Sudoku Help - Menu and Toolbar

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
New Blank puzzle...	Create a new blank puzzle
Open...	Continue solving an existing puzzle you have saved
Download New...	Download a new puzzle from our web site
Save	Save a puzzle for continuing later
Save As...	Save under another file name
Print...	Print the current puzzle
Close	Exit the application (prompt to save changes) ALT+F4

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 F6
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
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 Every possibility	Set the possibilities to match the automatic possibilities for all squares in the grid
Timer	Pause or continue the timer measuring the time taken to solve the puzzle

View menu

Toolbar	Show or hide the toolbar of commonly used commands
Possibility bar	Show or hide the possibility bar to allow individual possibilities for squares to be shown
No side panel	Switch off the side panel F3
Allocation panel	Show the allocation list in the side panel
Possibilities panel	Show the square possibilities in the side panel F11
Notes panel	Show the square notes and your possibilities in the side panel F5
Analysis Level ->	A menu of actions to change the analysis level for working out automatic possibilities and game hints
Analysis Level - None	Do not highlight automatic possibilities that are 'forced' or 'excluded'.
Analysis Level - Simple allocations	Highlight automatic possibilities that are 'forced' (only choice / only place / single possibility)
Analysis Level - Exclusion rules	Highlight automatic possibilities that are 'excluded' (not actually possible) with the shared sub group and group rules
Analysis Level - Advanced rules	Highlight automatic possibilities that are 'excluded' (not actually possible) with the alternate pair/X-Wing rules
Show automatic possibilities	Switch on or off the display of automatic possibilities in the grid. F7
Possibility display ->	A menu of actions to change the possibilities to be shown in the grid
Possibility display - None	Do not display any possibilities in the grid.
Possibility display - Selected square(s) only	Option to show possibilities for the currently selected square only
Possibility display - Current groups only	Option to show possibilities for selected square in the grid and all the groups it is in
Possibility display - Every square	Option to show possibilities on each square in the grid
Change Theme...	Change the display theme for the app. Choose from pre-installed themes or create your own.
Options...	Change some of the general program options,
Highlighting...	Change the way that possibilities are highlighted.

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
Reset...	Clear the grid back to original state with no user squares allocated or marked possibilities

Help menu

Index...	Display help index page
Guides...	Choose a Sudoku game tutorial
About...	Give program version information
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
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 possibility options. If the puzzle is using letters rather than numbers you need to use SHIFT+ALT+letter.

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

The bar will by default automatically show 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.

This page is part of the extensive help system for Sudoku Dragon 2. This information is for the version that is only available for download from Microsoft Store. For information on the legacy Sudoku Dragon please refer to the separate help system.