Not often used as this can be tedious and there are many templates already built. A “Shape” is a collection of Cells within which no character can be duplicated. Examples are rows and columns plus 3X3 boxes in the normal 9X9 Sudoku problems that appear in many books and newspapers.

This menu gives the option to define non-standard Shapes. The Cells of a Shape do not need to be contiguous.

Only 2 types of Shape are created: Sudoku and Killer. A Sudoku Shape will be created if the number of Cells selected is equal to the number of Characters in the problem. If less a Killer Shape will be created.

The Solution Window will always appear at the same time as this screen. Select the required Cells in the Solution Window and press “Add Shape ( + Boundary)”.

The Shape Label is purely optional. It plays no part in the calculation but enables some grouping of the Shapes for display purposes. For a standard 9X9 Sudoku I usually use the labels “Row”, “Column” and “Box”. 

Enter the Shape Sum if a Killer Shape. This number is ignored for Sudoku Shapes.

You can simply add the Shape, “Add Shape“, or add it and draw a boundary at the same time, “Add Shape + Boundary“. The boundary can be “Solid“, “Dashed” or “Dotted” as selected next to Line Style.

You can Undo the most recently created Shape but care is needed as there is no visual indication that the Shape has been removed and the boundary will not be removed. Can check on this and also redraw all boundaries in “Show Shapes”.

When all Shapes have been entered press “Done Adding Shapes“