doesn't work yet.

Changes will be immediately reflected in the preview panel at the right.

From top to bottom:

Font Selection dropdown menu - you can select a font from the list, or use the built-in font browser to see previews of all the fonts, by clicking the looking glass button
Font Color - set the color for the font, using the Color Selection Dialog
Bold - May set the font type to Bold
Letter Case - This will let the letters unchanged, or force Uppercase or Lowercase use in the puzzle
Relative Font Size - By default the font will be sized proportionally to the squares or shapes in the puzzle, leaving enough margin at the top, bottom and sides. However, you can use this slider to make the font larger or smaller
Move Horizontally / Vertically - Allows you to position the letters in the squares. You may need this when changing from lowercase to uppercase (uppercase letters are all positioned above the font baseline, which may look strange in a puzzle). Also, many free fonts are not scaled or aligned properly, and you can use these settings to correct that

Built-in Font Browser

In most Puzzle Maker Pro modules (except the oldest ones), you can also use the built-in Font Browser to preview and select a font.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/AFYO3NRioX/Built-in%20Font%20Browser.jpg (Built-in Font Browser.jpg)

Here you can see a number of fonts at once. You can:

Use the Search field to type a part of a font name
Use the font list at the left, and the scroll bar, to quickly move around in the list of fonts
Use the grid Size options at the lower left to change how many fonts are shown in the grid at the right
Use the little looking glass icon for each font to open a larger zoomable preview of the font
Use the little check mark for a font to select and use that font

Note: The Font Browser is also available as a separate purchase, which doesn't require Puzzle Maker Pro

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

How do I use the Time Saver for JigSaw?

Creating Square Tiles with MS Powerpoint (Video)

Mazes 2D Tiles Overview (Video)

How can I quickly set up a layout with the Journal Filler Plugin for Powerpoint?

Puzzle Maker Pro - Tutorial Overview

Puzzle Maker Pro - Mazes 2D Other Shapes Video Overview

Overview of all Mazes 2D Tiles Tutorials

Is there a demo version of BookPublisherTools software available?

How to Set Colors and Font Options with Puzzle Maker Pro