Holt Puzzle Pro is the fun way to practice vocabulary skills. Build
word searches and puzzles with terms contained in each chapter
or customize your puzzle by adding your own material from the text.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. If your textbook appears on the list of licensed textbooks at http://www.palmbeachschools.org/9228/holtpuzzlepro/,
then please see your ITSA or STST to have Holt PuzzlePro installed on your computer. You will need to inform the
ITSA or STST of which textbook you use.
2. When the main menu screen appears,
click on the type of puzzle you would like to
create. For an example, we will create a crossword puzzle.
3. If the table of contents for your book does not appear on
the screen, use the drop-down menu for “Vocabulary Bank”
and select “Edit Bank”. If several books are listed, select the
desired book title. Some books also have Spanish puzzles,
and these lists can be accessed with this same drop-down
menu.
4. If necessary, click the “Puzzle” tab at the top of the screen and once again
select the type of puzzle. The table of the contents of your book should appear
on the left-hand side of the screen. Put your cursor on one of the chapters to
highlight it and then click “Next” at the bottom of the screen.
5. Enter a puzzle title in the first box on the left
of the screen. Notice the “Options” box. Decide
if you want to include clues or show
intersecting letters. Click on the boxes in front
of the options you select and a small X will
appear.
6. Notice the vocabulary words listed on the
right side of the screen. Click on the words you
want to include in the puzzle. As you click on
each word it will be highlighted and a small
plus sign will be inserted in front of the
selected word. After selecting your words, click
“Create Puzzle”.
7. Once the puzzle is created, save it to your My Documents folder (you will need
to click My Documents, otherwise PuzzlePro will save to the local hard drive,
which is not recommended). From this same screen you may print the puzzle to
have an answer key and then hide the answers to print it for students.
Main Menu Help Topics:
Creating the Puzzle:
Holt PuzzlePro offers the ability to create four different puzzle types.
Crossword: Fill in the boxes both down and across with intersecting terms.
Word Search: Find the terms hidden in a field of random letters.
Jumble: Unscramble the letters to reveal each term.
Cryptogram: Crack the code to find each term’s definition.
Click a puzzle choice from the puzzle menu or from a main menu icon to open the puzzle editor.
Loading a Puzzle:
Click Load Puzzle in the puzzle menu, and then choose the puzzle file (.puz) you want to open. Note that a
previously saved puzzle file can be opened, viewed, and printed, however, it cannot be modified.
Deleting a Puzzle:
Click Delete Puzzle in the puzzle menu, and then choose the puzzle file you want to delete. Note that once a
puzzle is deleted, it cannot be retrieved again.
Editing a Bank:
Click Edit Bank in the Vocabulary Bank menu. This will open a screen that allows you to either delete an entire
vocabulary bank or modify it by reverting it to its original state. Note that Holt PuzzlePro must contain at least one
bank in order to function.
Editing a List:
Click Edit List in the Vocabulary Bank menu. This will open a screen that allows you to revert or delete any list
contained in the Holt PuzzlePro, edit the name of a list, or add a list of your own associated with the selected
vocabulary bank.
Editing a Term:
Click Edit Term in the Vocabulary Bank menu. This will open a screen that allows you to edit any term and its
definition, delete any term, modify which lists a term is associated with, or add a term of your own to an existing
list. Note that deleting a term removes it from all lists that contain it.
Downloading a New Bank:
Click Download a New Bank in the Vocabulary Bank menu. This will open your web browser to the appropriate
page on HRW’s website. Follow the instructions on that page to download the new content. Note that you must
have an internet connection and a web browser installed in order to use this feature.
Exiting Holt PuzzlePro:
Click the Exit button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Then click OK to confirm your choice.
Help Topics within Different Puzzles:
Entering a Puzzle Title:
A default title will be in the title field. If desired, you may elect to keep this title for your puzzle, or you may change it.
To change the title, click the left mouse button and drag over the text to select it. Then type the new title.
Entering Puzzle Instructions:
Default instructions will be in the puzzle instructions field. If desired, you may elect to keep these instructions for
your puzzle, or you may change them. To change the instructions, click the left mouse button and drag over the text
to select it. Then type the new instructions.
Inserting Special Characters:
You may insert a variety of non-standard characters into the puzzle title and instructions on this screen. There are
two ways to insert special characters into the text:
• Click the Special Characters button, then click the desired character in the menu that appears and click OK.
The character will appear in the text next to the cursor.
• Place the text cursor where the non-standard character should appear. Then type the key code for the desired
character. Note that rolling over any character in the special character menu will display that character’s key
code.
Choosing Terms:
You may use up to 20 terms in a single puzzle. There are two ways to specify which terms to use in a puzzle:
• Hand-select terms: To select a term, click its name in the menu. A plus sign will appear next to the term. Click
a term again to deselect it.
• Randomly select terms: Click the Randomly Select Terms button. Enter the number of terms you want the
computer to select and then click OK. A plus sign will appear next to each selected term. Once the random
selections are made, you may edit these by selecting and deselecting a term as desired.
Choosing Puzzle Options (Crossword):
There are two additional options for creating a crossword:
• Number clues: This option will start out selected. You may deselect it to remove the number labels, thereby
increasing the difficulty of the puzzle.
• Show intersecting letters: Select this option to reveal the letters at the intersection of terms. This will provide
additional clues to the identify of the terms, thereby decreasing the difficulty of the puzzle. You may choose to
employ one, both, or neither of these puzzle options by clicking the checkboxes to select or deselect them.
Choosing Puzzle Options (Word Search):
There is one additional option for creating a word search:
• Use definitions instead of terms as clues: The definitions of the terms are given as clues to the terms to find,
rather than the terms themselves. This option will start out deselected. You may choose to employ it by clicking
the checkbox to select it.
Choosing Puzzle Options (Cryptogram):
There is one additional option for creating a cryptogram:
are pre-filled in as a default. If
• Fill in additional letters in answer: In a cryptogram, the letters in the term
there are few letters in the term, some letters may also be pre-filled as a default in the definition. This option
allows you to specify up to 10 letters, in addition to the defaulted ones, to pre-fill in the puzzle. This option will
start out deselected. You may choose to employ it by clicking the checkbox to select it, then selecting the
number of letters in addition to the default ones to pre-fill.
Help Topics within Different Puzzles:
Creating the Puzzle:
Once the puzzle terms and options are selected, click the Create Puzzle button. At least one term must be selected
in order to create a puzzle.
Puzzle Menu:
You may choose the options in the Puzzle Menu to change the type of puzzle you are creating, load any previouslycreated puzzle, or delete a puzzle. If you choose to load a puzzle, you may view and print it; however, it cannot be
modified. If you choose to delete a puzzle, it cannot be retrieved again.
Vocabulary Bank:
You may use the options in the Puzzle menu to edit a bank, list, or term, or to download a new bank into Holt
PuzzlePro. If you choose to edit a bank, list, or term, any choices you have made in the puzzle editor will not be
retained.
Printing:
Notice that once you have created a puzzle, you may print it with the answers to use as an answer key. Then you
may click the Hide Answers button to print the calendar for the students. You may also choose Print Puzzle or Print
Answer from the buttons at the bottom of the puzzle screen.
Exiting Holt PuzzlePro:
Click the Exit button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Then click OK to confirm your choice.
Creating a Puzzle in Spanish (not available for all books):
To create a puzzle in Spanish, select the type of puzzle you want to create crossword, word search, jumble, or
cryptogram). Once you are in the main menu of the puzzle, the list of chapters in the book will appear. At the top of
this list there is a drop-down menu in the bank field. Click on it to select either English or Spanish. All other
directions for creating puzzles remain the same.