I just received my CD in the mail and have the program installed, but have NO idea where to go from there.. I am completely lost. The help program wasn't much help..

I'm looking to add custom recipes, get their nutritional info, and save them. Can someone help?

here is how to import your recipes by using copy and paste

Open mastercook
at the bottom left corner of the page click on cookbooks
double click on the cook book you want the recipe to go into
In the upper right hand corner of the page, click on file
scroll down the box and click on "import assistant"
A new box will show up

Copy and paste the recipe in to the box

Now make changes to the recipe so that mastercook will accept it

This is how the recipe should look; using this recipe as an example



Meringue Dessert Nests
(two spaces)

3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 cup Splenda
(two spaces)


Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
(space)
Beat egg beat in cream whites with salt until frothy tartar.
(space)
Add Splenda gradually beating constantly until mixture forms soft, glossy peaks.
(space)
Shape into six meringue "nests" on ungreased heavy paper on baking sheet.
(space)
Bake about 1 hour or until nests are dry.
(space)
Fill with strawberries blueberries or raspberries and whipped cream.

Do not type space in the recipe, that was just to tell you that space should be there so your final recipe should look like this



MERINGUE DESSERT NESTS


3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 cup Splenda


Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Beat egg beat in cream whites with salt until frothy tartar.

Add Splenda gradually beating constantly until mixture forms soft, glossy peaks.

Shape into six meringue "nests" on ungreased heavy paper on baking sheet.

Bake about 1 hour or until nests are dry.

Fill with strawberries blueberries or raspberries and whipped cream.

**********
If a recipe calls for chopped onions then the line should read

1/4 cup onions, chopped

always quantity, ingredients name, comma, chopped or diced or whatever

*****************
When you are done preparing the recipe for mastercook to accept it, place your cursor under the last line of the recipe. Hold down the shift button then hold down the up arrow, at the same time, so that the whole recipe is high lighted.

Click on auto fill
Click on save recipe unless you need or want to make any changes to the recipe you just imported.
If you want to make changes to the recipe click on done, and then make the changes.
Click on file
click on save Your done

The changes you might want to make to an imported recipe is
1) if an ingredient or quantity does not look like right
2)you want to assign it to a catagory
3)in order to get nutritional info you will need number of serving and serving sizes


If you want to import another recipe use the back button in the lower left hand corner of the page and then go to file and click on import assistant again


There might be some ingredients you use might not be in the nutritional database, you can modify the database by

In the upper right hand corner of the page click on tools
scroll down to and click on ingredient list

In lower left corner of box, click on new
follow the instructions
click on save

In order for you to type in your own recipes by hand

double click on the cook book you want the recipe to go into

On the right side of the page you will see a tool bar

Click on the top icon that looks like a sheet of paper

Start at the top of the page with the name of the recipe

use the tab button on your keyboard to help you navigate through the recipe or you can use the mouse and click on each individual section

when done filling it out click on catagories beside the direction icon and click on which catagory you want the recipe to go into.

click on file, click on save

your done

If you are importing a recipe you do the same thing with the catagory, click on it and assign the recipe to a catagory then click on file, then save


If you find a mistake after it is saved you can

Go to the tool bar on the right side of the page and click on the icon that looks like a pencil, make your changes and the click on file, click on save

You can also create your own personal cookbooks, you can create several for yourself

At the bottom of the page click on cookbooks
click on file
click on new cookbook
type in the name of the cookbook you want to create
leave the next box at my collection
either
click a check mark if you want to "use my catagories" which means you will create and type in the catagories you want
or
manage my catagories which means mastercook will manage your catagories for you.
then click on "okay"
your done


If you want to create and type in your own personal catagories you will

either import in a recipe or
type in a recipe

then click on catagories beside the directions icon and then

click on modify catagories
type in the catagory you desire such as entree, main dish, side dish or what ever
click on done
then click on the catagory you are assigning the recipe to


Once you enter a catagory in your cookbook it will stay with the cook book
if you create a second or third cookbook you will have to recreate the catagories for those too

When I create a personal cook book I use my own personal catagories, then when I type in or import my first recipe I will create all my catagories at once.


If you have any more questions or run into any problems I will try to help you.

I have mastercook 6, 7 and trying to buy 8

Although they are different versions they all pretty much work the same, but version 8 will have some features that the other did not but importing and typing in a new recipe is the same at least since version 6.

One thing nice about mastercook 6 is that it came with an users manual on the cd, over 200 pages of information on how to use it so that came in handy for learning. With version 7 all you seem to get is that stupid help icon that does not help much.

Here is a web site that I found helpful


http://home.earthlink.net/~kitpath/

WOW!! Thank you SO much! I'm going to have to mess around with it this afternoon. I was so excited to get it, and then so frustrated when I couldn't figure it out!

I'll let you know how it goes, and again, thank you!!

Let me just say that I could have NEVER figured this out without your help. You are right, my 7.0 version just came with the cd, and nothing else. Thank you so much for taking the time to walk me through it, I have entered in a few recipes with luck so far!

I just went back to working with it, and all of my previously entered ingredients are in the Ingredients list, but are coming up when I make a recipe, as not there.. ?? I saved the info when I entered it..

Congrads, that's great that you are making progress on your mastercook program. It is a great program and also a powerful one too.

It takes a little getting used to, I am still learning and still making an occassional mistake and I have been using it for two years now.

It does not help any that you don't get a good users manual with it. I do know where you can download a copy of the mastercook 6 users manual if you are interested. I use my mastercook 6 manual to help with mastercook 7. A few things are different but mostly the same.

I went to the best mastercook discussion board I have ever found in yahoo and posted your problem with adding and saving new ingredients. I will post to you as soon as I get an answer so check back here tomorrow evening sometime and I will tell you what they said.

There are three moderators there that know mastercook inside and out and are in contact with the technical software guru's that create the programming for mastercook. They are smart as a whip, if anyone can give us an answer it is them.

I can post the address for that one too if you are interested in this website, you will need to join yahoo in order to have access to this mastercook users forum website.

If I can help any more let me know.

Got an answer to your question although it was not of much help, hopefully one of the wiser moderators will be of more help.

This is the response to your adding ingredients problem


make sure to click fluid or unclick if it is not
make sure to fill out all the boxes
make sure you click save
make sure you click done when you are through adding each single ingredient, then start over with the next ingredient.


Other than that I don't know what to say, I will keep checking the mastercook forum and see if there is any more help that was given.