Question 1

How can I set the font for puzzle books?

Accepted Answer

This tutorial shows the steps to set the font for the puzzle titles and solution titles in your puzzle books.

By default, these puzzle and solution titles will be created with the font Arial. In most cases that should be fine, and Puzzle Maker Pro has been optimized to use this font.

However, starting at version 11.1, you can now use other fonts as well.

Choosing the font you want

Go to the Instant Puzzle Books tab and select the Titles Setup tab. There you'll see a Title Font Settings section.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/TvOo58GsO8/Title%20Font%20Selection%201.jpg (Title Font Selection 1.jpg)

Here you see the standard font preview panel that's also used in other places in Puzzle Maker Pro. You can click the white panel or click the small finder icon to go to the font setup panel.

For the puzzles and solutions titles, only the font will be used. Color and positioning settings are ignored.

Once you select a font and click OK, the font file name will be shown. In the screenshot you can see "Arial.ttf". That means everything is setup and you can create your puzzle book.

Manually selecting the font file for PDF output

In some cases, Puzzle Maker Pro will not be able to automatically find the proper font file. In those cases you'll see something like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/R909dAIjtt/Title%20Font%20Selection%202.jpg (Title Font Selection 2.jpg)

That means you'll have to locate the font file manually. (Without a font file, PDF's will use Arial, while Powerpoint will still use the font you selected).

You can click the "Manual Search" button, which will open the fonts folder on your computer:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ufgZm7SIPe/Title%20Font%20Selection%203.jpg (Title Font Selection 3.jpg)

The name of the font is prefilled in the Filename area. In the example you can see two files for that font family. The actual number of files you'll find will depend on the font you selected (obviously).

Note: Even though there appears to be a folder "\Windows\Fonts" on your computer, that's a virtual folder. The files you see there cannot be embedded in a PDF, that's why by default the Fonts folder in AppData is opened.

After selecting the font file, you'll see something like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/W84OSCVQ0i/Title%20Font%20Selection%204.jpg (Title Font Selection 4.jpg)

That means the font setup is complete.

Note: Puzzle Maker Pro will do its job even if you select a completely different font file. However, the results may not be what you expected.

Question 2

Can I use Arial (font) in my puzzle books?

Accepted Answer

Puzzle Maker Pro selects Arial as the default font to use for puzzles and puzzle books. A very relevant question is: Can you sell puzzle books where you use Arial to print all the letters and numbers?

Microsoft has a F.A.Q. section about this: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/fonts/font-faq.

Long story short: You can use Arial in your puzzle books "Unless you are using an application that is specifically licensed for home, student, or non-commercial use, we do not restrict you from selling the things you print and make using the Windows-supplied fonts"

If you choose to use another font, always check with the creator of the font (Microsoft, for most standard fonts) if you have the right to publish books with this font.

Question 3

How to create an Instant Puzzle Books with custom margin settings

Accepted Answer

In this tutorial we'll set up a puzzle book layout with different settings for left and right pages.

Step 1 - Set the puzzle options

In this example we'll work with Sudoku, which is one of the easiest puzzles to create - since there's no need to set up a word list or other input.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/5PqtIUAORB/1%20Set%20Puzzle%20Options.jpg (1 Set Puzzle Options.jpg)

We'll create just 2 pages, with 6 puzzles in total, to illustrate the layout options.

Step 2 - Set the Desired Output Type

In this case we'll create a Powerpoint file and a PDF.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/x7hOz2ziqj/2%20Output%20Type.jpg (2 Output Type.jpg)

Step 3 - Set up the Page Format

The next step is to set up the Page Format and the Margins.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/TGtbmgjGsS/3%20-%20Page%20Settings.jpg (3 - Page Settings.jpg)

1 - The Page Format or Trim Size

In this example we'll set it to 8.5"x11". You can use any trim size you want. However, with smaller trim sizes and large margins, there will not be much space left for the actual puzzles and solutions!

(For puzzle books generated with Puzzle Maker Pro, there's no need to use Bleed, unless you set the margins to zero. Normally the puzzles will be placed within the page margins, and not in the margins and bleed area.)

2 - Top and Bottom Margins

You can set these as desired.

3 - Left/Right Margins

Let's say you want different margins for left and right pages, because you want a larger gutter margin. In that case the "Left" Margin setting is used for the outer margins (left margin on the left page, right margin on the right page), and the "Right"setting is used for the inner margins (right margin on the left page, left margin on the right page).

To illustrate this in the output, we'll set a really large inner margin of 1.5".

4 - Mirror Margins

By default, if you would create a PDF or Powerpoint file (that can be exported to PDF with Powerpoint), the first page would be a right page (the front cover), the 2nd page would be a left page, etc.

However, if you use different margins for left and right pages, it's important to specify which page is the first one. However, if the first page is not a 'right' page, you'll have to add a cover page to your PDF or Powerpoint file manually.

We select "Mirror Margins", and unselect "First is Right Page". That means the first page is a left page, and you'll have to add the cover page later.

These are the settings to create different left/right margins in your puzzle book.

Step 4 - Page Layout

The final part to set up is the page layout:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/VFqrWNpxgb/4%20-%20Page%20Layout.jpg (4 - Page Layout.jpg)

Here you can set the number of rows and columns for the puzzle pages (1) and for the solution pages (2).

In addition to that, you can specify the padding (distance) between the puzzles (3). In this case it's set to 0.1"

Step 5 - Create

After setting the different options and settings to your taste, click "Create". Puzzle Maker Pro will now create the puzzles for you, and create the Instant Puzzle Books from those puzzles.

Here are screenshots of the Powerpoint results (first image) and PDF results (second image, only two pages shown).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/EuQdeQCyv5/5%20-%20Result.jpg (5 - Result.jpg)

Question 4

Sticker Factory (Plugin for Powerpoint) Tutorial Video

Accepted Answer

Sticker Factory (Plugin for Powerpoint) Tutorial Video

Question 5

Planner Links (Plugin for Powerpoint) Tutorial Video

Accepted Answer

Planner Links (Plugin for Powerpoint) Tutorial Video

Question 6

Link Finder (Plugin for Powerpoint) tutorial video

Accepted Answer

Link Finder (Plugin for Powerpoint) tutorial video

Question 7

Getting Started with Sticker Factory (Plugin for Powerpoint)

Accepted Answer

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 8

Getting Started with Link Finder (Plugin for Powerpoint)

Accepted Answer

Getting Started with Link Finder (Plugin for Powerpoint)

The Link Finder plugin for Powerpoint is a tool to help you manage all the invisible link shapes that you (or your designer) may have added to a Powerpoint file.

If you haven't yet installed it, please do that first. You can find a tutorial on how to install Link Finder and our other Powerpoint Plugins here. (Link Finder is included in the download for Easy Journals).

##Finding Links

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/FlzkMszl5R/Link%20Finder%2001%20-%20Set%20Up%20colors.jpg (Link Finder 01 - Set Up colors.jpg)

The slide that's shown in this screenshot contains a couple of invisible shapes with links to other slides. It's hard to find these, especially if you haven't created the slide yourself, or if it was created a long while ago.

In the plugin panel you can see only very few options:

The color (now set to a very bright green color). Invisible shapes will be set to this color,
Transparency, ranging from 0% to 100% transparent. Although it makes sense to make the shapes opaque, that would also mean you cannot see the shape below it (which may have meaningful text). That's why you can set transparency to e.g. 20%. (The best value depends on the color you select and the colors of the shapes in your Powerpoint file).
A selector for "Current Slide" or "All Slides".

Click "Find Links" to find the invisible (transparent) shapes that contain link. It will show something like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/IfR4VZLk8I/Link%20Finder%2002%20-%20Results.jpg (Link Finder 02 - Results.jpg)

Once you've done your inspection or editing, you can make the links transparent again by using "Hide Links". This will make the shapes fully transparent again, but it only works for shapes previously found with "Find Links".

Question 9

Getting Started with Planner Links (Plugin for Powerpoint)

Accepted Answer

Getting Started with Planner Links (Plugin for Powerpoint)

This plugin for Powerpoint offers an easy way to add links to your Digital Planners.

Digital Planners, planners that are shared as PDF's, usually have a table of contents or another way to navigate inside the document, that relies on links. For each shape or text in Powerpoint, you can add a link (also known as hyperlink) to specific slides or pages.

This is usually done by adding a hidden shape on top of the visible shape, because of the side effects of adding links directly to shapes with text (only the text is clickable).

Planner Links offers a transparent (pun intended) way to manage the invisible links, in three steps:

Add one or more tags to the slides that need to be linked to (the link targets)
Select tags to add to the shapes that can be clicked,
Generate the links for the document (or for a single slide).

If you haven't yet installed the plugin, you need to do that first. You can find a tutorial here. (Planner Links is installed with the download called Easy Journals).

Open the plugin panel, then follow the steps below.

Add Link Targets

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/MgMaUqIOrU/Planner%20Links%2001%20-%20Link%20Targets.jpg (Planner Links 01 - Link Targets.jpg)

To add tags to a slide, select the slide in Powerpoint (1). This wil automatically display the active tags for that slide (2). There can be more than one tag for each slide: For example, the first slide for a calendar could have tags "Calendar" and "January", while the second slide only has the tag "February".

After typing the new or changed tags in box (2), click the "Set Slide Tags" button (3). Automatically they will be displayed as available tags in list (4).

These tags are not visible in Powerpoint, however they will be saved as meta-data inside your Powerpoint file. (Meaning: they will be available in a next working session with the Powerpoint file).

Add Tags to Shapes

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Vw2orMxZiy/Planner%20Links%2002%20-%20Shape%20Link.jpg (Planner Links 02 - Shape Link.jpg)

Each shape (or text, or group) can have one tag (or none). It's not possible to add more than one tag, since that would mean you would want to link to more than one slide (page) at a time.

To add or change the tag for a shape, select the shape on your slide (1). After selecting it, you'll see the current tag for that shape (2). If you want to change it, you can select a tag in the list (3) and click "Add to Shape" (4), or remove the tag from the shape (5).

You can also select more than one shape and add the same tag to all selected shapes at once.

Create Links

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/CfJlCVL0MG/Planner%20Links%2003%20%20-%20Create%20Links.jpg (Planner Links 03 - Create Links.jpg)

To add (create) the actual links, select the "Create Links" tab.

You can choose to add links to the current slide or to all slides in the Powerpoint file (including Master Slides) (1). To Add Links, click "Add Links" (2). This will remove old links and add new ones. To only remove existing links, click "Remove Links" (3).

Note: These options will only remove links that were created with "Planner Links", it does not handle links and invisible shapes that were added manually.

Note: It is not possible to set a Master Slide as link target (for obvious reasons). However, you can add tags to shapes on Master Slides, these will be turned into links when you click "Add Links" (with the "All Slides" option enabled).

Question 10

Getting Started with Puzzle Maker Pro - Cross Sum

Accepted Answer

Getting Started with Puzzle Maker Pro - Cross Sum

For Cross Sum it's not just important to understand the software, but you also need to understand the puzzles themselves:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/HiKrCpIHM7/0-20210330105932-1-01-J-P.png (0-20210330105932-1-01-J-P.png)

The rules:

Place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares, to solve these simple equations
Calculate the steps from left to right, the first line would be (x + y) divided by z = 4, and top to bottom.
The outcome has to be zero or greater
Intermediate results have to be zero or greater
The outcome has to be an whole number, not a fraction.

The solution for this puzzle would be:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/F235Y4qjLd/0-20210330105932-1-01-J-S.png (0-20210330105932-1-01-J-S.png)

Creating Cross Sum puzzles with Puzzle Maker Pro

If this is the first time you're using Puzzle Maker Pro, there's an introduction of the main options here:

Getting Started with Puzzle Maker Pro

Information about the generic tabs in puzzle Maker Pro (Output Settings, Instant Puzzle Books and Tools) can be found here:

Puzzle Maker Pro - Tutorial Overview

When you start the Cross Sum module in Puzzle Maker Pro, you'll see a view like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/l31ILCpmjh/001%20Cross%20Sum%20Overview.jpg (001 Cross Sum Overview.jpg)

Cross Sum Standard

For standard Cross Sum puzzles, the rules are fixed. You can customize your puzzles by changing fonts, colors, adjusting the line width, etc.

Just click "Preview" when you make changes, to see a new puzzle in your customized style.

Cross Sum Variations

If you purchased the Cross Sum Variations module, you can change the rules for Cross Sum puzzles. Please be aware that you need to state clearly what the rules for a puzzle are, otherwise you'll confuse your customers.

Select the "Variations" tab, and select "Custom" to enable the different options.

Some of these options will allow you to create easier puzzles that can be used for teaching math.

You can combine the different options, but we'll show them one by one.

Select Operations

First of all, you can select with operations / operators are allowed. There are different options, such as only plus and minus.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/rUhHfJTKkg/010%20Cross%20Sum%20variations%20-%20Only%20Plus%20Minus.jpg (010 Cross Sum variations - Only Plus Minus.jpg)

Even though fewer operations are allowed, it doesn't necessarily mean that the puzzles are easier.

Negative Outcomes

Negative Outcomes, including intermediate steps, can be enabled. You'll get results like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/NxMeQ8TisP/011%20Cross%20Sum%20variations%20-%20Negative%20Allowed.jpg (011 Cross Sum variations - Negative Allowed.jpg)

Fraction Outcomes

Fraction Outcomes will be displayed as 3/4, instead of 0.75. These will be simplified as well, e.g. 12/16 will become 3/4.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/T8D8y1I338/012%20Cross%20Sum%20variations%20-%20Fractions%20Allowed.jpg (012 Cross Sum variations - Fractions Allowed.jpg)

Regular Math

As stated in the first section, Cross Sum puzzles are calculated from left to right. This may feel unnatural, and you can change the math rules, by selecting "Regular Math". This will enable the order of operations you've learned in school with PEMDAS (or similar acronyms).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/DArxscd5Sj/013%20Cross%20Sum%20variations%20-%20Regular%20Math.jpg (013 Cross Sum variations - Regular Math.jpg)

Normally, the first line would be solved as (4 + 2) x 8, or 6 x 8 = 48. However, with the regular math option, it will be processed as 4 + (2 x 8) = 4 + (16) = 20.

Custom Numbers

Last but not least, you can enter custom numbers. There are two options to add a consecutive range, either select 11-19, or select "Base + 1 to 9" and enter a number. For example entering 25 would give you the numbers 26 to 34.

In the example we've used custom numbers:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/6cpRGNWeLY/014%20Cross%20Sum%20variations%20-%20Numbers%2020.jpg (014 Cross Sum variations - Numbers 20.jpg)

Another option is to type the numbers, separated by spaces or commas. You can be creative here, but be careful to explain your custom rules to your customers!