Word search

At a glance

• Cost: each puzzle uses 1 page from your balance. Solution pages and exporting are free. The free trial includes 40 pages. See Pages & billing.
• Size: 1 to 100 puzzles per book. Three grid sizes, three difficulty levels, four KDP trim sizes.
• Words: from a built-in theme. Nothing to type, and no AI.
• Where it lands: the standard editor, ready to review and export.

Make a word search book

1. 1

   Open the Word Search wizard

   In the left menu, click Book Generation to expand it, then click Word Search Books. You can also start from Paige’s product chooser: under Puzzle books, click the Word search card and then Next.

   

2. 2

   Name the book and pick how many puzzles

   In Project title, type your book’s title (up to 100 characters). It starts as “Word Search Volume 1”.

   Under Number of puzzles, click 10, 20, 30, 50, or 100. You can also type 1 to 100 in the box after “or”, or drag the slider. The line underneath reads “Each puzzle uses 1 page. Solutions are free. You have N pages.”

3. 3

   Pick the grid size, theme, and difficulty

   Under Grid size, pick one:

   • 15 × 15, Quick solve: up to 12 hidden words
   • 20 × 20, Standard (the default): up to 20 words
   • 25 × 25, Large print: up to 28 words

   Under Theme, click a word list:

   • Animals (48 words)
   • Christmas (35 words)
   • US states (39 words)
   • Sports (35 words)
   • Food (39 words)
   • Body parts (34 words)
   • Music (40 words)

   Under Difficulty, choose which ways words can run:

   • Easy: right + down only. Good for kids and beginners.
   • Medium: plus diagonals (the default). A good middle ground.
   • Hard: all 8 directions + reversed. The puzzle-magazine standard for adults.

   The sample grid on the right redraws when you change any of these, and New sample shows another one for free.

   

4. 4

   Pick the solutions layout and trim size

   Scroll down to Solutions per page and choose 1 per page (full size) or 4 per page (a 2×2 grid that saves paper). There’s no 9-up option, because answer grids get too small to read. You can’t change this after the book is made.

   Under Trim size, pick 8.5 × 11 (the default), 8 × 10, 7 × 10, or 6 × 9 inches to match your KDP trim.

   Name pattern sets how pages are numbered: Sequential (“Word Search 1”, “Word Search 2”, …) or Roman (“Word Search I”, “Word Search II”, …); solutions follow the same pattern. Font sets the typeface for the puzzles and solutions: Helvetica, Times or Courier. The PDF embeds a matching open font (Arimo, Tinos or Cousine) so KDP accepts the file.

5. 5

   Generate the book

   Click Generate book — uses N pages at the bottom of the card. The button changes to “Generating…” and a progress bar counts the finished puzzles.

   Keep this tab open until it finishes. Most books take a few seconds.

   When it’s done you’ll see “Word search book generated” and go straight to the editor. Each puzzle made uses 1 page from your balance.

6. 6

   Review the book in the editor

   The editor opens on Word Search 1, showing the letter grid. The word bank isn’t shown in the editor, but it’s printed under the grid in the exported PDF. The page strip along the bottom holds every puzzle first, then the solutions. These tiles show a page number instead of a picture, so click one to see the page.

   Word search pages can’t be edited: you can’t change the grid or add text or pictures. You can drag pages in the strip to reorder them, and add a frame from the right sidebar’s Border section.

   

   

7. 7

   Add more puzzles (optional)

   In the left sidebar, click Word Search. The Coloring Page panel is open by default, so click Word Search to switch. New puzzles use the book’s theme, grid size, and difficulty. Choose How many (5, 10, 20, or type up to 50) and click Add to book. The line above the button shows the price.

   

8. 8

   Export the PDF

   Click Export PDF in the top bar. Each puzzle page prints the title, the letter grid, and the word bank. After the puzzles comes a page titled Solutions, then the marked-up grids. Exporting doesn’t use your balance. After a print-ready export, the Upload to Amazon KDP guide opens.

   Trial downloads are watermarked previews. The print-ready file comes with your plan, or unlock one book for $24.

Good to know

• Page count. KDP paperbacks need at least 24 interior pages. Your book has one page per puzzle, plus 1 for the Solutions title page, plus the solution pages (one per puzzle, or a quarter as many at 4 per page). The total is rounded up to an even number. For example, 12 puzzles at 1 solution per page print as 26 pages, using 12 from your balance.
• One kind of puzzle per book. A word search book only holds word searches. You can’t add them to a coloring book.

If something goes wrong

• “This book needs N pages; you have M. Reduce the count or get more pages.” Generate book stays greyed out. Lower the number of puzzles, or click the button in the red box to get more: Upgrade now on a trial, Upgrade plan on a plan.
• Generate book is greyed out with no message. The Project title is empty. Type a title.
• “Generation failed” with “Start your free 7-day trial to use puzzle books…” or “Your free trial has ended…” Puzzle books need an active trial or plan. Start one from the Billing page and try again.
• You closed the tab, or the connection dropped, mid-way. Generation stops. The book is on your dashboard with the puzzles that finished, each with its solution, and you were only charged for those. Use the Word Search panel’s Add to book to make up the rest.