Crossword Forge

Crossword Forge is an easy to use crossword and word search making utility. It is designed to make high quality crossword and word search puzzles. It allows creating, modifying, printing, saving, restoring and exporting puzzles (interactive web, pdf, text, and images @ 72 dpi) and their answer keys. You will find basic instructions in the Help Menu.

Purchase: Product Overview: Latest Version: User Forum:Support: (hint: replace ' AT ' with '@')Phone: (512) 853-9645Fax: (815) 550-1744

For those who wish to give us credit in publications made with the aid of Crossword Forge, you can use something like the following:This puzzle was created using Crossword Forge Credit is not required, but it is appreciated.

What's New:Version 6.3.5 (August 5, 2011)- Various minor improvements.

Version 6.3.4 (July 11, 2011)- In cases where the backdrop picture is not found, Crossword Forge will now prompt the user with the previous backdrop picture's name. This should make finding the file easier.- Right clicking on the backdrop preview pane allows you to show the backdrop picture file in the file system. This is great if you want to package the file for sending it with the puzzle.

Version 6.3.3 (June 17, 2011)- The size selector list works again. - We made various improvements to the English and German language application text. These changes were made with an attempt to improve the application's ease of use.

Version 6.3.2 (June 3, 2011)- Various under the hood changes.

Version 6.3.1 (May 12, 2011)- You can select fractional font sizes. Fractional font sizes have an effect on PDF export.- Improved the puzzle making status window to display more user friendly and accurate time estimates.- Fixed web export, file save, and mask saving issues introduced in version 6.3.

Version 6.3 (April 26, 2011)- Dragging an image to the backdrop image preview area will now change the backdrop type to image (previously it only changed the preview area, but required an additional click to get it to change the backdrop type).- Various minor cosmetic improvements.

Version 6.2.2 (April 1, 2011)- Improved the stability of the puzzle engine when running on Microsoft Windows.- Fixed a problem where the alphabet palette would fail to update after a change to the alphabet of the current language. It used to be necessary to switch to another language and back, before an update would occur. This language toggle is no longer necessary.- Fixed a problem where the capitalization policy when changed was not being applied to the current word search's random letters. - Fixed a problem where the "Preserve Case" capitalization policy would require a new call to "Make Puzzle" to take effect. See limitations of this change in the known issue below.

- Known Issue: If the capitalization policy for a language is changed to "Preserve Case", existing puzzles may need to be rebuilt in order to fix cases where a lower-case letter crosses the same grid space as a capital letter (or vice versa). No warning is given to this effect when the policy is changed or when a puzzle is opened that may have been built with a different capitalization policy. To ensure that capitalization is fully preserved for every letter in the grid we recommend that puzzles be remade in cases where the capitalization policy changes to "Preserve Case".

Version 6.2.1 (March 7, 2011)- Windows version no longer confuses bonus clues with regular clues.- Added 389 combining code marks from the most recent Unicode standard. This adds symbols from Cyrillic, Hebrew, Arabic, Nko, Samaritan, Mandaic, Devanagari, Gurmukhi, Oriya, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Myanmar, Ethiopic, Thai, Balinese, Sudanese, Batak, Lepcha, Vedic, Coptic, Various International Symbols etc.- Added an "Insert Character Joiner" button in the Alphabet palette. This allows you to combine two characters into the same puzzle block. If for example you wanted to make a puzzle that showcased constants blends you could put the joiner between consonant blends so that they would stick together in the puzzle. This is also useful for languages like Kannada.

Version 6.2 (February 8, 2011)- Making a puzzle on Windows is more responsive and stable.- Editing the title is much quicker than in previous versions of Crossword Forge.- Changing puzzle settings no longer causes extra refreshes on Windows and is generally faster on all platforms.- Vertically scrolling a multi-page puzzle no longer causes the puzzle numbering and page numbering to miscalculate.- Any extremely long clue (longer than 1 page in height) no longer overdraws the page bounds, but will instead be truncated.

Version 6.1.13 (January 25, 2011)- Split "Attempt to fit" into a minimum and a maximum. You can specify a lower and upper bound to an acceptable puzzle. If specified, Crossword Forge will attempt to fit at least the minimum number of answers in the puzzle but no more than the maximum. "Bonus" and "Word Bank Only" answers are not included in this calculation, but instead are added in addition to any min and max specified.- Tab order should now be more intuitive.- Minor improvements added.

Version 6.1.12 (December 23, 2010)- Some randomness still occurred in puzzle making with randomize each puzzle making attempt turned off. This has been rectified.- Minor improvements added.

Version 6.1.11 (December 20, 2010)- Using page margins on a fresh launch of Crossword Forge no longer causes errors.- Minor improvements added.

Windows Version Improvements:- Pressing Control S to save a puzzle that has not previously been saved no longer causes a "forced save to the desktop".- No longer fails to export pdf, text, and image versions of the puzzle if the title has a '/' in it.

Version 6.1.10 (September 2, 2010)- The "Words Fit" metric of the "Puzzle Info" window is now more comprehensible.- The "Puzzle Info" window now updates automatically when a puzzle is opened and when the "Attempt to fit" value is changed.- The "Puzzle Info" window was widened.- "Desired Block Size" was moved lower visually so that it is more closely grouped with the "Actual Block Size" and "Maximum Block Size" labels.

Version 6.1.9 (August 6, 2010)- Turning on diagonal symmetry in the puzzle mask editor no longer has the effect of switching off horizontal symmetry.- The pencil tool in the puzzle mask editor is now highlighted when the editor first appears.

Version 6.1.8 (July 13, 2010)- Improved behavior on Microsoft Windows with small screens e.g. Netbook screens.- Includes various minor improvements.

Version 6.1.7 (May 25, 2010)- Having more than 1 puzzle open, no longer affects the random letters for word search puzzles.- In rare cases the random letters of a word search puzzle would change every time the puzzle was redrawn. This no longer occurs.- Includes various minor improvements.

Version 6.1.6 (April 28, 2010)- Changes to the bonus clue's answer no longer force the puzzle to be remade. This allows you to tweak the bonus clue until it fits.- Changes to a clue or answer no longer cause Crossword Forge to forget the clue type.- Includes various minor improvements.

Version 6.1.5 (February 25, 2010)- Fixed issues where the restricted word list wasn't getting checked as thoroughly as needed.- Added information about the position and direction of words found by the restricted word checker.- Includes various minor improvements.

Version 6.1.4 (December 2, 2009)- Fixed the Open Recent menu so that it saves items between launches on a consistent basis (broken in version 6.1).- Includes various minor improvements.

Version 6.1.2/6.1.3 (October 26, 2009)- Includes various minor improvements.

Version 6.1.1 (October 15, 2009)- Now works with right to left languages again like Arabic and Hebrew. Broken in 6.0.- Other minor improvements.

Version 6.1 (October 14, 2009)- Added a diagonal mirror in the puzzle mask editor. This reflects any changes to the mask diagonally. To get mirroring in all 4 quadrants turn on the horizontal, vertical and diagonal mirrors.- Blocks with puzzle letters in the mask editor now have a grey background. This makes their edges easier to see for all background types and colors, and allows higher fidelity when masking out background pictures.- Other minor improvements.

Version 6.0.4 (October 8, 2009)- Now honors the "Attempt to fit ___ answers in puzzle" for crossword puzzles again. NOTE: If "Allow Dense Word Clusters" is on, the final answer count can be a little higher than what is specified. - The puzzle info window is now more accurate at displaying the number of words fit into the puzzle.- No longer causes stack overflow exceptions when flood filling a large puzzle mask.- The installed unlock codes upgrade eligibility is now displayed in the "About Crossword Forge" dialog. NOTE: This display text does not constitute proof of purchase.- Other Minor improvements.

ADVANCED: Some Windows users have been experiencing stability issues with Crossword Forge 6 series. We are still investigating this issue. If you fall into this category, you may be able to avoid the problem by doing the following: In Crossword Forge, hold the shift key, click on the "Edit" menu and choose "Debug Settings". Uncheck the "Use Threads" checkbox. Press "OK". This option will revert the next time you launch Crossword Forge.

Version 6.0.3 (September 19, 2009)- Users on Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (and possibly others) can now unlock Crossword Forge.- Removed spurious error that appeared at the start of Crossword Forge Live puzzles.

Version 6.0.2 (September 18, 2009)Windows Bug Fixes & Changes- No longer shows an error when unlocking from the opening screen.- Added a edit menu to the "Word Suggester" so that you can copy and paste words.- Making a puzzle no longer causes (not responding) messages to be appended to the title.- The "Puzzle Making Status" now contains additional buttons and functionality to allow you to control puzzle making. It is now consistent with the Mac version.- The "Puzzle Mask Editor" no longer leaves a green trail when moving the mouse over the puzzle mask surface.

Other Changes- The "Word Suggester" "Usage Help" now has some workflow tips and suggestions.- Other minor improvements.

Version 6.0.1 (September 18, 2009)Bug Fixes & Changes- Includes various minor improvements.

Version 6.0 (September 17, 2009)New Features- Upgraded the crossword engine to allow for MUCH denser puzzles.- Added a puzzle mask editor. This is great if you want build a puzzle in a particular shape, if you want make sure the puzzle doesn't cover up a certain part of your backdrop picture, or if you want to give Crossword Forge some hints to build a puzzle in an exact way.- Added a "Word Suggester" window. This tool helps you find the perfect word to fit in the last remaining spot on your puzzle. Just type the letters you know and tell Crossword Forge about the letters you don't, and it will search through its 170,000+ word English dictionary to give you great suggestions that you can use to update your puzzle.- Added a Get Info window. This allows you to see interesting stats about the currently selected puzzle.- Added an advanced tab to preferences which allows you to fine tune the puzzle making process. You choose if you want the best puzzles or if you're in a hurry you just want a quick puzzle.

Bug Fixes & Changes- Status window now displays a density metric, all other things being equal denser puzzles are preferred.- Time left now displays in minutes and seconds (not just seconds).- When backdrop is set to "No Backdrop" Crossword Forge no longer truncates the size of the puzzle. Users can trim the puzzle manually if they need to.- Includes numerous other bug fixes and changes.

Version 5.6.1 (Soft Release - September 15, 2009)- Web puzzles now contain the same random letter set as their printed counterparts. This means that if you've evaluated a puzzle for restricted words, no-reevaluation for the live puzzle is necessary.- Web puzzles now honor the clue size and color more faithfully.

Version 5.6 (August 11, 2009)- Fixed a problem with clue numbers bunching up when the clues are empty. (broken in version 5.3.3)- Other minor improvements.

Version 5.5.12 (August 3, 2009)- Minor change made to the Crossword Forge tour script.

Changes for Windows- Now draws the backdrop picture for word search puzzles on Windows.

Version 5.5.11 (July 23, 2009)- Fixed issues related to web export. The puzzle.xml and backdrop.jpg file names are appropriately cleansed for online use (no more spaces etc.).- Unicode spacing modifiers are now grouped with their base character by default (no manual editing of Crossword Forge preferences is necessary). This means that languages like Salish and Kootenai that rely on these marks work correctly out of the box.- Some translation inconsistencies in the German version of Crossword Forge have been cleared up.- Fixed a cosmetic issue with the Crossword Forge Icon.

Version 5.5.10 (June 5, 2009)- The Page Margins Dialog now works properly for systems where the decimal separator is "," and not "." (This makes a big difference for most European countries).- Other minor improvements.

Version 5.5.9 (May 27, 2009)- Improved error reporting.

Version 5.5.8 (April 8, 2009)- Fixed a problem where the preferences window wouldn't show in some cases.- Fixed minor cosmetic problems with spell checking on Mac OS X, when changing the language in the advanced tab.

Version 5.5.7 (February 27, 2009)- Dramatically better performance when using backdrop pictures that have a high pixel count.

Version 5.5.6 (February 17, 2009)- Version 5.5.5 had some unfortunate un-intended consequences, we've re-engineered those changes.- We changed the empty puzzle clue example to result in a word with letters (not numbers) so that it integrates better with what the user will type.

Version 5.5.5 (February 11, 2009)- Minor improvements.

Version 5.5.4 (January 1, 2009)- Old puzzles (earlier than 5.5) no longer have messed up margins when loading into the latest version of Crossword Forge.

Version 5.5.3 (November 21, 2008)- Export: Image now allows you to export the whole puzzle (not just the puzzle grid). PDF export is still the recommended export option for desktop publishing.- Some text in the German version was displaying in English, this is no longer the case.- Various other improvements.

Version 5.5.1 (September 19, 2008)- Using the "Page Setup" button within the "Page Margins" dialog now works properly.

Version 5.5 (September 16, 2008)- Added a quicker and easier way to change the page margins. See "Page Margins" in the File menu.

Version 5.4 (August 19, 2008)- Added a "Revert To Saved" menu option. Keep in mind that using Revert will empty the undo stack, i.e. it is not possible to Undo a Revert.- Various other improvements.

Version 5.3.6 (August 5, 2008)- Web crossword and word search puzzles now account for their height better than previously in situations where a word bank or bonusclue is present.- Dragging rows to re-order them works much better than previously.

Version 5.3.5 (July 22, 2008)- Remembers changes you make to the puzzle's web export name.- Fixed an issue where the across numbers could get printed outside the printable area (broken in version 5.3.3)- Various other improvements.

Version 5.3.4 (July 18, 2008)- Included a link to our new Crossword Forge internet forum.- Fixed an issue where the word search clues were positioned too close to the puzzle grid (broken in version 5.3.3)

Version 5.3.3 (July 1, 2008)- Printed crossword puzzles now have decimal aligned clue numbers.- Crossword Forge Live puzzles are now better at honoring color, font and size of their print counterparts.- Fixed issues where for large font sizes the word bank could overlap the puzzle grid.- Various other improvements.

Version 5.3.2 (May 1, 2008)- Works better with Mac OS X Leopard.- Minor fixes to the open recent item menu.- Improved error reporting.

Version 5.3.1 (April 21, 2008)- Includes various minor cosmetic improvements.

Version 5.3 (February 25, 2008)- You can now specify where the clues will be placed for web puzzles: on the left, right or below the grid. - You can now specify whether you can see both the across and down list at the same time, or if they maximize to fill their space.- You can now publish more than one web puzzle in the same directory. Some web hosts require that all user content must be in the same directory. This web host limitation no longer causes a problem for Crossword Forge. It is your responsibility to make sure each html file uses a unique name.- You can now hide branding and links in web puzzles.- You can now tweak your web settings before a preview. Previously this would require a trip to the export dialog.- Various other improvements.

Version 5.2.8 (January 22, 2008)- Fixed issues with editing clues in list mode when sorted by other than the first column.- List view automatically resorts as appropriate.- The new clue (i.e. the blank one) always sorts to the bottom of the list for easier data entry.- The new clue isn't added until it's needed when tabbing through the list view, this behavior should be less distracting.- Various other improvements.

Version 5.2.7 (January 15, 2008)- Includes various minor improvements.

Version 5.2.6 (December 21, 2007)- Now imports and exports .csv files (to export chose text export with a comma as the delimiter), improving Crossword Forge's interoperability with Microsoft Excel, Apple's Numbers and other programs that support .csv. - Added an option to trim white space when importing text files or text from the clipboard.- Added support for alternate delimiters for text import and export. You can now specify a comma delimiter or any other delimiter of you're choosing.- Other minor improvements.

Version 5.2.5 (December 6, 2007)- The Crossword Forge toolbar now works in the windows version as well.- The print function in "Crossword Forge Live" puzzle has been improved such that one can see all of the clues in the printout, makingit possible for you to complete the puzzle offline.- The trim function is now available in the toolbar.- Other minor improvements.

Version 5.2.4 (November 1, 2007)- Changed the Crossword Forge toolbar icons to look better in Leopard. (Change is only visible in Mac OS X version).

Version 5.2.3 (October 1, 2007)- Fixed a problem where text lines weren't wrapping properly with PDF export.- Fixed a problem where the box surrounding word search puzzles wasn't printing in the right spot under Windows, and wouldn't scroll horizontally as appropriate.

Version 5.2.2 (September 21, 2007)- Fixed a problem where the save dialog wouldn't show on Windows if your puzzle title contained special characters like the colon.

Version 5.2.1 (September 10, 2007)- Minor improvements.

Version 5.2 (August 22, 2007)- Fixed a stability issue caused when deleting all of the text in the last clue.- Fixed a problem with the Undo/Redo system for actions that were threaded (e.g. Making a Puzzle). These now undo/redo properly again.- Reduced screen flicker when loading and making puzzles.- Various other improvements.

Version 5.1.14 (August 20, 2007)- Fixed a text direction problem with right to left languages like Hebrew and Arabic.

Version 5.1.13 (August 15, 2007)- You can now paste in a list of words into the list view and it will know to place these items in the answer column (instead of the clue column). Your are still able to copy and paste clue, answer, and answer type from one puzzle to another.- Added a contextual menu which will sort the answers alphabetically or randomize them. The word bank is shown in this order. NOTE: The puzzle grid will need to be recomputed. Press "Make Puzzle" to do that.- Added Esperanto as an official language set.- Various other improvements.

Version 5.1.12 (July 31, 2007)- Improved Text Import/Export. Now saves unicode files with the "byte oder mark" which allows other programs to correctly guess the encoding. Crossword Forge will also now guess the encoding when importing a file, making the importing process easier.- Improved word search algorithm.- Improved support for OSX long file names.- Improved centering for word search word banks.- Various other improvements.

Version 5.1.11 (July 17, 2007)- Improved word search algorithm. Now faster and fits more words in grid.- Improved built-in PDF Export. Now supports fonts besides Courier, Helvetica, Times, Symbol, and Zapf Dingbats.- Improved built-in PDF Export. Now supports the underline style.- It's again possible to create word search puzzles without diagonals.- Various other improvements.

Version 5.1.10 (July 5, 2007)- Tighter fit for both crosswords and word searches. This means that clues and word banks are less likely to spill onto a second page.- Improved grid fit for word search words where a max answer limit is set.- Various other improvements.

Version 5.1.9 (June 20, 2007)- Improved fit for word search words. Fits more words in a tighter space.- Added a preference for extracting symbols and marks. This is useful if you would like a word like 'x-ray' to not include the hyphen in the grid but include it in the word bank. To configure this option go to the preferences. By default this option is off for current users and on for new users of the program. To get the new user experience, current users can press the "Load Defaults" button within preferences.- Improved PDF Export. Fixed minor variances with the PDF specification.- Other minor improvements.

Version 5.1.8 (June 11, 2007)- Now shows page margins on screen. To see this the puzzle preview area needs to be bigger than the page. You can set the margins using File > Page Setup.- Improved PDF export. Text positioning in PDF export now matches the print output exactly, previously the pdf export letters were slightly lower on the page.- Other minor improvements.

Version 5.1.7 (May 24, 2007)- Improved PDF exporta. Now honors the margins given in "Page Setup" more faithfully.b. Now draws round rectangles for the word search answer key as appropriate.c. The crossword puzzle grid now lines up better.- Now draws a border around word search puzzles which have "solid backdrop" turned off. Since the new border's color changes with the backdrop color, you can "remove" the border by changing this color to white.- Can now make puzzles with less answers than given. Crossword Forge will consider all options when making the puzzle but stops when it reaches the limits you have specified.- Fixed a problem when making puzzles with large data sets. Crossword Forge wouldn't update unless you moved the mouse.- Controls in the "Puzzle Update Status" window are now more responsive.- Other minor improvements.

Version 5.1.6 (May 10, 2007)- Clue and answer fields now use different fonts. This is great for using non-unicode foreign language fonts in a bilingual puzzle.- Added an additional text import format, which allows you to mirror the clue and answer fields.- Improved word search printing when clues are enabled.- Other minor improvements.

Note: Crossword Forge's answer key displays the answer in brackets after the clue. These bracketed answers are still displayed in the clue font.

Version 5.1.5 (April 18, 2007)- Crossword Forge Live puzzles no longer hide their top if no title is specified.- The Update Puzzle Menu item now has 2 sub-items. New and Changed works just like the old "Update Puzzle" and updates the puzzle with items that have changed or are new since the last Make Puzzle. "New, Changed, or Selected" also reconsiders the placement of the currently selected items. If you are in the clue list view, you can select multiple clues for this operation.- "Update Puzzle (New, Changed, or Selected)" will now work if you have every item selected. Previously it would remove all the items, and a subsequent "Make Puzzle" was needed.- "Update Puzzle (New, Changed, or Selected)" now guarantees that selected items will not return to their original location if it is at all possible that they can be moved.- Other minor improvements.

Note: There is no guarantee that a selected item won't be removed such that the puzzle is left disjoint after calling "Update Puzzle (New, Changed, or Selected)".

Note: There is no guarantee that a selected item will be positioned (even it was previously positioned) after calling "Update Puzzle (New, Changed, or Selected)".

Note: The "Update Puzzle (New, Changed, or Selected)" operation is equivalent to the clue list contextual menu "Update Puzzle (Include Selected Items)" that was available in previous versions of Crossword Forge. The feature has been renamed and has several new enhancements (see above).

Version 5.1.4 (April 6, 2007)- Now scrolls a misspelled word into view if needed.- The Windows spell checker will no longer count single letters by themselves as misspellings (e.g. in the text "option b" "b" will no longer be considered to be a misspelling).- Crossword Forge Live puzzle's clue lists now display and hide their horizontal scrollbar as their areas resize. Previously it used the initial size to determine whether a horizontal scrollbar was necessary.

Version 5.1.3 (February 28, 2007)- Fixed issues with saving on Windows 98.- You can now resize puzzle editor and the font editor with newly added divider widgets. This comes in handy when working on small computer screens (e.g. 800x600)- Other minor improvements.

Version 5.1.2 (February 6, 2007)- More efficient at making crossword puzzles.- Other minor improvements.

Version 5.1.1 (February 1, 2007)- Fixes weird behavior when quitting after making word search puzzles (introduced in version 5.1).- Using the up and down arrow now works properly in the list view.- Improved the Mac OS X spell checking dialog to behave more consistently with how it works in other OS X applications such as Pages or TextEdit.- Reduced flicker on Windows XP.- Other minor improvements.

Version 5.1 (January 25, 2007)- Added an "Update Puzzle" command in the "Edit" menu. This command allows you keep the puzzle grid as it currently is, but incorporates any changes (new clues, answer spelling changes) you have made onto that grid.- Added a contextual menu command to the clue list view which will randomly reposition the selected answers in the grid (if it can). Because this is a random process, the answer may stay in the same location as it started.- Now maintains the currently selected clues (list view) after making or updating the puzzle. This comes in handy if you want to use repositioning contextual menu several times in sequence.- Deleting a "clue/answer pair" now immediately removes the answer from the grid. This avoids various issues that could previously affect online puzzles in this situation. It should be noted that using delete in this way can produce islands in the grid. If you want islands this is a good way to do it, if you don't, press "Make Puzzle" again and the puzzle will be completely re-made without islands.- Column widths are now computed properly for word search puzzles with word bank scrambling turned on.- Deleting clues when the list view is sorted now deletes the correct clue.- Other minor improvements.

Version 5.0.1 (December 6, 2006)- Now reliably honors the "scramble word bank" option of online word search puzzles.- Visually improved "Crossword Forge Live" loading.- In the rare case that Crossword Forge encounters an error during program startup, it is now more likely to recover.

Version 5.0 (December 4, 2006)- Now builds interactive word search puzzles.- 'Greek' is now a built-in supported language.- Intel Macs now use Mac OS X's built-in multilingual spell checker. PowerPC Macs were already using that technology.- Now does copy and paste properly from the clue list view.- The positioned column of the clue list is no longer partially hidden.- Other minor improvements.

Version 4.7.5 (November 7, 2006)- Fixes issues caused by dragging a clue to the bottom of the list. These issues were introduced in version 4.7.- Reduces refresh when typing clues in list view (Windows).- Other minor improvements.

Version 4.7.4 (October 24, 2006)- Crossword Forge Live can now use the '