Sudoku Help - Menu and Toolbar

Here's a page from the extensive help system for Sudoku Dragon. It is available as a help screen when running the program. To get the full picture Download our Sudoku Dragon and see the screen in its context.

We now offer an alternative product only available for download from Microsoft Store. This shares many features but not all of them. For documentation of the SudokuDragon for Store version see its separate help section.

We've added a great many features that you won't find in other Sudoku puzzle solvers.

The menu has the following commands (keyboard shortcuts are shown where available).

File menu

Generate New...	Generate a brand new Sudoku puzzle CTRL+SHIFT+N
New Blank puzzle...	Create a new blank puzzle
Download New...	Download a new puzzle from our web site
Open...	Continue solving an existing puzzle you have saved CTRL+SHIFT+O
Save	Save a puzzle for continuing later CTRL+SHIFT+S
Save As...	Save under another file name
Settings	Import/Export or Reset all the application settings
Print...	Print the current puzzle CTRL+SHIFT+P
Print Preview	Preview what the print-out will look like
Print Options...	Options controlling the print-out
Print Setup...	Change the printer setup
Exit	Exit the application (prompt to save changes) ALT+F4
Puzzles	The last eight puzzle files you have worked on.

Edit menu

Undo	Revoke the previous grid square update CTRL+Z
Redo	Reinstate a change that has been undone CTRL+SHIFT+A or CTRL+Y
Clear All Possibilities	Clear all the possibilities marked for the current square F7
Auto allocate	Automatically allocate an 'obvious' allocation of a square F12
Set Auto possibilities	Set the possibilities to match the automatic possibilities for a square F8
Set Auto possibilities grid	Set the possibilities to match the automatic possibilities for all squares in the grid
Color	A menu of actions to change the color marking of the current square. Also available as keys Q W E R T and Y
Reset...	Clear the grid back to original state with no user squares allocated or marked possibilities
Pause Timer	Pause the timer measuring the time taken to solve the puzzle
Continue Timer	Continue the elapsed puzzle timer clock

View menu

Toolbar	Show or hide the toolbar of commonly used commands
Possibilities bar	Show or hide the possibility bar to allow individual possibilities for squares to be shown
Status bar	Show or hide the puzzle status bar
No Side Panel	Switch off the side panel CTRL+F3
Allocations	Show the allocation list in the side panel F3
Possibilities	Show the square possibilities in the side panel F11
Notes	Show the square notes and your possibilities in the side panel F5
Show All Possibilities	Show or hide display of all possible allocations in the grid F4
No possibility highlighting	Do not highlight automatic possibilities that are 'forced' or 'excluded'.
Forced allocation highlighting	Highlight automatic possibilities that are 'forced' (only choice / only place / single possibility)
Exclusion highlighting	Highlight automatic possibilities that are 'excluded' (not actually possible) with the shared sub group and group rules
Advanced Exclusion highlighting	Highlight automatic possibilities that are 'excluded' (not actually possible) with the alternate pair/X-Wing rules
Show automatic possibilities	Switch on the display of automatic possibilities in the grid. F6
Current square only	Option to show possibilities for the currently selected square only
Current Groups only	Option to show possibilities for selected square in the grid and all the groups it is in
All squares in grid	Option to show possibilities on each square in the grid
Zoom smaller	Make the display window and grid smaller
Zoom larger	Make the display window and grid larger
Options...	Change the program options, including the display theme for the grid, program options, possibility display and side panel

Game menu

Hint...	Give a hint to help solve the game F9
Status...	Show overall status of the game F10
Save As Image...	Save the current grid as an image file
League table...	Show your current skill level by comparing puzzle solving time

Help menu

Index...	Display help index page
Guides...	Choose a Sudoku game tutorial
About Sudoku...	Give program version information
License...	Give license information
Purchase...	Purchase a license for the product
Update Check...	Check for an update from the web
Tip of the Day...	Show a tip for using the program

Toolbar

The toolbar has shortcut buttons for some of the most frequently used commands.

Generate New...	Generate a brand new puzzle CTRL+SHIFT+N
New Blank puzzle...	Create a new blank puzzle
Open...	Continue with an existing puzzle CTRL+SHIFT+O
Save	Save a puzzle for continuing later CTRL+SHIFT+S
Print...	Print the current puzzle CTRL+SHIFT+P
Undo	Revoke the previous grid square allocation CTRL+Z
Redo	Reinstate an allocation that has been undone CTRL+SHIFT+A or CTRL+Y
Auto allocate	Automatically allocate an 'obvious' forced allocation F12
Hint...	Give a hint to help solve the game F9
Possibilities...	Show possibilities for currently selected grid square F11
Status...	Show overall status of the game F10
Options...	Change the view options for the grid and side panel
Index...	Display help index page

Possibilities Bar

If you want to look at the possibilities for individual squares you can do this simply and easily with a single mouse click on the Possibilities toolbar. The first Star icon 'star' button controls all the possibilities (shortcut key F4) and then there is one for each possible Sudoku grid symbol.

Each button acts as a toggle, pressing it will turn it off if it is on, and on if it is off. You can use the keys ALT+number as a shortcut to each of the options on the bar. The first 'All' button lets you quickly switch off the feature altogether. You can select more than one possibility at a time - so you can highlight all squares where, for example, either a 2 or 5 can go. With the keyboard you can use CTRL+ALT+number to set/clear additional posibility options. If the puzzle is using letters rather than numbers you need to use SHFT+ALT+letter.

You can control possibilities display from the Possibilities tab of the Options screen.

The bar will by default automaticallyshow you the number values which are mostly filled up (only less than 4 squares to set) and those with very few squares set. This is useful to highlight numbers worth investigating. This information is also shown when you hover the mouse over the possibility bar or in the Game Status display.

Status Bar

The status bar gives information about the state of the game.

Command	Information about the current square, selected menu or toolbar command
Elapsed time	Time spent solving the current puzzle
State	Overall state of the puzzle
Remaining	Count of squares remaining to be solved
Scroll lock	Whether the keyboard scroll lock is enabled
Number lock	Whether the keyboard number lock is enabled