Software for creating cookbooks

[Monica Bhide]

I need some help.. please! I am looking for software that will help me create and PRINT custom cookbooks. These books are not meant to be for retail. Mostly just 2 -3 copies will be created

I need something that has the power of a recipe software along with desktop publishing capabilties ( allowing me to change formats, add gra[hics etc.)

i would appreciate any help. All the stuff i found was low end and quite useless really

[mikeycook]

Check out this thread.

[vengroff]

If you are willing to share your recipes with the rest of us, there always recipeGullet. It has a mode for printing recipes; here is an example. If you have suggestions that you think would improve the printable view, by all means make them.

[Monica Bhide]

I read the other thread.. thanks for pointing me to it.. Microsoft Publisher it is.

Darren, I need to created a cookbook for someone.. so I need a program that I can add graphics and text to

Thanks for your help

[Fat Guy]

You're looking to do three things, it seems. And I don't know of a program that does all three well.

First, you're looking for recipe management software. This is likely to be a database-driven product with a certain feature set.

Second, you're looking for word-processing software, because you probably want to write about the recipes and you want to write an introduction and chapter-introductions. I'm sure you have word-processing software already.

Third, you're looking for desktop publishing software. This is a piece of design-oriented software that converts text into attractive page layouts.

To turn a database of recipes into a cookbook, you'd begin by creating the database of ingredients, instructions, and brief descriptions. Then in a word processor you'd create the more substantial textual portions of the book. Then you'd import the text from the database and the text from the word processor into the desktop publishing tool and you'd format it for printing.

[Monica Bhide]

Thanks fat Guy

Actually I found a software to do the recipe mgmt and the personalized text. It can export into html or text.. then I am assuming I can use Publisher to do the layouts.

The software helps create the recipes, add the nutritional information, tips etc -- all in a standard format.

Then you can add a special section for stories..

All this is based on a demo I saw.. let me see what the tool can really do

[Sergio]

What is this software called?

[Verbena-NZ]

What is this software called?

try microsoft publisher !!!

[Monica Bhide]

What is this software called?

Chef's Palate

[Fat Guy]

http://www.cookspalate.com/pages/demo.htm

Looks like an interesting product. Let us know if it has the power you need.

[Monica Bhide]

There is a demo and then there is the product.. I think I will try it. If it lets me export a decent file and I can do the layout in Publisher.. I should be good

Has anyone seen similar products out there???

[Placebo]

I've played with ERM on and off and while it's very powerful for managing recipes and customizing how you file them (and has great import features) it's not much for pretty output. Seems lie something database-backed that would let you include pictures would be perfect - especially if it could export the recipes to PDF format for easy printing. I occasionally think about writing such a thing myself just becasue I have yet to find anything I like. I'm downloading the Cook's Palate demo now.

[Monica Bhide]

Try this

http://www.livingcookbook.com/demo/default.htm

[tryska]

truth be told if you or someone really knows how to work Microsoft Word, you can get it to do quite a bit of desktop publishing type stuff.

do you want soemthing heavy on graphics?

[Monica Bhide]

Yes with graphics and the ability to do many layouts. I have used word for both my books and find it okay for text.. but things start getting messy when we add a lot of graphics.

[Episure]

Monica, have you tried Adobe Pagemaker?

[Sergio]

Instead of posting an entirely new thread, I will temporarily hijack Monica's.

I am looking for most well-rounded recipe software. I want have a database of my favorite recipes at hand, and the ability to print them out to be aesthetically pleasing. Out of all the options given on this and other threads, which tends to be the favorite among those who frequent eGullet?

[Nancy Berry]

I like MasterCook. It is a recipe database that contains some pretty good publishing options.

Here's a link where you can get more info and see screen shots:

MasterCook7.0 info

Here's a link where you can download the manual for version 6.0 of this program. Version 7.0's publishing options are very similar to version 6.0's.

MC manual