How to Create Number Fill Puzzles in Puzzle Maker Pro

Summary: Number Fill puzzles are made in Puzzle Maker Pro by choosing a grid size and how many starter digits to reveal — the module builds the interlocking grid, fills it with numbers, prints the number list under the grid, and renders the puzzle page with its matching solution page. There is no word list and no dictionary, so it generates instantly and offline. This guide walks through your first one, restyling the digits, titling it, and exporting print-ready and web-ready files.

Overview

A Number Fill is a crossword-style grid filled with numbers instead of words, printed with the complete number list — every number once, grouped by digit count from three-digit numbers up — so the solver fits every number back in. Puzzle Maker Pro builds the grid, generates the numbers, reveals a few starter digits and lays out the list, and you choose the size and how much help the solver gets. New to the puzzle itself? Read How Number Fill Puzzles Work first.

Required Modules

Puzzle Maker Pro – Number Fill. What each edition makes:

Number Fill (the Standard tier) builds puzzles at every size from 5 × 5 to 21 × 21 with digits, exports JPG, PNG, SVG and PDF, and includes Instant Puzzle Books.
Number Fill Creative adds content variation on the Content tab — the digits restyled as letters, coloured shapes or pictures, in the grid and in the list — and Puzzle Book Studio Creative for full book editing of one collection.
Number Fill Productivity adds Time Saver for batch runs, Puzzle Book Studio Productivity for books built from several collections, and JSON export.
Number Fill Creative + Interactive and Number Fill Productivity + Interactive add online play for the digit puzzles: the exported HTML and the ZIP for the free Puzzle Maker Pro Online WordPress plugin.

You can move up to any higher edition after you buy — up the ladder, and Interactive on top of Creative or Productivity — so start with the one that fits what you are making today. See Puzzle Maker Pro Editions Explained.

Commercial rights: Number Fill and Number Fill Creative both let you sell the finished books, worksheets and packs you make to your own readers and customers, including KDP, Etsy and Teachers Pay Teachers. Number Fill Productivity includes that, plus selling or supplying the generated puzzles to other publishers and sellers. The tiers differ in what you can make, not in permission to sell.

A free demo is available, so you can make a Number Fill before you buy: try the free demo. Demo output is one watermarked puzzle at a time.

Preparation

Nothing to prepare and nothing to download: Number Fill needs no word list and no internet, so it generates the moment you click. Open Puzzle Maker Pro, choose Number Fill in the Select a puzzle gallery, and the Creator opens on its Main tab.

The defaults — a 13 × 13 grid with 4 starter digits — are a good first puzzle. Every puzzle is generated together with its matching solution page.

Choose the Grid Size and Shape

On the Main tab, set Grid width — 5 to 21, default 13 — and leave Grid height at 0 for a square grid, or set it to 5–21 for a rectangle.

A 9 × 9 holds around thirty numbers and suits the opening pages of a book; the 13 × 13 default carries around sixty; a 21 × 21 packs around a hundred and fifty numbers into one long solve. Every size generates instantly, so the choice is about the page, not the wait: the list grows with the grid and prints under it, so preview the size you want at your trim size before committing a book to it.

Symmetry shapes the black squares: Rotational180 (the default, the classic crossword look), None for a free-form pattern, MirrorHorizontal or MirrorVertical for a reflected one, and Rotational90 or Diagonal on square grids. A rectangle with Rotational90 or Diagonal selected is built with Rotational180 instead.

Set the Starter Digits

Starter hints — 0 to 20, default 4 — is how many single digits are printed in the grid before the solver begins. Every cell belongs to an across entry and a down entry, so each starter fixes a digit for two entries at once; the numbers they belong to stay in the list for the solver to find. Starter cells print with a pale tint so they stand out from the empty cells — on a black-and-white interior that tint comes out light grey, so check one page in your proof. Four is a puzzle-a-day setting; eight or more makes a friendlier opening for a large-print or classroom title; zero is a cold start. Starter count is the main difficulty dial in this module: size and starters set the challenge.

Using Colors or Images (Number Fill Creative)

Open the Content tab to swap the digits for something else: Letters, Colors (drawn as coloured shapes, so the tint never competes with the black squares), Images from the built-in picture packs, or your own Image List. Whatever you choose replaces the ten digits everywhere — in the grid, in the starters and in the printed list — so a picture Number Fill is solved exactly like the digit version, by matching lengths and crossings. Give the picker at least ten distinct items (ten digits need ten markers) and choose Use First x Values or Draw x Random Values to decide whether each puzzle takes the next ten in order or a random ten. The mechanism is shared across modules — see How to Use Content Variation in Puzzle Maker Pro.

Set the Quantity

Quantity, in the bar above the tabs, runs the same settings that many times — each puzzle gets a fresh grid and fresh numbers. When a book needs a mix of sizes or starter counts, use Time Saver (Number Fill Productivity) instead — see Generate and Export, below.

Style It

On the Style tab, set the Entries font, the Canvas and Cell fill colours, the Cell border, and the Block colour that paints the black squares. The style controls are the same on every module — see How to Customize Puzzle Designs in Puzzle Maker Pro.

Lay Out the List and Set the Title

The Layout tab holds two things a Number Fill needs.

Word list on image. The number list is always printed on the puzzle image. In this group, Position shows None by default — that means no preference, and the list goes below the grid. Choose Above, Below, Left or Right to place it yourself, and set Columns (1–6 for a fixed count, or 0 to let the list size itself to the grid). The list prints as plain digits with no boxes, so the grid stays the only thing the solver writes in.

Smart Titles. Smart Titles work the same way on every module — see How to Create Smart Puzzle Titles in Puzzle Maker Pro for the mechanism. Number Fill offers these options:

Custom — your own text, e.g. “Puzzle 24”
Number Fill — e.g. “Number Fill” (the default)
Cijferlegpuzzel — e.g. “Cijferlegpuzzel”, the Dutch name, for a Dutch-language book

The same option set feeds the Description line under the title, which defaults to “Fit every number into the interlocking grid.”

Generate and Export

Use Refresh in the Preview group to draw one puzzle and Next Preview to step through more, pick your output formats and destination folder, then click Create to run the whole quantity. Every Number Fill comes out as a pair: the puzzle page, with the starter digits and the list, and the solution page with every cell filled. Paid editions export JPG, PNG, SVG and PDF.

Instant Puzzle Books (every edition) builds the interior straight from your current book settings — page size, margins, titles, page numbers and the answer section — as a PDF or a PowerPoint deck.
Puzzle Book Studio on Number Fill Creative gives you full book editing for this one collection; on Number Fill Productivity it combines several collections into one book.
Time Saver on Number Fill Productivity runs several rows in one go, each row with its own size, starter count and quantity — a difficulty ramp from many starters down to few is one sheet. Rows can sit alongside other modules.
JSON export on Number Fill Productivity writes the puzzle data files for your own apps and workflows.
Online play comes with Number Fill Creative + Interactive and Number Fill Productivity + Interactive: the exported HTML plus a ZIP for the free Puzzle Maker Pro Online WordPress plugin, so the digit puzzles play on your own pages with a keypad.

Outcome

You have a Number Fill run: a puzzle page and its matching solution page for every puzzle, the list laid out where you want it, titled the way your book titles them, in the formats you export — and, on Creative, the same puzzle wearing letters or pictures instead of digits. From here, Instant Puzzle Books turns the pairs into an interior and Time Saver turns a mixed spec into one batch.

FAQ

Do I need a word list?
No. Number Fill generates its own numbers, so there is nothing to supply and nothing to download — it works offline at every size.

How do I set the difficulty?
With the grid size and the Starter hints count — fewer starters, harder puzzle; a bigger grid, longer solve.

Which edition do I need to batch-create?
Number Fill Productivity. It adds Time Saver, which runs several rows — each with its own grid size, starter count and quantity — in a single pass, and Puzzle Book Studio Productivity to combine those sets into one book.

Can I use pictures or letters instead of digits?
Yes, on Number Fill Creative and up: the Content tab restyles the ten digits as letters, coloured shapes or pictures in the grid and the list. Supply at least ten distinct items.

Do I get an answer key?
Yes. Every puzzle is generated with a matching solution page as a separate image, with every cell filled in — the teacher copy of a worksheet, or the solutions section of a book.

What formats can I export?
JPG, PNG, SVG and PDF on the paid editions, each puzzle with its solution page. Instant Puzzle Books writes the assembled book as a PDF or a PowerPoint deck. Demo output is one watermarked puzzle at a time.